The following insight will share some ideas on how to hire at scale based on the talent strategies adopted by a little company in Silicon Valley called Google!
What is the single most important thing you do at work?
If you asked this question to management in your business most would reply with answers like build strategy, build products, write code, go to meetings, Ect.
Google argues that HIRING is the MOST important thing their managers do!!!
Google has built a culture that rewards and prioritises hiring above everything else.
Ask yourself if you can say the same about your business. Normally hiring is a distraction from the day job that nobody wants to play a part in, managers typically invest very little time in perfecting it. Until you make hiring the number 1 priority of the business and invest in it you will probably struggle to achieve the growth and vision you are striving for.
Doubling in size is easy??!!
Well, we all know that is not true!! However, Google has a very different approach to Talent. Of course, they have a recruitment team … a BIG one. However, they believe it’s EVERYONE's job to hire great talent.
Great people know great people. So, if every google employee recommends one great person to join the business each year then you have doubled in size! EASY! ;)
NEVER FORGET THE POWER OF REFERRALS!!!
Data is king!
It’s not just Google that understands the importance of Data, at Zero our whole talent service is underpinned by data. We don’t make any decisions on talent projects without having the data to back it up. And if we don’t already collect the data, we will build a model to acquire the data.
However, the data Google tracks go beyond anything you will normally see.
They track:
- The number of hours each employee spends interviewing.
- Number of referrals each person makes.
- How many events do employees attend
- They even track how long it takes the manager to fill out the interview feedback back form and return it.
They track everything and then make it count when it comes to performance reviews and promotions.
Even Google f*ck up!
The process is insanely important for any scaling business. Without strong processes, it’s impossible to achieve a major growth programme. However, with the process, you can sacrifice flexibility and agility….
In the early years, Google had a chap called Kevin working in the Marketing team and they wanted to put him on a career progression programme. However, to join the program you had to have a degree in computer science which Kevin didn’t have. The Execs continually rejected to strong desire from management for him to join the programme.
That young man eventually left google….
His full name was KEVIN SYSTROM and he went on to Co-Found INSTAGRAM, which he later sold to FACEBOOK for $1,000,000,000.
Don’t forget you NEED process, but sometimes you may have to break that process and be agile otherwise it may cost you a $Billion!!!
“But we are not Google”
Now before you say, I’ll call it out – You may be sat thinking, well we aren’t Google! We don’t have the funds Google have but guess what, Google wasn’t always the ginormous Tech unicorn it is today. And whilst you may be working for a business that doesn’t have the funds Google has today, or potentially even the desire to get to the size Google is, what you can do is take away the same ethos that Google have towards Talent. You can build a methodology and a process in a similar way that allows you to achieve YOUR HIRING STRATEGY. You don’t have to be Google, but you do have to put TALENT first.
I hope you enjoyed the read and this insight helps highlight the importance of Talent inside your organisation. If you want to build a world-class business the best place to start is by investing in Talent. You never know if you invest in it enough you may just be the next google!!!
How does your current talent function stack up?