How have you adapted your global TA strategy in response to the evolving tech talent landscape particularly with the rise of remote/Hybrid work, AI, and skills-based hiring?
TraceLink went back to the office full-time about two and a half years ago. At first, it was certainly a challenge, given most people’s preference for hybrid or remote work. As time went on, we figured out how to better recruit people and we accepted the fact that if it wasn’t right for people, that it was better to figure that out now, versus after joining the company. With the landscape changing a lot over the past six to twelve months, and many more companies following suit, we’re seeing the market shifting. Yes, we still see some people who are holding out for hybrid or remote opportunities, however with those options dwindling and competition for those opportunities growing, we see people coming around and accepting the fact that if they want to find good opportunities, they really should be open to in-office options.
The use of AI in Talent Acquisition is certainly a focus for my organization. It is already having an impact on messaging to candidates and creation of first-class job descriptions. Next, we are looking into options for applicant resume screening, filtering and ranking and interview coordination.
TraceLink has been focused on skills-based hiring for several years now and has totally reinvented how we evaluate candidates through the interview process. Times have changed and supporting tools have evolved to a point where interviewing and analyzing candidates has become much more of a science than the art form it once was. A big part of our success in this area has been training interviewers on solid behavioral interviewing techniques, interview role assignments and incorporating our Leadership Principles and Success Factors into the evaluation process.
What has been your biggest challenge in scaling TA operations internationally, and how did you overcome it?
I would say the biggest international challenge we have faced has been building up operations in India, where we see a very different and challenging hiring environment. Competition has been fierce in India for many years now and the household names of marquis software companies pose big challenges for small to mid-sized companies, with less brand recognition. We also must contend with offer reneges as we call them and how we handle finding out that a new hire won’t join, just days before their start date after we’ve waited for two or three months for this day to come. Despite continued efforts to stay in touch, inviting them for team lunches and dinners while trying to bring them into the fold, another firm can swoop in, offer them a higher rate and lure them away. Essentially, we like to think we are winning the war for talent in India by becoming the better last minute talent snatcher.
Over your time leading Global TA, what initiative are you most proud of and what impact did it have on the business?
I’m most proud of how we have built up our Pune, India operations. Six years ago, we had a relatively small Sales & Services operation in Mumbai, India. TraceLink then decided to build an Engineering organization in Pune, India where none existed before. At that point, I had only built organizations from smaller to larger (in some cases much larger) but I had never built an organization from the ground up. We were able to identify a Technical Recruiter, who later accepted our offer. He joined remotely initially, while we completed our first office. I vividly remember visiting the new facility in Pune with him, while the new office was still under construction. There were piles of trash everywhere and the server room was the only area with wallboard up at that time. Two weeks later our Recruiter moved into the office, sitting all alone for two weeks. Then one person started, then another and so on. Today we have nearly 350 employees in Pune.
That may sound easy to some, however, when we first came to town, nobody knew who TraceLink was. In a country where bragging rights to your family about where you just accepted an offer from rules supreme, we were the unknown company. Fortunately, TraceLink has a great mission, which really resonates with people across the globe. “We save lives and make a real difference in the world in what we do”, not many Recruiters can say that. Today, we’ve built not only Engineering teams in Pune but because of their great success we’ve added Product Management, Technical Writing, Marketing, Inside Sales, Customer Support, Customer Service, Finance & Accounting and others to the mix. I’m very proud of what my team has accomplished and the success it’s created!
What are some key lessons you’ve learned from hiring at scale across multiple regions and cultures in the tech space?
I’ve learned that Americans too often make the mistake of thinking that everyone around the globe should think and operate like Americans. The way business operates from country to country, especially when we are talking about the world of recruiting and hiring, varies wildly from place to place. What we might consider unprincipled hiring practices here in the US can be a perfectly normal course of business in other parts of the world. We should not expect that people in other regions will look at things the same as we do, behave as we would or react like you expect them to. Keep an open mind and try to look at things from their perspective. Immerse yourself in their culture. If you want to be truly successful in other regions, you must figure out how to navigate their rules in order to win, versus trying to utilize the US or your rules and expecting it to work elsewhere. Learn that they are not the same and what works in one, very well, might fail miserably in the other.
Recent Comments