Talent Factory eBook Final1

Get More Talent!How to Build the Talent Factory Your Company Needs to Scale

Table of ContentsForeword .....................................................................................................................1

Chapter 1: Is an In-House Talent Factory Right for Your Business?.....................................2

The Benefits of Building a Talent Factory .............................................................................. 3

Who Will Benefit Most from this eBook? ................................................................................ 5

Does Building a Talent Factory Make Sense for You? .............................................................. 5

Chapter 2: Assembling and Managing a Top-Notch Talent Team ........................................7

The Composition of a Talent Team ........................................................................................ 7

Getting Started: How to Hire Your Talent Team ...................................................................... 7

Hiring a Director of Talent .................................................................................................. 8

Hiring Talent Specialists .................................................................................................... 10

Managing Your Talent Team ............................................................................................... 12

Chapter 3: Executing the Six Phases of an Effective Recruiting Process ...........................15

Phase 1: Planning Your Search .......................................................................................... 15

Hosting a Kickoff Meeting............................................................................................. 15

Creating a Job Description ............................................................................................ 16

Setting Clear Expectations and Timelines ....................................................................... 17

Phase 2: Sourcing Candidates ............................................................................................ 19

Proactively Sourcing Candidates with Effective Messaging .............................................. 19

How Do You Pitch a Role Successfully? .......................................................................... 20

Phase 3: Phone Screening ................................................................................................. 21

Phase 4: Interviewing ........................................................................................................ 23

Phase 5: Acquiring Feedback ............................................................................................. 25

Phase 6: Preparing and Extending an Offer ......................................................................... 26

Reference Checks ........................................................................................................ 26

Background Checks ..................................................................................................... 27

Creating Competitive Compensation Plans ...................................................................... 27

Presenting the Offer ..................................................................................................... 27

Preparing for Rejections or Counter Offers ...................................................................... 28

Ensuring Employee Retention........................................................................................ 30

Chapter 4: Employing the Tools (and Technology) of the Recruiting Trade .........................31

What is an Applicant Tracking System? ............................................................................... 31

Job-posting Outlets ........................................................................................................... 34

Leading Job Posting Sites .................................................................................................. 35

6 Options for Leveraging LinkedIn ...................................................................................... 36

What to Look for When Selecting a Sourcing Tool ................................................................. 37

Improving Your Company’s Careers Page ............................................................................. 38

Equipping Your Team with the Tools it Needs to Succeed ...................................................... 39

Chapter 5: Deploying Metrics to Measure and Improve Your Talent Factory .......................40

How to Track Your Talent Factory’s Success ......................................................................... 40

Why Reporting Metrics Is Important .................................................................................... 42

End Note ...................................................................................................................45

Appendix ...................................................................................................................46

Checklist for the CEO ........................................................................................................ 46

Checklist for the Director of Talent ..................................................................................... 46

Checklist for the Talent Specialist(s) ................................................................................... 47

Checklist for the Hiring Manager ....................................................................................... 47

Common Recruiting Challenges and Their Solutions ............................................................. 48

Standard Templates for Applicant Communications .............................................................. 49

Sample Job Descriptions ................................................................................................... 50

Common Behavioral Interviewing Questions ......................................................................... 51

Illegal Interview Questions and Legal Substitutes ................................................................ 53

Sample Reference Check Guide ......................................................................................... 55

Recruiting Strategy Workflow ........................................................................................... 56

Get More Talent! How to Build the Talent Factory Your Company Needs to Scale | 1

Foreword It may surprise you, but the most significant challenge facing startup and

expansion-stage technology companies today may have nothing to do with

technology at all. Instead, according to a recent report by Silicon Valley

Bank,1 the most problematic hurdle for those businesses revolves around

another word starting with the same letter: talent.

In its annual Startup Outlook report, SVB revealed that 90 percent of soft-

ware executives plan to add headcount in 2013 — if, of course, they can

actually find and attract the type of people who will help their companies

grow. Astonishingly, 90 percent of those same executives believe they will

have trouble doing exactly that this year.

In other words, the war for top talent is still being waged. And if your growing software company isn’t

prepared to compete, it may not be able to keep up.

So, what should your expansion-stage business be doing to find, attract, and retain the kind of top talent

that can fuel its growth? Some of the most forward-thinking companies are developing their own talent

factory — a team of in-house recruiters who can manage the recruiting process with factory-like precision.

In “Get More Talent! How to Build the Talent Factory Your Company Needs to Scale,” OpenView outlines

the benefits of building an in-house talent factory, explains which types of companies should be doing so,

and lays out a clear process for creating, managing, and measuring a successful talent team capable of

helping to dramatically scale your business as efficiently as possible.

Ultimately, however, the argument for building a talent factory within an expansion-stage software company

is simple: You need top talent to grow. If you aren’t able to recruit enough of it, you will likely struggle to

keep pace with your competitors. And, if you recruit the wrong type of talent, you may unwittingly create

a ticking time bomb. A correctly designed and implemented talent factory can help you mitigate those

issues, while also improving your company’s culture, visibility, credibility, and cost-efficiency.

Is your business ready to build a talent factory? And do you have what it takes to do so? Read on to find out!

Keith Cline

Principal, Dissero

1. “Startup Outlook: The Issue of Talent,” Silicon Valley Bank, May 2013.

http://dissero.com/

http://www.svb.com/startup-outlook-assets/cover_slide.html


Chapter 1: Is an In-House TalenT FaCTory rIgHT For your BusIness?The saying goes that a company’s most valuable asset is its people. That adage is particularly

true at the expansion stage, when companies typically experience explosive growth and need

to hire a steady stream of talent to fill critical roles throughout their organization. Take too

long to add headcount — or worse, hire the wrong people — and you could quickly put your

company in danger of not being able to thrive.

When the time is right, smart companies get around this issue by hiring a team of dedicated

recruiters to manage their recruiting and hiring. They invest the time, energy, and money to

develop that team and outfit it with the right processes, tools, and techniques. At OpenView,

we call this process building a talent factory because it results in a strong pipeline of talent

that is procured with factory-like precision through tested recruiting best practices.

While the main function of a talent factory is to recruit and hire top talent for your company, this encompasses a variety of tasks, including:

• Meeting with hiring managers and discussing the needs of their teams

• Creating job descriptions and providing salary information

• Screening resumes of inbound applicants and responding appropriately

• Attending career fairs and building relationships with colleges and universities

• Proactively sourcing candidates through a variety of mediums, including social networks

• Conducting initial phone screens to determine fit

• Acting as a project manager to move candidates through the interviewing process

• Implementing interview and evaluation best practices throughout the company

• Completing reference checks

• Extending offers

• Assisting in onboarding new employees all of these activities are vital to the talent acquisition process.


The Benefits of Building a Talent Factory

If you are a rapidly growing expansion-stage company, establishing a talent factory will be

vital to your company’s continued growth. In fact, according to a 2012 study by the Boston

Consulting Group,2 recruiting has the highest business impact of any HR function. So, even

if you don’t yet have a full-fledged HR department, building an internal recruiting team can

create a significant impact by:

Lowering recruitment costs

Many companies that do not have a talent factory or an in-house recruiter use

staffing agencies for the bulk of their hiring. For full-time employees, agencies can

charge 20 to 35 percent of the hire’s first-year annual salary as a “finder’s fee.”

Depending on how many roles you hire each year, you may be paying more in fees

than what it would cost to build and operate your own in-house talent factory.

Driving higher ROI

Not only will an in-house talent factory result in a lower cost per hire, but it

will also enable you to hire multiple candidates (should there be more than one

opening for the same position) at no extra cost. An in-house talent team can

also maintain an ongoing pipeline of candidates with a particular skill set, help-

ing you make repeat hires more quickly, and implement programs to improve

employee retention (e.g., establishing programs to promote work/life balance).

Fostering a better candidate experience and building culture along the way

Having a talent factory will create a more streamlined hiring process that ensures

that each candidate your company recruits goes through the same procedures,

meets with the same people, answers similar questions, and is told the same

information. In turn, your candidates will have a better overall experience, and

your company will be able to make a more educated decision on which candidate

is the best fit for the job, because there is continuity in the process.

Shaping your company’s

culture

A talent team can help shape company culture and impact its development

through its policies and programs.

Improving visibility

Talent specialists also act as ambassadors, representing your company and its

culture to the outside world. By attending career fairs and on-campus events, a

talent team will provide valuable marketing for your company, creating more vis-

ibility within your desired candidate pool. A quarterly networking event led by your

talent team can also pay huge dividends for talent acquisition by showcasing your

company and its employment opportunities.

2. “Realizing the Value of People Management: From Capability to Profitability,” The Boston Consulting Group, July 2012.

https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/people_management_human_resources_leadership_from_capability_to_profitability/

https://www.bcgperspectives.com/content/articles/people_management_human_resources_leadership_from_capability_to_profitability/


Increasing credibility

Candidates will always be more responsive and exude more confidence when they

feel they are being treated as an individual, rather than an application. A talent

team can serve as liaison between the candidate and the hiring manager, improv-

ing communication and, ultimately, your credibility — even among candidates

you don’t end up hiring.

Creating a greater sense of urgency

Because the internal recruiting team will be in the trenches, they will recognize the

need for new hires more quickly and be held accountable by the hiring managers

who are awaiting qualified candidates. Additionally, the hiring managers will be

asked to provide more timely and complete feedback if the recruiting team is in

the same office, allowing for a shorter feedback loop and faster decisions.

“Recruiting is all about relationships. An in-house talent factory allows

you to build strong and productive relationships with candidates and

hiring managers — the kinds of relationships that attract top talent

and help management do its job most effectively. With candidates,

an in-house recruiter speaks from personal experience. He or she will

see that candidate when he comes in for interviews and, if hired, watch

him succeed or fail. This degree of accountability is very important,

and differentiates the in-house talent factory from an outside agency

approach.”

Alan Preston, HR Advisor and Founder and President, Preston HR,

HR Consultant, Monetate

http://monetate.com/


Who Will Benefit Most from this eBook?

This eBook is intended for the key stakeholders at your organization who will be responsible

for building your talent factory, as well as your talent team itself (director of talent/talent

specialists). Stakeholders may include the CEO, COO, CFO, or VP of human resources at

companies that:

• Are at the expansion stage, which means

that you have a product offering, a set of

satisfied customers, and are executing a

core go-to-market strategy; you are also

growing at a rapid rate, which creates a

need to hire employees quickly.

• Have at least 75 employees and/or are fore-

casting extreme growth. If you are too small,

or are not projecting hiring for enough posi-

tions, the ROI will likely not be high enough

to justify setting up a talent factory.

• Are hiring at a steady rate. Generally, this

is 10 to 20 hires per quarter, or about one

hire every one to two weeks. If not, the

money you spend on resources and salary

to employ a recruiting team will likely be

higher than what you are currently spending

on talent acquisition.

If this is the case for your company, then you need to decide whether hiring a talent team makes sense for your company.

Does Building a Talent Factory Make Sense for You?

The first thing to evaluate when considering whether to create a talent factory is the cost. As with any hire,

it is important that you have room in the budget to add to the team. Beyond a competitive salary and ben-

efits package, there is the cost of additional resources such as upgraded LinkedIn accounts, multiple job

board postings, and networking event sponsorships.

On the flip side, it is also critical to assess whether you can afford not to build a talent factory. While the

expense of doing so might seem high, the money you are saving on recruiting costs by not hiring a recruit-

ing team could very well be canceled out by lower productivity from managers who are spending a signifi-

cant amount of their time on recruiting and onboarding.


If a talent factory makes financial sense for your business, this eBook can be used to supplement your own

hiring function or serve as a guide to building a talent factory from the ground up. The following chapters

cover the core elements of building and executing a talent factory, including:

Whether you are at an early stage startup, expansion-stage company, or a mature corporation, hiring top

talent is always a priority. This eBook will help you ensure that your business can most efficiently find,

attract, and compete for that talent.

Identifying the resources your

talent team needs

Exploring how the talent team should

lead the overall hiring process of your

company

Hiring a director of talent and/or

talent team members

Explaining the metrics you need to

track to measure and strengthen your

talent team


Chapter 2: assemBlIng and managIng a Top-noTCH TalenT TeamHow you choose to build your talent team depends on a number of factors. If you already

have recruiters in place, the next step is to hire a director to focus on strategy and develop

recruiting best practices. If you already have someone in a director role, you may need to

find recruiters to hire additional roles. Or maybe you have no HR or recruiting function at

all and need to start from scratch.

In this chapter, we will assume that you are building a team from the ground up, starting

with a director of talent. However, even if you already have recruiters in place or will be

hiring them first, there is valuable information in this section on scaling a talent team.

The Composition of a Talent Team

What does a talent team look like? Ideally it will have a director who oversees the hiring process at your

company and manages the recruiters. For the purposes of this eBook, we will refer to those recruiters as

talent specialists. Their role is to identify talent for your organization and manage the hiring process. In

addition, talent specialists can take on other projects such as setting up internship programs, establishing

employee retention initiatives, and filling other HR/recruiting-related roles. The director and talent special-

ist roles are explained in detail throughout this chapter.

Getting Started: How to Hire Your Talent Team

If you already have a director of talent in place, or if you have a VP or director of human resources, he or

she should be responsible for hiring the team. If your company doesn’t have anyone in a human resource

function, consider these factors when deciding who else within your company should take charge:

• Capacity: How many people or teams does this person already manage? Would they be able to

effectively manage another team?

• Function: It rarely makes sense to have a talent team report to your CTO or VP of marketing. Someone

in a similar operational role is a logical choice, and at smaller companies, the CEO may even be best.

As a rule of thumb, a talent team fits in well among the administration, HR, and finance departments.


• Location: The person managing your talent team must be in the same location as the team being

hired. Collaboration is important when setting up the team, especially at the beginning.

• Experience: Look at the resumes of your executive team. Someone who was in an HR or recruiting

function earlier in their career might be a good choice to manage the team until a director of talent

is on board.

Whoever you choose, that person’s first responsibility will be to hire a director of talent.

Hiring a Director of Talent

When hiring a director-level recruiter, it is important to initially determine what the scope of that person’s

responsibilities will be. Will he or she be responsible for talent acquisition and human resources tasks,

or just the former?

If your director of talent will hold other HR responsibilities, you should look for someone who not only

has extensive talent acquisition management experience, but who has also managed the HR function at a

growing technology company similar in size to your organization. This director of talent/HR will be expected

to manage the full talent/HR function, at least until your company scales to the point where you require a

VP of HR or Chief Talent Officer.

General Responsibilities

Although specific responsibilities for a director of talent will differ depending on your company’s needs,

some standard responsibilities include:

Hiring and terminating

Hiring recruiters, managing them for success, and terminating underperformers

when necessary. If this person is the only member of the talent team, then

they will also be charged with all open requisitions.

Strategic hiring plans

Working with hiring managers to map out the hiring plans for the year.

Budget management

Ensuring that the talent team is effectively operating within its budget,

and periodically performing cost and productivity analyses.

Goal settingDeveloping metrics for the talent team, and creating quarterly and annual

goals that the team can measure against to determine success.

Day-to-day management

Working with the talent team to put best practices into place, resolve impedi-

ments, and help them achieve their quarterly and annual goals.

Performance reviews

Conducting performance reviews with each member of the talent team.


Hiring for high-level roles

A director of talent can be instrumental in hiring for C-level positions or for

a board of directors search, where a deeper network and more experience

are required.

Picking a technology

The director of talent should play a role in overseeing the selection of recruit-

ing technologies and be the administrator of the applicant tracking system

for the team (see Chapter 4).

Once you determine the areas of responsibility that your director of talent will own, you can prepare to

launch your search for the right candidate. Please see page 50 in the Appendix of this eBook for a sample

job description for a director of talent.

“A director of talent is responsible for setting and executing your company’s talent acquisition

strategy and should be comfortable not only overseeing a team of recruiters, but also leading

searches for an array of positions, from an entry-level software engineer to your next CMO. That

takes the right combination of recruiting expertise, management experience,

and strategic insight into both your organization and industry.”

Diana Martz, Director of Talent, OpenView Venture Partners

What to Look for in Candidates

Before you start your search for a director of talent, it’s important to create a scorecard (see page 24 for

an example) that will help you evaluate each candidate during your search. The scorecard will contain all

of the qualifications you feel are necessary in your ideal candidate, with space to rate each candidate and

enter comments on how they measure against each qualification.

Here are some common types of experience and traits the director role often requires:

• A bachelor’s degree

• 7+ years of recruiting experience

• Experience successfully managing a recruiting/HR team, including responsibilities for hiring/firing and budget management

• Experience working as an internal recruiter

• Software company experience in a high-growth environment

• Understanding of software engineering recruitment

http://openviewpartners.com/people/diana-winings-martz/


If you need a director of talent with HR experience, here are some additional requirements you might want to include:

• 5+ years HR generalist experience

• HR generalist skills, including employee relations, compensation, benefits, and performance management

• Knowledge of principles and practices of HR management

• Understanding of current HR laws and issues

• General grasp of compensation practices, performance management, and staff planning

These are general guidelines for what to look for in a director, but keep in mind that your company may have a specific set of skills it needs in this role.

To attract top candidates, outline the general responsibilities of the role and communicate your company’s mission and culture as best as you can in the job description. If candidates connect with your company on these levels and can embrace what you are building, you will be much more likely to attract people who will be excited about the opportunity.

Hiring Talent Specialists

Once you have a director of talent in place, you may look to expand your team. Your talent team should be composed of knowledgeable, experienced talent specialists. A talent specialist’s responsibilities include the following:

Sourcing A large part of an internal recruiter’s job is to use the resources at hand to find qualified candidates. This means doing legwork to research top candidates and proactively reaching out.

Resume mining Your company may receive hundreds of applications a week. It is impor-tant to have someone who is able to sift through those resumes and know what they are looking for.

Screening Your talent specialists will most likely be the first point of contact for candidates. They will be interviewing candidates for various positions, so they must understand interviewing best practices.

Managing a process Talent specialists actively quarterback and manage the hiring process. They are responsible for finding qualified candidates, coordinating inter-views, preparing internal teams for interviews, gaining feedback from hir-ing managers and candidates, and continuous applicant communication. When looking for a talent specialist, make sure you find someone who is comfortable owning this role and will represent your company very well.

Employee engagement/ HR-related projects

Perhaps you are looking to start an internship program, attend career fairs, or boost morale in the office. These are all projects that a talent specialist can take on.


There are a number of ways to find qualified candidates for your talent specialist role. You can look for

agency recruiters, internal recruiters, or for people with a combination of those experiences. Please see

page 50 of the Appendix for a sample job description for a talent specialist.

If you are part of a growing expansion-stage company that is hiring talent specialists for the first time, you

should look for recruiters who have experience with a heavy volume of sourcing, applicant management, and

interviewing. These skills are important whether you choose to hire someone who is an agency recruiter or an

internal recruiter, though they are most often found in recruiters with agency background, for three key reasons:

Agency recruiters

likely have experience

working with demanding

hiring managers and finding

candidates to fill difficult roles

that the internal team at the

company could not.

They must be

organized and creative in

their sourcing approach and

able to prioritize to succeed

in a cutthroat agency

environment.

Since they are

comfortable being

compensated for the num-

ber of placements they make,

they are used to being held

accountable to deadlines

and quality of hire.

Whether you choose to hire an agency recruiter or an internal recruiter, it may be helpful to augment the

interview with a brief personality test to assess the recruiter’s strengths. (See the article 7 Tips for Using

Personality Tests to Hire for more information.)

Using the information in this section, you should be able to construct a job description that pinpoints the

specific skills you are looking for in your talent specialist role. Once you have done so, you are ready to

advertise the job and initiate your candidate search. If there is not a director of talent or talent specialist

already in place at your company, then consider using an agency to find qualified recruiters (yes, there are

recruiters who specialize in sourcing other recruiters). For a guide to hiring best practices, in the hiring

process, please refer to Chapter 3 of this eBook.

“Recruiting for an expansion-stage company can be somewhat unique because you are working

for a company that is experiencing tremendous growth but that also faces considerable budget

constraints that can slow down the hiring process. Hiring a talent specialist with experience

dealing with these conflicting issues who can also convey your company’s

vision and identify top talent in your industry is critical.”

Lindsey Gurian, Senior Talent Specialist, OpenView Venture Partners

1. 2. 3.

http://www.inc.com/guides/201103/7-tips-for-using-personlity-tests-to-hire.html

http://www.inc.com/guides/201103/7-tips-for-using-personlity-tests-to-hire.html

http://openviewpartners.com/people/lindsey-gurian/

Managing Your Talent Team

Building any team takes vision and careful planning. There will be many moving parts in

starting a talent team and you will need to formulate a strategy for properly managing your

team’s workload and day-to-day activities.

Dividing and Managing the Team’s Workload

When you have multiple recruiters on your talent team, there should be a plan in place for dividing the

workload. Each request from hiring managers should be documented and prioritized in a central location

that can be accessed by the team. As the team winds down on one search it can see which search is the

next highest priority.

A good way to keep hiring managers’ requests in order is to utilize an agile framework such as Scrum or

another project management methodology of your choosing. Doing so ensures that your team consistently

executes at a high level by focusing on priorities, and allows team members to collaborate on best prac-

tices. Whichever methodology you choose should include a daily meeting to discuss the top priorities for

the day and a weekly retrospective to talk about successes and areas for improvement.

If you are not using a formal project management methodology, it is crucial that

the team meets daily to discuss the status of each search and any hindrances

that are preventing it from moving forward. A quick 15-minute meeting can

accomplish this.

You should also develop documentation for the recruitment tools and best

practices that your talent team will use. This includes documentation on

practices such as utilizing an applicant tracking system (ATS), sending

standardized candidate rejection letters, and creating LinkedIn accounts.

Providing documentation will assist in streamlining your recruitment prac-

tices. For instance, as you will learn in the next chapter, each new search

requires you to outline a recruiting strategy (also see page 56 in the

Appendix). If you store this template in a central location for docu-

ments, you will create a valuable library that will allow your talent spe-

cialists to adjust, rather than re-create, outlines for similar searches.

Overall, your goal should be to maintain balance. You want each team member to be busy, but not overloaded. Most recruiters should be capable of working on four to five searches at a time (depending on the difficulty of each search), and it is critical that the director of talent check in regularly with each talent specialist to make sure the team is functioning optimally.

The Right Stuff: How to Recruit the Talent Your Company Needs to Scale | 12

http://www.scruminc.com


what is a Talent specialist’s Capacity? As your team takes on additional searches, it becomes increasingly important to manage and prioritize each

search on a recruiter’s desk. A recruiter’s capacity varies based on the type of position being recruited for.

For example, technical roles may take more time than sales roles due to a more competitive market, and

entry-level roles will likely take less time than senior-level roles. Similarly, new searches will be far more

time-consuming than mature ones that already possess an active pipeline of candidates.

If a recruiter is working 40 hours per week, an average capacity would be approximately four to five requisi-

tions at any given time. That allows about six to eight hours per week for each search, and that time is typi-

cally spent sourcing, screening, scheduling, coordinating, and rejecting candidates.

Preferably, of the four to five requisitions a recruiter is working on, one or two will be nearing the offer stage.

This way, if an emergency search arises (say, the VP of sales resigns), a recruiter will be able to take it on

without exceeding his or her capacity. If a recruiter is working on four to five new searches, it will be difficult

to make time for another new search — even if it is an emergency. One of their current searches would likely

have to be put on hold.

Setting Up the Ideal Day for Your Talent Team

You have learned so far that each member of the talent team’s day should begin with a brief meeting, but

what other tactics can help you plan their day?

A recruiter’s day should be compartmentalized into the following categories:

Sourcing Each search takes a significant amount of time to source. It is crucial that each mem-

ber of the talent team allows enough time to utilize tools such as LinkedIn or TalentBin

to vet prospects that meet the qualifications for a specific requisition. In addition,

it is paramount that talent specialists reach out to people in their network to let them

know they are hiring for a new role. At this time, all inbound applicants should also

be reviewed.

Interviewing Interviewing candidates can be time-consuming and requires a talent specialist’s undi-

vided attention. Time should be set aside for phone screens and in-person interviews so

that they do not disrupt the flow of the day. For example, it is unwise to schedule phone

interviews at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m., because this breaks up the day too much

with interview preparation and relaying notes to the hiring manager. A model

day would have all interviews clustered together in the morning or late afternoon.


Projects Time for projects, such as building an internship program or planning for a career fair,

should be allotted in weekly planning.

Planning The saying “plan your work and work your plan” applies here. Managing multiple

searches and projects can overwhelm a team member. Having team members plan

their individual calendars will help make sure they stay on task.

What to Do Once Your Team is Assembled

If people are your company’s most important asset, then getting the right ones in place within your talent

factory is the critical first step toward building an operation that yields results well into the future.

Once you have that team assembled, how can you ensure that it constantly works to attract and retain top

talent for your organization?

The beauty of having a talent factory is that once it gets going it is self-propelling. But in order to get your

factory up and running, you need a strategy. The next chapter will outline hiring best practices, including

how to plan for a search, create compelling job descriptions, source and screen candidates, and extend

competitive job offers.


Chapter 3: exeCuTIng THe sIx pHases oF an eFFeCTIve reCruITIng proCessThere are six phases in the ideal recruiting process — planning, sourcing, screening, inter-

viewing, gathering feedback, and extending an offer. Each phase is critical, and by following

them sequentially you will ensure a repeatable process that allows for efficient and effective

recruiting.

In this chapter, you will learn best practices for each of the six phases listed above, allowing

you to put in place a hiring process that not only benefits hiring managers and your company,

but also creates an ideal candidate experience.

phase 1: planning your search

In this phase of the hiring process, you need to meet and work with hiring managers to define the job

profile, budget, interview process, and projected timeline. This includes creating a targeted job description

based on essential functions and qualifications for the position.

Hosting a Kickoff Meeting

When beginning a new search, a talent specialist should conduct a brief kickoff meeting that involves all

stakeholders. That group typically includes any individual who is involved in the hiring process, such as the

hiring manager, and the department head. This meeting provides the talent specialist with an opportunity

to build a relationship with the hiring manager and to gain valuable insight into the role.

Several things should be accomplished in this meeting, including:

• Understanding the role from the hiring manager’s point of view. Discuss the general

responsibilities of the role and the essential skills and experience it requires.

• Establishing the right job title that will attract the best candidates.

• Gathering competitive intelligence from the hiring manager. Determine which companies

would be best to target for this type of hire and any companies to potentially avoid.


• Determining a competitive and fair compensation range. Work with the hiring manager to establish

the compensation range for the market and a competitive compensation package that you would

potentially deliver to a top candidate. If the hiring manager is unsure of what a competitive com-

pensation package looks like, the best way to determine an accurate range is to research what the

market is paying. You can use an online salary tool such as PayScale, ask peers in the industry, or

examine market trends. Make sure the role and the budget have been approved, and that your tal-

ent team understands the approval process.

• Explaining your recruiting process and setting expectations. Get a commitment from the hiring

manager to send timely feedback once a candidate has been interviewed. Schedule a time each

week to provide updates on the search. Explain how many candidates the hiring manager can

expect to review weekly and how long you anticipate the recruiting process will take.

• Defining the interview process. Determine how many interview rounds there will be and who will be

involved. A standard set of interviews might proceed as follows:

1. Phone interview with talent specialist

2. Qualified candidates sent to hiring manager for review

3. Hiring manager phone interview with candidate

4. On-site interview with hiring manager and other stakeholders

5. Reference checks

6. Offer delivered

Once the talent specialist has gathered all of the necessary information from the kickoff meeting, he or she can compile it into a detailed outline of the hiring process, including the expectations of the role.

Creating a Job Description

As mentioned above, another important aspect of initiating a search is creating a job description that

accurately reflects the role, the types of candidates you desire, and the qualifications potential candidates

must have.

At a high level, your job descriptions should include four main elements:

Title: The title is the first thing a candidate will read on the job description. It should be appealing,

descriptive, and accurate. There is a fine line between making the job title sound attractive and over-

exaggerating its seniority. If a job is a senior-level role, be sure to include words like “senior,” “lead,” or

“principal.” If the person will have management responsibilities, include “manager” or “director.” If the

position is more junior or entry level, use “associate” or “specialist.”

Company Information: This is your chance to explain what makes your company unique. Highlight any

selling points that set your company apart. Perhaps you have won an award for being named a best place

to work, or maybe you sponsor events in your industry — this is the place to sell your company. Consider

including the company’s growth rate, cutting-edge technology in use or development, awards or press clip-

pings, or even things like office location and perks.

1.

2.


Job Responsibilities: Be specific. A broad description of responsibilities may dissuade qualified candi-

dates from applying since they do not understand what the role requires. Include day-to-day tasks as well

as long-term strategic objectives. Exclude obvious or mundane tasks if they are unimportant or do not

reflect the importance of the role.

Minimum Qualifications: Outline the minimum qualifications of the position. Too many qualifications

might shrink the candidate pool, while too few qualifications can open the door to unqualified candidates

who think they fit the job profile.

For examples of effective job descriptions, see page 50 in the Appendix.

Once all stakeholders have signed off on the job description, post the position immediately after the kick-

off meeting to your company’s careers page, as well as to any job boards you have decided to use (covered

in greater detail in Chapter 4). You can manage the job postings by syncing all applications to be delivered

straight to your inbox (e-mail filters can be highly useful in this process) or to your ATS.

Setting Clear Expectations and Timelines

It is extremely important for the talent team to set expectations with hiring managers from the start of a

search. Hiring managers are busy, and the talent specialist should remember that hiring/interviewing is

not a hiring manager’s only responsibility. By explaining the hiring process, establishing clear expectations,

and scheduling regular check-in meetings, talent specialists should improve their communication with the

hiring manager, leading to a more effective search.

3.

4.

Best practice Save all job descriptions in a shared drive or in your applicant tracking system (ATS) so your

talent team will have a library to pull from and use for similar positions. Perhaps a little tweak-

ing will be necessary, but this will save time when new positions open.

Want to Win the War for Top Tech TalenT?Download OpenView’s Free Report.

http://labs.openviewpartners.com/recruiting-software-engineers-successfully/%20


are you working with a recruiting agency?Under certain circumstances, utilizing a staffing agency makes sense and saves

time and resources for your talent team. These include:

• Temporary positions. Some agencies special-

ize in temporary placements within specific

departments (e.g., IT, administration, mar-

keting, etc.). This service could be useful in

an emergency situation where your company

unexpectedly loses an important member of a

team and wishes to hire a temporary employee

while sourcing the right full-time candidate.

• Permanent positions. A staffing agency can

sometimes be helpful for filling permanent

roles as well. For example, if a recruiter can

no longer source additional candidates, he or

she may need external assistance. Special-

ized IT staffing firms have extensive candidate

databases, and it might make sense to hire

a staffing agency to fill a particularly dif-

ficult position so that you can direct internal

resources to another search.

• Executive roles. A search for a C-level or

VP-level positions at your company might

exceed your internal recruiter’s expertise.

Executive search firms typically have a vast

network for these positions and are particu-

larly helpful if you are opening a confidential

search.

When using a recruiting agency, make sure you

have a contract that has been approved by your

organization’s legal and finance team before

allowing the agency to submit candidates. Doing

so will eliminate any difficulties with payment to

the agency in the future.

Also, building your network with proven specialized

agency recruiters is important for when such needs

arise. Do your homework and get references.

If you decide to work with an external recruiter, it

is best to meet with him or her in person to start.

Explaining a company’s culture over the phone

is difficult, and a recruiter can glean a lot about

company culture/environment just by visiting your

office. Prior to kicking off the search with the

agency, be sure to provide all the details it needs

to hire for the role, including information about

your company, desired skill set, years of experi-

ence, competencies, compensation, and any

other items that are helpful in identifying talent

for the role.

Although using an agency is an external endeavor,

it is important to note that you must allocate

internal resources to manage the process. Before

candidates from an agency are passed along to

the hiring manager for consideration, a recruiter

should perform a preliminary phone screen.

This ensures not only that the process is consis-

tent across the board, but also that submitted

candidates meet the requirements of the posi-

tion before facing the hiring manager. Also, we

recommend that you streamline the use of agency

recruiters by having a point recruiter in-house so

agency recruiters do not deal directly with hiring

managers.


phase 2: sourcing Candidates

Sourcing is the act of uncovering and identifying candidates through proactive recruiting

techniques. There are several outlets to utilize when sourcing, the largest being the profes-

sional social networking site LinkedIn. You can also find technical candidates through virtual

groups such as Stack Overflow or GitHub. More information on the functionalities of these

resources is provided in Chapter 4.

The best way to source candidates is to test different methods and track your results. You

may find some groups prove more successful for sourcing a specific type of role over others.

Asking hiring managers or stakeholders for sites to consider is very valuable. Finally, make

sure your talent specialists block out a specified time for sourcing each day.

Proactively Sourcing Candidates with Effective Messaging

As you source potential candidates, it is extremely important that the e-mail or InMail (LinkedIn) messages

you send capture their attention and draw them in. It takes hours to find quality candidates; put that time

to good use by crafting a relevant, well thought out, eye-catching message that introduces the position

without being too lengthy or wordy. The most important information to include is:

Selling points and relevant details about the company and culture

Share interesting facts that will catch a candidate’s attention. For example:

• The company has grown by 50 percent over the last year

• The company has won prestigious industry awards or been named a best place to work

Appealing facts about the position

Explain the main responsibilities of the role and why the candidate should explore the opportunity.

For example:

• It is a brand new role with significant growth potential

• The candidate will help define and drive market strategy

• He or she will work closely with the CFO

A clear call to action

Tell the candidate how to take next steps. If you ask them to respond to your inquiry, be sure to make your

contact information clear.

It’s also important to personalize the message. Candidates should not feel as though they are reading a

standard e-mail that was blasted out to anyone in the area who meets the job’s minimum qualifications.

Take time to review the candidate’s profile and pinpoint exactly what makes him or her a great fit.

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“It’s important to know that much like you are trying to determine if they

are a fit, they are considering if you are a fit for them. You have to do

everything you can to sell the role and the company to your candidates.”

Kirsten Spoljaric, Co-Founder and VP of Human Resources, Mashery

How Do You Pitch a Role Successfully?

To pitch a role, talent specialists need to understand and be able to clearly articulate their company’s value

proposition to employees. Their goal is to generate enthusiasm for the position specifically and for working for

the company in general. Here are some things to think about when developing a recruiting pitch:

Highlight unique cultural facets of

your company

Does the CEO regularly interact with employees either one-on-one or through

regular town hall meetings? Information that will give prospective candidates

an understanding of what your company represents and what it is like to work

for are worth noting.

Call out awards and recognition

Has your company been named a best place to work or have your products

received industry recognition? Provide details like these to demonstrate how

your company stands out from the competition.

Share recent news Have you recently received funding or launched a new product? Companies

that have exciting events happening are often highly desirable to work for.

Create cultural/ recruiting videos

A great way to show candidates what it’s like to work at your company is to

create a brief recruiting or company culture video that highlights employees

as well as the company’s values and identity.

Develop marketing collateral

Often overlooked, online brochures, blogs, articles, and other marketing col-

lateral can be a valuable resource providing prospective candidates with a

better understanding of your company’s value proposition and culture.

Establish an internship program

By setting up an internship program, your company can build its brand with

local universities and colleges, both great sources of future employees.

Best practice Regularly refresh job postings as the search progresses, so that

the position returns to the top of search engine results.


The ultimate goal is to make the position and your company sound so appealing that even candidates who are not looking for a new job will find the position exciting and interesting enough to pursue, or to at least share with their networks.

When you are sourcing for candidates on LinkedIn, GitHub, or other platforms, be sure you have a solid understanding of the criteria you are looking for. Enter keywords and phrases into the search fields and be sure to try different combinations of words to ensure the most accurate results.

phase 3: phone screening

Phone screens are the initial interview you have with candidates.

The goal is to explain the company, culture, and position in detail,

and to better understand the candidate’s experience to determine

if he or she truly aligns with your target profile and company culture.

Candidate expectations can have a significant influence on the outcome

of a search, so it is vital to start measuring and managing them in the initial

stages of the recruitment process to avoid any eleventh-hour breakdowns in

the process.

To uncover those expectations in the initial interview, the talent specialist should discuss:

Experience Ask the candidate to walk you through his or her background, noting career high-lights. Look for patterns, how the person’s experience aligns with the role, and any areas for further vetting. In addition, find out what is motivating the candidate to consider a new role.

Compensation What does the candidate currently earn? Get a full compensation breakdown (base, variable, options, etc.). What is the candidate’s compensation expectation for the job at your company? Is it in line with your company’s budget? This will help you to create a competitive offer should the candidate be selected for the role, and help prevent back-and-forth compensation negotiations after an offer is presented.

Timeline What is the candidate’s timeframe for making a career move? Is anything keeping them at their current company until a certain date (e.g., bonus, potential promo-tion, etc.)? Would anything else prevent them from starting by a particular date? Timing is an important factor when recruiting candidates. It’s essential to know a candidate’s timeframe to determine his or her viability.

...


Job search Ask candidates about any other job opportunities they are pursuing and where

they are in the process. Don’t automatically assume that your company’s opportu-

nity is the best one out there.

Next steps In closing the interview, it is important to give candidates an understanding of

who at your organization they can expect to hear from next, and what the rest of

the interview process will be like.

A phone screen determines whether a candidate should move forward in the process, and it is important

that the interviewer be prepared for the call. The objective for the phone interview is to pique the candi-

date’s interest in the role, as well as to glean necessary information from the candidate. If a candidate is a

potential fit for the position, the talent specialist should move him or her forward in the hiring process.

ensuring a positive Candidate experienceAn internal recruiter is typically the first point of contact within the company for a candi-

date, and first impressions are important for the reputation of your organization.

It is critical that your talent team provides a positive candidate experience throughout the

recruiting and hiring process. To ensure that occurs, follow these four practices:

Respect the Candidate’s Time

Your talent team should be flexible and considerate. A candidate’s typical work hours may be

9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but if he or she can only speak early in the morning or after work, recruiters

should consider arriving early, staying late, or trying to catch that person on a lunch break. In addi-

tion, make sure to schedule all phone interviews at least one day in advance to give the candidate

time to properly prepare.

Outline Next Steps

Once you have initiated communication with a candidate, it is important to inform him or her

of what to expect next by discussing:

•The typical length of your hiring process and interviews (some hiring managers may prefer

one full-day interview; that is an important point to note from the start)

•The stages of the interview process (e.g., phone interview, in-person interview, final interview)

•Who the candidate will be speaking with during each stage

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Receive and Relay Feedback

Establishing a feedback loop with hiring managers from the outset is critical. In addition to

enhancing the talent team’s sourcing efforts, prompt feedback from hiring managers allows recruit-

ers to more quickly alert candidates who are waiting to hear back about their status.

If feedback or hiring decisions are delayed, the talent specialist should still check in regularly with

candidates and let them know that they are still being considered. Doing so provides a chance to

gauge the candidate’s interest level and keep them excited about the opportunity. (See page 48 in

the Appendix for additional information on how a recruiter can handle a lack of feedback from a

hiring manager.) More frequent touch points result in a better candidate experience and ultimately

can increase the likelihood of acceptance.

Provide Timely Rejections

Once a job has been filled, it is important to inform all candidates that were being considered

for the position. You should have a standard timeline in place for responding to applications (typi-

cally 48 to 72 hours), and use a template to issue rejections, examples of which can be found on

page 49 in the Appendix.

It is nice to personalize rejection notices, but be aware of compliance issues that may apply. For

example, it is illegal to tell a candidate that he or she has too much experience, or that the hiring

manager chose a candidate who already lives in the area. See pages 53 to 54 in the Appendix of

this eBook for a list of illegal interview questions and legal substitutes.

The best approach is to thank candidates for their time and interest, and explain that the hiring

manager decided to move forward with another candidate who is believed to be best qualified for

the job. If the candidate probes, the recruiter should say they have no further details, but encour-

age them to apply to future openings that interest them.

By following these guidelines to a positive candidate experience, a candidate will likely only

have good things to say about your company, even if he or she didn’t get the job.

3.

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phase 4: Interviewing

In-person interviews are a chance for the interviewee to convey his or her strengths and capabilities for the

position in question. Candidates also learn about your company and whether it is a fit for them. Similarly,

the interviewer is the ambassador for the organization. That person’s goal should not only be to learn about

the candidate and ascertain if he or she will be a fit, but to also represent the company in the best way.


To ensure you create consistency in the interview process, establish a plan for how candidates will move

through the procedure. First, determine who at your company will conduct the interviews and make sure

that they each interview the candidates for a specific criteria. It helps to communicate with the stakehold-

ers in the hiring process to make sure topical questions are being asked and that there is minimal overlap.

Having a plan in place for interviewing gives the process more continuity.

Be sure to integrate behavioral interviewing questions into the process (see page 51 in the Appendix for more

information on behavioral interviewing). These types of questions are designed to show how a candidate would

behave or has behaved in a specific situation, and can reveal the character and aptitude of the candidate.

Best practice for interviewersWhen interviewing, record your impressions for each interview immediately. Take thorough

notes and compile them afterward along with your overall impression into a scorecard that

can be shared with others on your team. Here’s a template you can use, scoring candidates

on a scale of one to five:

Candidate InterviewerManagement Track Record

HR Experience

Hiring Experience

Leadership TeamworkSaaS

KnowledgeCommunication

SkillsTotal Score

Additional Notes

Candidate 1 Interviewer 1 2 3 5 2 4 4 4 24

Interviewer 2 3 3 5 3 4 4 4 26

Interviewer 3 3 3 5 3 4 4 5 27

Interviewer 4 2 3 5 2 4 4 5 25


Interviewer 2 4 4 4 4 4 3 5 28

Interviewer 3 4 3 5 4 4 4 5 29

Interviewer 4 4 3 5 4 4 4 4 28


Interviewer 2 5 5 5 4 4 4 5 32

Interviewer 3 5 4 5 4 4 5 4 31

Interviewer 4 5 5 5 4 4 5 5 33

Candidate Aggregate ScoreManagement Track Record

HR Experience

Hiring Experience

Leadership TeamworkSaaS

KnowledgeCommunication

Skills# of Interviews

Candidate 1 102 10 12 20 10 16 16 18

Candidate 2 112 16 14 18 16 15 14 19

Candidate 3 127 20 18 20 17 16 18 18

Once each interviewer has spoken with the candidate and focused on specific competencies, you can

compare impressions and feedback. Without standardization in your interview process, you risk assessing

candidates on variables that don’t pertain to their qualifications for the job.


phase 5: acquiring Feedback

After interviews for a specific job opening are complete, it is important to agree on a timeline for receiving

feedback from hiring managers (a reasonable expectation is within 48 hours of an interview). Make sure to

explain to hiring managers why feedback is critically important to the search — it not only provides updates

to candidates who have interviewed, but also helps fine-tune your search as you source additional candidates.

There are two effective ways to create that feedback loop with hiring managers:

Weekly Meetings

Scheduling a weekly meeting or call with the hiring manager provides a forum for sharing feedback and

discussing any adjustments to the role. These meetings are also an excellent opportunity for both parties

to check in on the progress of a search, discuss any potential impediments, and map out next steps.

sample Interview QuestionsBelow are a few examples of interview questions you can ask for some of the most common types of positions at expansion-stage companies.

For Software Engineers:

• What programming languages are you comfortable with and which ones do you work in regularly?

• Tell me about your current (or most recent) product. What specific role did you play in its development?

• What software development methodology does your team use (agile/waterfall)? What makes that method successful?

For Sales Professionals:

• How do you find and target new accounts for prospecting?

• Tell me about a time you successfully identified a sales opportunity and the steps you took toward managing the sales process.

• Describe the most challenging objection or rejection you have faced in a sale and how you responded.

For Marketing Professionals:

• Give me an example of a time when you accomplished a marketing activity on a tight budget.

• What marketing strategies would you consider using for our product?

• Tell me about a marketing project where you had to coordinate and manage a diverse team on a tight budget.

1.


As such, it is critically important to hold hiring managers to the weekly meeting. Rescheduling on occa-

sion is acceptable, but consistent no-shows are not. Be clear that if there is not a solid feedback loop,

the search will be paused until the situation is rectified. If there is still no resolution, the talent special-

ist may need to escalate the issue to his or her director or to the hiring manager’s supervisor. Finding

out how to best communicate with your hiring managers is key — for some it may be by e-mail, for

others maybe by phone or by dropping by their desk if possible.

Weekly Update E-mails

If you choose not to have weekly meetings with the hiring managers (or if you just want to cover your

bases), update e-mails are another opportunity to keep informed not only the direct hiring manager,

but all stakeholders in the search who may not be involved with day-to-day communication.

Choose a day (typically toward the end of the week) to send a high-level overview of the search’s prog-

ress and the candidates in process. If the search is not going as planned, highlight impediments and

a strategy for the following week.

phase 6: preparing and extending an offer

As with the other steps of the hiring process, your company should implement a protocol for

extending offers that creates consistency across all positions. Here are some points to consider

when presenting an offer:

Reference Checks

One very important but often overlooked step in the hiring and interviewing process is checking references.

It is vital to gather this information no matter how certain you may feel about a candidate’s viability.

This should be done prior the extending an offer.

Determine whether the hiring manager or a member of the talent team will check the references of the

candidate. It is recommended that the hiring managers conduct these interviews themselves, as it is a

rare opportunity to learn how their

potential future employee can

be managed most effectively by

someone who has done so before.

The reference checker should then

ask the candidate for a list of ref-

erences that includes:

2.

Recent managers: It may not be feasible for a

candidate to provide you with their current manager’s infor-

mation, and you should respect that. In such instances, ask for

their former managers’ information.

Senior colleague: If the candidate does not

have any prior managers, ask for a reference who has indi-

rectly managed or has seniority over the candidate who can speak to his or her experi-

ence and capabilities.


Keep in mind that references can be tricky. Candidates are not going to give you a list of people who will

say they have done a mediocre job, but rather people they trust will say they have a strong work ethic and

will do the job well. A backdoor reference, however, can provide insight about a candidate without being a

formal reference check. This can be someone you know who has worked with the candidate, or a credible

common connection found on LinkedIn. Reach out to see if they would be open to having a conversation.

Do not engage with someone from the candidate’s current company; the fact the candidate is interviewing

with you should be kept confidential. Further, speaking to someone from the candidate’s current company

without their permission could jeopardize their job and both of your reputations.

Background Checks

If your company requires a background check, this is the time in the process to get that information

together. Let the candidate know that an offer is contingent on a background check. Each state has laws

on how and when background checks can be conducted, so be sure to start there. For additional informa-

tion, see this great article from Forbes, “The 10 Dos and Don’ts of Conducting Employee Background

Checks.”

Creating Competitive Compensation Plans

In order to create a competitive compensation plan for a candidate, you must have knowledge of what the

candidate is currently earning and what their requirements are to make a move. Tools like PayScale.com

and Advanced-HR.com (which runs an annual compensation survey of VC-backed companies) can help

create a compensation breakdown. Market research is key to coming up with a compensation plan.

Presenting the Offer

The person extending the offer should have a good relationship with the candidate. The best person to

deliver an offer is the hiring manager, though it could also be a representative from HR or the talent spe-

cialist who recruited the candidate.

Whoever ends up presenting the offer should always do so first over the phone before any documentation

is sent out. That person should reiterate the selling points of the position and the company and be sure to

keep the conversation positive. The excitement they convey over the phone will rub off on the candidate.

If the hiring manager lacks experience extending offers, be sure to have the talent specialist follow up

Best practice Create a standard set of questions to use when checking references that each department

adheres to, with the option of asking additional questions when necessary. See page 55

in the Appendix for a sample set of reference questions.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikalbelicove/2012/10/26/the-10-dos-and-donts-o-conducting-employee-background-checks/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikalbelicove/2012/10/26/the-10-dos-and-donts-o-conducting-employee-background-checks/


with the candidate soon after to gauge his or her interest and continue selling the offer. Alternatively,

consider having the talent specialist join the call. Be sure the hiring manager has all the details of the offer

in writing for reference during the call, including benefits and time off information. Managers should be

coached on driving the candidate to verbal acceptance, and discussing a potential start date.

If a verbal acceptance is withheld after the offer is made, find out why. Is the candidate concerned

with the compensation package? Do they have reservations about the position? Any concerns should be

addressed as soon as possible.

What to Include in the Offer Letter

When putting together an offer letter for a candidate, certain items should appear in the body of the letter.

These include:

• Name of employee

• Name of company

• Title of position

• Start date

• Salary/hourly rate

• Exempt or non-exempt status

• Bonus/other incentives

• Benefits

• Who the position reports to

• Legalities (at-will employment, etc.)

• Job description (could be attachment)

There should also be a deadline for acceptance, typically 48 hours to one week. The more time allowed

(and the more time it takes) the less likely it is that the person will accept. Setting a deadline will also set

the stakeholders’ expectations on when to expect an answer, and allows the opportunity to offer the role to

another candidate should the first one reject the offer.

Note: If your company creates an offer letter template, legal counsel and/or HR should be consulted.

Preparing for Rejections or Counter Offers

While awaiting a response from your written offer, it’s worth spending some time anticipating a counter

offer. Review your notes to see what the candidate was looking for in an offer. Maybe he or she wanted at

least three weeks of vacation or the ability to occasionally work from home. If your offer is not on par with

the candidate’s expectations, the chances of it being accepted are low.

Prepare yourself for the possibility that the candidate could accept a counter offer from his or her current

employer or simply reject your offer altogether. If it is financially possible, you may consider countering the

counter offer, but this can be a slippery slope and you may end up losing the candidate anyway. Do not close

the search until you have a signed offer letter in hand and the candidate has given notice to their current

employer. This way, should the candidate reject the offer, you do not have to start from scratch.


4 wild Cards to Consider when making an offer Extending an offer to a candidate often involves far more than developing a compensation and

benefits package, and establishing a start date. Details like the hours of the job, vacation time,

working remotely, and relocation provisions should all be discussed during the interview pro-

cess and reiterated when an offer is delivered.

Here are tips for handling four common issues for new hires:

Working Remotely: There are pros and cons to hiring someone to work remotely. Some positions

require the employee to be on-site every day. Other positions, particularity software engineering, Web

development, and field sales roles, don’t necessarily require on-site schedules. Even recruiting could easily

be performed from home, as long as there is sufficient interaction with the team and hiring managers.

Your company should develop a protocol and appropriate policy around telecommuting and hiring

remote employees. This can include how work will be submitted, the hours employees are expected to

be available, and to whom they are to report. The benefits of considering remote employees include a

deepening of the talent pool you can tap into and reduced costs on common office expenses.

Flexible Schedules: Creating flexible schedules outside of the 9-to-5 realm for some hires is an

option. For example, if a great candidate has to leave early one or two days per week for personal rea-

sons, there should be an option to make up those hours other days either from home or in the office.

Again, it’s important to consult legal counsel in setting up such policies.

Relocation: Determine if your company will consider relocating potential candidates. You may want

to consider implementing a protocol around senior-level candidates relocating after their first six to

12 months. For example, the perfect candidate for a VP-level position may be out of state and unable

to move until selling the family home. In this case, the employee might work remotely for the first year,

commuting into the area as necessary. Having such a policy also can open the applicant pool to candi-

dates who otherwise may have been excluded from consideration. Often offering relocation support can

set you apart from other companies; however, it’s common to require a relocation repayment agreement

should a candidate join and leave within a certain period of time (e.g., one year). Consult your HR or

legal counsel on such agreements.

Visas: This might sound obvious, but you must ensure that each candidate is legally authorized to work

in the U.S. This can be determined either through a pre-screen questionnaire during the initial applica-

tion process or during the job interview. If an individual is not legally entitled to work in the U.S., your

company will have to decide whether or not to sponsor the potential employee. If you decide to pursue

sponsorship, see pages 57-59 of the Appendix for an overview of the visa process for new hires. If you

decide not to sponsor the individual, for legal purposes it is advisable not to disclose the reason with

the candidate.

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Ensuring Employee Retention

Beyond hiring great candidates, your company’s success depends on your ability to retain those top per-formers over the long term. In addition to the other methods, such as offering competitive compensation and opportunities for career growth, your talent team can be instrumental in improving employee retention. The suggestions below demonstrate how your talent team can help do so:

• Host a networking event: This will attract talent to your company, and also give your employees an opportunity to share their excitement about their role in your company’s mission.

• Create content highlighting employees’ successes: By highlighting employees who won awards or hackathons, or who achieved personal success through charity work, for example, you are showing that you care about your employees both professionally and personally, and giving other employees an example to follow.

• Include team members in the interview process: In each search have one or two peers interview a candidate to assess attitude and cultural fit. It will show your employees that their opinions are valued, and allow the candidate to learn more about the atmosphere of the company.

Talent Factory Execution is All About Smart Planning

As this chapter has shown, recruiting top talent to your organization requires a great deal of preparation and collaboration. It is absolutely critical that you have specific processes in place to manage each phase of the hiring process, and that all stakeholders are on the same page in terms of what they are looking for in a top candidate.

You also probably noticed that we mentioned the need to document the applicants and candidates that flow into your business during the recruiting process, and this is where tools like an applicant tracking system (ATS) or a customized database can help. In the next chapter, we will explore those tools and several others that can make your talent factory more efficient, effective, and valuable.

“The math of replacing members of an organization is rarely in an organization’s favor. Successful

companies put great effort into identifying the right candidates, devoting man-hours toward having

multiple team members interview candidates. Once they reach a decision to hire they devote time

to training and getting the person comfortable with and knowledgeable of the systems already in

place. If a company has gone through all that effort once, then why wouldn’t it put more effort into

retaining those people rather than constantly having to hunt for their replacements and start from

scratch? It’s a much smarter investment of resources to figure out if employees are likely to leave

and then do everything in your power to keep them, rather than wait for them to

declare that they’re leaving for reasons you could have addressed earlier.”

Chad O’Connor, Adjunct Professor of Organizational Communication and Culture at

Northeastern University, Editor of the Global Business Hub blog on Boston.com

http://www.boston.com/business/blogs/global-business-hub/


Chapter 4: employIng THe Tools (and TeCHnology) oF THe reCruITIng TradeLike any factory, a talent factory will not function optimally without the right tools and technol-

ogy. Software products like an applicant tracking system (ATS), for instance, can help talent

specialists manage their recruiting process more effectively, while using the right job sites and

having a standout careers page can make sourcing the right candidates much more efficient.

In this chapter, we will cover the recruiting technologies that will allow your team to perform

at the highest level and successfully attract the top talent so that you can compete with

other companies in your industry. By the end of this section, you will understand what an

ATS is and why you need one, and you will possess best practices for identifying and leverag-

ing the myriad job sites available today.

What is an Applicant Tracking System?

An ATS is a software solution that enables recruiters to manage candidates in the recruitment process. It is

similar to a customer relationship management (CRM) system, but designed specifically for recruiting.

Without an ATS, your team will struggle to manage the influx of candidates that you will receive from job

postings and proactive sourcing. Additionally, talent specialists will be unable to monitor each other’s

activity, causing them to sometimes reach out to the same candidate for different roles or double their

efforts on the same role.

Purchasing an ATS for your talent team is a big step toward preventing those issues, but you should not

choose one on a whim — not all ATS solutions are the same. To ensure that you pick the ATS that is right

for you, take the time to do your due diligence about the product, keeping these six things in mind:

Usability You want an ATS that is user friendly and straightforward. You don’t want to burden your team with an

eight-hour training session just to learn how to input a candidate’s information. Do your research, take a

tour of the system, and go through the demonstrations on how to utilize the system. If you are not confi-

dent that every person on your team will be able to use the system correctly and efficiently, look elsewhere.

1.


Customization Every organization and team is different. You don’t want an ATS that you must conform to; you want one

that conforms to you. Make sure you can customize statuses, required information, format, etc. That way

your team can tailor the system for your needs and the way you plan to use it. Additionally, you will want to

make sure that you are able to change the customizations as needed if the team decides on a new process.

Job Postings and Applications Can you post jobs on your company’s website through the ATS? If so, are applications submitted through

the website automatically inputted into the ATS for your team to review? They should be. This makes the

application review process much more streamlined. It also ensures that every application is entered into

your ATS, even if the candidate is not a fit for the particular job he or she applied for.

Cost Everything else being equal, it makes sense to go with the most cost-effective option. But make sure to try

to get the best system for the money. Also, inquire about extra costs. Are upgrades included? How about

job postings? How many accounts are included in the upfront cost? How much does each extra account

cost? Are there discounts for a certain number of seats purchased at once? Make sure you consider these

items.

Customer Support Be sure to read reviews on the product and on customer support response in particular. Even great prod-

ucts have issues, and poor customer support can be very frustrating, compounding the problem. Find out

if you will be assigned one relationship manager you can contact with any issues, or if you will have to call

the number provided and risk being on hold for a while.

Hosted or Cloud/SaaS Hosted solutions are slower to change and fix. A cloud or SaaS system may be the better option.

The ramp-up, upgrades, and fixes are quicker, and you have the option to access the system remotely.

Pricing for an ATS varies depending on the system and your needs, but starts at $99 per month. Some of the best applicant tracking systems include:

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

http://www.bullhorn.com/how-to-buy/staffing-software

http://www.bullhorn.com/how-to-buy/staffing-software

http://www.pcrecruiter.net/

http://aps2k.com/

http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/taleo/overview/index.html

http://www.theresumator.com/

http://recruiting.jobvite.com/

http://www.kenexa.com/Solutions/RecruitmentTechnology/GlobalTalentAcquisition

http://www.icims.com/


aTs Best practicesBefore your team starts utilizing an ATS, you need to ensure that best practices are in place

for how to use it. Otherwise, there won’t be consistency in basic — but crucial — informa-

tion, such as the coding and notes on each candidate profile. An unorganized or hard-to-

search ATS will make the money you spent on the system seem like a waste.

Here are some best practices and processes to decide on before you start using your ATS:

• Entering Candidates: Which candidates will your team enter into the ATS? Every candidate they

reach out to? Every candidate they get a response from? Or maybe just the candidates they talk to?

This is the first decision to make and it will vary depending on how your team works. It is generally

a good idea to enter every candidate that is reached out to. At a minimum, this will help create a

database of candidates that your team can refer to.

• Contact Information: It’s wise to require certain contact information for every candidate entered

(for example, an e-mail address). It’s of little use to have candidates in the ATS who cannot be

contacted. Additionally, make sure that the contact information is updated as needed.

• Statuses: Most systems allow you to customize statuses to your needs. Your team should decide

which statuses make the most sense. These may include “reached out,” “pursuing,” “interview-

ing,” “rejected,” “offer,” etc. Additionally, make sure your team keeps the candidate’s status

updated throughout the process.

• Notes: There are many ways to utilize the notes feature in an ATS, but your team needs to decide

how they will use it. Talent specialists should enter notes on candidates any time they communi-

cate with a candidate or the status of the candidacy changes. Otherwise, the notes will get messy

and it will be difficult for team members to decipher them. Also, will you require notes on every

contact that a team member makes with a candidate, or only the important ones? Some significant

items to include are the role contacted for, response and interest in the position, interview days/

times, and any notes from the interview that would be helpful for future reference. Finally, if you

are going to use abbreviations like “em” for e-mail or “lm” for left message, make sure everyone

knows what they mean.

Other ATS features that may be helpful to your team include e-mail templates, candidate lists, and skill coding.

Whichever ones you use, it’s important that there is a streamlined process for utilizing and managing

your ATS. This not only strengthens the hiring process, it also allows every team member to understand

the notes and status of each candidate and step into a search if needed, helping ensure a positive

candidate experience.


Job-posting Outlets

Posting jobs is not as straightforward as it was when you simply placed an ad in the newspaper. These

days, there are hundreds of job websites out there, some of which appeal to unique, segmented audiences

or role-specific job seekers. While it may seem like a sensible strategy to cover your bases by posting to as

many job sites as possible, that is not realistic because of the time and cost it would require.

With so many options, choosing the job posting sites that are right for your company and position can be daunting. How should you decide? Start by researching and considering these factors:

Cost: A job posting can range from free to $500 or more, so first assess the cost and

whether it fits your budget; then evaluate other factors, such as the breadth of the

audience the job posting will reach and the caliber of candidates who apply. It is also

important to consider how long you will need to have the job posted before it is filled.

A posting for 15 days at $100 is cheaper upfront, but it costs more per day than a

60-day posting for $300. If filling the position is expected to be quick and easy, the

15-day option would make more sense for you.

ROI: Similar to outright cost, you need to evaluate the expected return on investment

for each posting, which will vary for each job within each company. To determine ROI:

• Compare the cost of the posting with how much this hire will benefit the

company and how quickly the role needs to be filled. A high-producing sales

person might be worth spending money on a posting. If filling the position is

not urgent, it may make more sense to recruit heavily through less expensive

sourcing tactics.

• Speak with a representative from the job board you are considering in order to

ascertain the average number of applicants received per posting, and the per-

centage of people who apply after viewing a posting. Also, ask about site traffic

volume and request testimonials or reviews from clients who have used the site.

Well-established sites will readily make this information available to you.

• Ask if there is a trial period in which you could test out the site before com-

mitting to purchasing a job slot or a package of slots. This is a great way to see

first-hand the caliber of applicants. Similarly, ask about any guarantees (e.g.,

receive 50 applications or your money back). These may exist but be unadver-

tised, so it is worth asking about.

Target Market: There are numerous job boards that cater to a certain industry or

skill set (i.e., Stack Overflow for programmers and software developers). Look for

those first — they might be the best way to reach the specific candidate profile you

are seeking. Many of them are free, too. Also, most professional groups and organiza-

tions have websites and/or listservs; they may be willing to post the position on their

sites or send it to group members in an e-mail.


Leading Job Posting Sites

Posting jobs requires an understanding of where applicants are looking. IT professionals may

be scouring IT-specific job boards, whereas those who are earning six figures may gravitate

toward a site that can provide them with jobs within their compensation range. Here is a

brief list of some of the best options for posting your positions:

Site Specialty Cost Audience

Monster.com Entry level Price determined by the number of days a post-ing is up

Entry level up to middle management

CareerBuilder Entry level Slightly pricier than Monster.com; price determined by how many job slots are bundled together

Entry level up to middle management

Dice IT jobs Purchase per posting or a package

IT professionals

ZipRecruiter Posting jobs on 30+ sites (Indeed, Simply Hired, Oodle, Career-Builder, LinkedIn, etc.)

Price dependent on sites the job is posted on

Varies with posting sites

Craigslist N/A $0-$50 depending on location

Usually best for lower-level jobs

Stack Overflow Software engineers Set price for 30 days (money-back guaran-tee if not satisfied with candidates)

Engineers

ExecuNet Executives Membership required Executives

TheLadders $100K+ positions Free membership and customizable posting options

Middle management- executive level profes-sionals

University websites Entry level Free That particular univer-sity’s alumni network


6 Options for Leveraging LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, with more than 200 million members

in over 200 countries and territories. With those numbers, and the fact that LinkedIn essen-

tially acts as an online resume for users, it is not surprising that the site has quickly become

an extremely popular and valuable place for recruiters to source potential candidates, net-

work with them, and even post job openings.

A personal LinkedIn account is free, but premium membership upgrades are available that offer

enhanced search and communication features, and increased access to other LinkedIn users.

Here are some options for using LinkedIn to get the most out of your sourcing and job

posting efforts:

Personal Account Upgrades These plans are geared toward the public and provide some premium benefits. All options allow you to see

full profiles of anyone in your network (including third-degree connections) as well as who has viewed your

profile. You will also receive additional profile views per search, premium search filters, and extra InMails.

There are three different levels of personal account upgrades.

Recruiter’s Personal Account Upgrades These plans are designed to fit the needs of a recruiter. They are more expensive than the ones outlined

above, but they also provide additional organizational benefits, including help with sourcing for searches

and priority customer service. There are also three levels of “Talent” plans.

LinkedIn Recruiter Options

These plans do not work off of your personal account but rather provide you with a different dashboard.

This option also has an ATS-like feature called “Talent Pipeline.” There are two options to choose from,

“Recruiter Small Business” and “Recruiter Corporate.” Both options include the following features:

• Allows you to see the full profiles of third-degree connections

• Provides you with premium search with advanced filters and search alerts

• Allows you to view similar profiles

• 50 InMails per month

• Pipeline management

Recruiter Small Business This provides one account for the company; it would be good for a one-person talent team or a consultant,

but not for a full talent factory. This plan offers monthly and annual billing options, with a slightly reduced

rate for an annual membership. Importantly, this option limits the amount of profile views for people out-

side your network and does not allow for collaboration between team members.

1.

2.

3.

4.

http://www.linkedin.com/mnyfe/subscriptionv2?displayProducts=&family=general&commpare_acct=&trk=acct_set_compare

http://www.linkedin.com/mnyfe/subscriptionv2?displayProducts=&family=talent&c=&sourceUrl=&authType=&authToken=&tmid=&openlinkOn=&trk=acct_set_compare


Recruiter Corporate This is the best option for a talent factory or recruiting teams that want to collaborate on searches. Like the Recruiter Small Business plan, this plan offers monthly and annual billing options, with a slightly reduced rate for an annual membership. This option also allows you to view unlimited profiles outside of your net-work, and you can share all of your folders and notes with team members. This is great for teams trying to avoid doubling efforts for one search.

Job Postings LinkedIn is also a great place to post jobs and can even attract passive candidates because the site auto-matically suggests “Jobs you may be interested in” right on the home page. Postings may be made from either a personal account or a recruiter account. With the latter, slots are good for one year and can be switched to advertise other positions as often as you like.

What to Look for When Selecting a Sourcing Tool

One big key to success in creating a talent factory is having resources available that help your talent team build a solid pipeline. A sourcing tool (such as TalentBin or Dice) differs from a posting site because the sourcing tool allows the recruiter to sift through candidates and proactively reach out to potential candi-dates for a position. Because the majority of your talent team’s time will be spent sourcing candidates, it is critical to provide them with an avenue that allows them to efficiently mine candidate profiles.

There are myriad sourcing sites to choose from (see sidebar, “Exploring the Best Sourcing Sites”), and each of those resources can be helpful in different ways. As you begin to explore each site, be sure to consider the following factors:

ROI The cost of the resource you choose must provide ample return on your investment. Inquire about trials or guarantees. Read reviews and customer statements. Evaluate whether your sourcing resource is resulting in quicker hires and saving you money in the long run.

Target markets

Certain sites are geared toward particular markets. For example, TalentBin and Dice are geared toward IT professionals. If you are heavily hiring in one area, these sites will attract the best talent in that field. If you hire for a variety of backgrounds, a more general site may be your best bet.

Accounts Do you have to pay per seat? If so, is there a discount if you bundle seats together? Depending on the size of your talent team, the number of open positions, and the typical daily workload of each talent specialist, it may be more cost effective to have team members share seats, as long as it doesn’t affect their productivity.

Choosing a sourcing resource is an important decision, as your talent team will use this tool daily. While you may also post jobs on some of these sites, the sourcing plan is a different subscription that you will need to put even more thought into. You want to make sure you choose the one(s) that will allow the team to find the right candidates as efficiently as possible, while also staying within your recruiting budget.

5.

6.


Improving Your Company’s Careers Page

At its most basic, a company careers page is simply a destination for candidates and prospects to peruse

open opportunities with your business and learn more about your company. But make no mistake: Your

company’s careers page should be more than a bland listing of open positions.

It should also clearly outline your employee value proposition — the balance of the rewards and benefits

that employees receive in return for their performance at the workplace — so potential candidates can see

what it is like to work for your company. It should also make it easy for potential candidates to apply for

open jobs.

When building a careers page be sure to include the following:

Job postings List all of your public, open positions on the site. After all, this is a page for

potential candidates. Once they realize how attractive your company is to work

for, it should be as easy as possible for them to hit “Apply.” Additionally, be

sure to have a general application option. This allows candidates to submit their

resumes for future consideration if no posted positions match their profile.

About page /video

Not all candidates will immediately know who you are or what you do. Some may

come across your job posting through a search. Set your company apart by clearly

explaining what you do and defining your culture and values. Some companies

portray these things with a “Hiring Video,” which is a great way to set your com-

pany apart and get candidates excited about the prospect of working with you.

Benefits Be sure to list some of the benefits your company offers, both quantitative

(healthcare coverage, paid time off, bonuses, etc.) and qualitative (flexible

schedule, employee outings, etc.). There is no need to get into great detail, but

be sure to include anything that sets you apart from other companies (daily free

lunch, bring your dog to work day, sit/stand work stations, etc.).

Photos Be proud of your employees and your office space! Show off with photos of

everyday work as well as any extra activities. Doing so will give candidates a more

intimate glimpse into your company culture and help them picture themselves

actually working there.

Contact information

Include a contact, whether it be a general “[email protected]” e-mail address

or the name, e-mail, and phone number of someone on your talent team. If can-

didates have questions or just want to follow up on their application, it should be

clear how to do that.


Equipping Your Team with the Tools it Needs to Succeed

Can your talent factory function without the tools and resources that we covered in this chapter? Maybe,

but it will not perform at the level that most expansion-stage companies need it to.

Technology like an ATS, and resources like audience-specific job sites, a creative careers page, and candi-

date sourcing sites can function collectively to make your talent team’s work more effective and efficient.

Additionally, the final benefit of equipping your talent team with the right recruiting technology is that it

will help you easily track your team’s activity through metrics.

In the next chapter, we will cover the basic metrics you should use to measure and analyze your talent fac-

tory’s performance, and explain why a data-driven approach will make it much easier to effectively manage

your team.


Chapter 5: deployIng meTrICs To measure and Improve your TalenT FaCToryToday, smart business processes are fueled by data. It objectively analyzes your performance

and reveals trends or activities that can guide you in the right direction. Data’s role in a tal-

ent factory is no different.

By implementing a system of documentation and recruiting metrics, you will be able to see

and evaluate the tactical work each talent specialist is completing, as well as identify oppor-

tunities to improve inefficiencies and remove impediments. Simply put, leveraging recruit-

ing metrics will allow you to take a metrics-based, data-driven approach to decision making,

which will lead to greater productivity and effectiveness of your talent team.

In this chapter, we will cover the most important metrics for you to track, and provide advice

for translating that information into actions you can take to improve performance.

How to Track Your Talent Factory’s Success

How can you tell if you talent team is on its way to becoming a factory? The best way to measure the suc-

cess of your talent team is with analytics. By following each talent specialist’s productivity and requisition

activity, you can gather insight into how your talent factory works, its capacity,

and what most often causes breakdowns or inefficiencies.

Here are three things your talent factory must track to accurately evaluate its performance:

Team activity: Document open requisitions by recruiter to gauge each recruiter’s capacity for taking on

new searches. Additionally, because not all searches conclude with a new hire — and instead can be

terminated due to reprioritizing, budgeting, and restructuring — track closed searches and the reason each

search closed. The continued measurement of these details will allow you to see if there is a breakdown in

the selection process when determining whether to take on a new requisition.

1.


Requisition activity: Once you know which searches your talent team is working on, track their activity seg-

mented by requisition. Without documenting activity, it can be extremely difficult to stay focused, and easy to

lose sight of what is transpiring within a search. Tracking activity will give you the opportunity to look objec-

tively at each search, recognize inefficiencies and impediments, and change tactics for improvement.

It will also allow you to see exactly where each search stands in the hiring process, so anyone on the team

can be inserted into a search at any time. Lastly, documenting specific notes on candidates will allow you to

keep a more comprehensive profile on each candidate should you engage them in the future.

For each open requisition the talent specialist should track logistical information as well:

Engagement

• Which candidates were sourced for the target list

• Source of candidate (LinkedIn, referral, etc.)

• Which candidates were contacted for the role

• Initial contact date

Candidate Information

• Contact information (e-mail, phone, website, location)

• Resume and other application material

Candidate Status and Detailed Feedback

• Candidate status in the hiring process

• Notes from each interview

• If the candidate is no longer in process, detailed feedback as to why

Daily activity: By keeping tabs on how and what your team does every day, you can measure important

ratios such as the number of candidates sourced versus the number of candidates interviewed; the num-

ber of candidates interviewed versus the number of offers presented; and the number of offers presented

versus the number of hires. Tracking these ratios will help the talent specialists to improve upon their own

recruitment strategy.

For example, if it takes a talent specialist 10 first interviews to receive positive feedback on a candidate

from the hiring manager, spend some time analyzing what the breakdown is. It may be that the hiring man-

ager is looking for specific traits that are not listed as “requirements” in the job description. Knowing that,

the talent specialist can change his or her strategy to better focus the search.

For each search, be sure to track the number of:

• Candidate applications

• Candidates sourced

• Candidate interviews

• Candidates sent to

hiring manager

• Candidates interviewed with hiring

manager/internal stakeholder

• Offers extended

• Offer rejected

• Offers accepted/hires

2.

3.


In the table below, you will see the metrics listed above tracked in a simple dashboard, representing a week’s worth of activity.

Search

Weeks Elapsed

Since Start of Search

Applications This Week

Candidates Reached Out to This Week

Phone Interviews This Week

Candidates Sent to Hiring

Manager This Week

Offers Extended

Offers Accepted

Offers Not Accepted

Search Closed

Software Engineer

7 31 43 4 2 0 0 0 0

Director of Product Marketing

50

(not posted) 32 6 3 1 1 0 1

Sales Director (3 total)

4 56 80 7 3 1 of 3 1 0 1 of 3

VP, Finance 20

(not posted) 33 4 2 0 0 0 0

Director of Sales

Operations1 22 38 3 1 0 0 0 0

Business Development Rep. (2 total)

3 79 58 10 6 1 of 2 1 of 2 0 1 of 2

QA Engineer 4 88 34 4 1 0 0 0 0

JavaScript Developer

8 43 49 6 5 0 0 0 0

Strategic Marketing Manager

4 15 28 2 1 0 0 0 0

Lead Architect 90

(not posted) 27 2 1 0 0 0 0

VP, Business Development

60

(not posted)55 4 3 0 0 0 0

Administrative Assistant

2 29 60 10 4 0 0 0 0

In addition to daily activity, each talent specialist should track their weekly goals and determine whether or

not they achieved them. The talent specialists should report this during their retrospective meeting at the

end of each week, and plan adjustments accordingly for the following week.

Why Reporting Metrics Is Important

While tracking the data above is important, reporting on metrics will allow you to take a more analytical

approach to hiring by targeting efficiencies, headcount, and cost.

There are countless metrics that you could use to do that, but make sure you choose metrics that make

sense according to your organizational goals and business strategy. For standardization and adoption, it is

also important that members of the talent team understand the meaning and purpose of each metric, as

well as how to measure them.

Your talent team will need to record their metrics in a centralized location, whether it be in a communal

spreadsheet or in your ATS. Each team member is responsible for reporting their number.


Here are seven common recruiting metrics that are worth tracking as you build and develop your talent factory:

Time-to-hire This can be tracked in three ways: the time

from search kickoff to accepted offer, the

number of hours spent on each requisition,

and the breakdown of time-to-hire (i.e., the

intervals of time from when the candidate was

sourced, to when they were screened, to when

they were interviewed, etc.). This metric will

provide valuable data on the hiring process

and the workload of each recruiter.

Source of hire With this metric, the goal is to track the num-

ber of top candidates and successful hires

that came from targeted sources (LinkedIn,

referrals, college fairs, etc.). That will allow

you to measure the effectiveness of sources

over time.

Retention rate Following the retention rate of new hires can

help you improve recruitment and employee

retention policies.

Quality/productivity of hire Though this can be difficult to measure

because it is partly based on subjective feed-

back and the time it takes for a candidate to

get up to speed in a new role, tracking this

metric will allow you to stay updated on the

new hire’s success after being onboarded.

Cost per hire Similar to a sales team measuring customer

acquisition costs, this metric will help you

weigh the financial investment your company

must make to attract and recruit new hires.

It is worth noting that this number will fluc-

tuate based on the volume of searches and

fixed recruiting costs.

Manager satisfaction While this metric is somewhat subjective as

well, obtaining feedback on each search from

the stakeholders involved will allow you to

see what worked, what didn’t work, and what

you can improve upon internally for the next

search. You can send out an internal survey

to determine this.

Applicant satisfaction By creating a standardized survey that mea-

sures a candidate’s experience during the

recruiting process, you can collect feedback

that will assist in creating changes that

improve the overall candidate experience

in the future

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.


Documenting the recruiting process and adhering to metrics ensures a consistent, repeatable process, and

is the foundation of building a successful talent team. To be effective, however, your metrics need to be

actionable. And in order for them to be actionable, you need to establish benchmarks for each metric.

Doing that requires that you analyze your metrics quarterly to get an understanding of your average for

each one. Once you have implemented your recruiting metrics and benchmarks and are tracking the suc-

cess and failure of the recruitment function, use them to drive recruitment behavior.

For example, if your retention rate has fallen by 15 percent quarter over quarter, you need to first look into

the reason for the decline. If the reason is not clear (i.e., there was no significant event that would have

clearly skewed the metric), then you need to look into your retention programs and put together an action

plan with the goal of reducing the turnover rate. Once you have deployed the desired action plan, you can

then measure its effectiveness/ROI by measuring the change in the retention rate.

Metrics are Much More Than a Numbers Game

It’s important to note that almost all recruiting metrics focus on past events and what has changed over

time. Although these numbers are telling, it’s important to dig in and get to the root of the cause before

taking action.

Ask your team why something happened and what the possible causes were. For instance, if manager

satisfaction has decreased quarter over quarter, or turnover has increased by 10 percent year over year,

try to put those numbers into context by looking into what went wrong, and how to make actionable

improvements based on what you find out.

It’s also important to review your metrics quarterly so that you can create a call-to-action in a timely man-

ner if you notice a trend or breakdown in your recruiting process. Doing so will also allow you to judge

whether certain metrics are truly providing meaningful insight, or if they are actually irrelevant to your

talent factory’s hiring process.


end noTeDeveloping a talent factory is no small undertaking. To be truly effective, it requires a significant amount

of preparatory work (hiring a director of talent and a team of talent specialists, exploring the tenets of your

company’s culture, identifying the core skill sets that the team will look for, etc.), as well as execution and

measurement.

But the payoff from building a talent factory certainly can justify the time and resources you invest in it.

Not only will a talent factory help your expansion-stage business compete for top talent today, but it will

also help you manage that talent and your corporate image in the marketplace well into the future. Those

benefits alone could put your business at a significant advantage.

After all, if you are able to create an in-house recruiting machine that saves you money and makes your

company a more desirable place to work, you will be one big step ahead of almost every other business in

your market. And in the volatile world of expansion-stage growth, advantages like that can sometimes mean

the difference between success and failure.


appendIxChecklist for the CEO

I understand that the director of talent’s role is to implement and manage the talent factory so that the

executive team and I can make the best decisions to support the hiring and retention of top talent in the

company.

I have developed a plan to hire a director of talent and outlined his/her responsibilities for implement-

ing and managing the talent factory

I have scheduled regular meetings with the director of talent to discuss talent and HR-related updates

We have agreed on a series of metrics and reports that the director of talent will provide to me and the

executive team on a regular basis

I will make myself available to provide continued guidance and support as needed

Checklist for the Director of Talent

As the director of talent, I understand that I play a vital role in overseeing the entire talent management

process, which informs the executive team to make sound talent-related decisions and supports the hiring

and retaining of top talent in the company.

I have worked with the executive team to develop an annual talent plan for the company entailing

hiring targets, budget, and goals

I have established a reporting schedule to communicate the progress of talent-related targets

(hiring, budget spent, goal progress, etc.) to the executive team

I have outlined a model for designing and overseeing a successful talent factory in the company

I have developed a plan to hire and manage talent specialists in order for the company to achieve

its hiring and other HR-related targets

I have daily and weekly meetings scheduled with my talent team to evaluate the progress of our

targets, discuss and address issues, implement best practices, and capitalize on new opportunities


Checklist for the Talent Specialist(s)

As a talent specialist, I understand that I play an important role in addressing the company’s human

resource needs by managing the candidate recruitment process and hiring top talent in the company.

I will regularly discuss new role requests and my capacity with the director of talent and the talent

team, prioritize the list of roles according to the sense of urgency, and develop a work plan to recruit

the hires accordingly

I will communicate with the hiring managers on a regular basis to provide them with compensation

reports (as needed) and updates on the progress of searches, solicit feedback on the candidates iden-

tified, and continue or modify the search process accordingly

I will reach out/communicate with employee referrals in a timely manner

I will regularly participate in external recruitment events to explore new talent pools and identify

potential candidates

Checklist for the Hiring Manager

As the hiring manager, I understand that I am responsible for making sound hiring decisions for my depart-

ment and will work closely with the talent team to ensure that we identify and recruit the best candidate

for the role that we are seeking to fill.

I have scheduled a meeting with the talent specialist that will be recruiting for the role and have pro-

vided him/her with a clear job description and a compensation band (salary, bonus, and equity)

the role offers

I will review/approve the work plan for each new role request on a timely basis

I will provide the talent specialist with a timeline on when the role should be filled, the level

of urgency, and other notes associated with the role to help support the search

I will make myself available to speak and meet with suitable candidates as often as possible and

respond to interview requests in a timely manner

I will provide timely feedback to the talent specialist about each candidate across every step of

the recruiting process (i.e., resume screen, phone interviews, in-person interviews, etc.)


Common Recruiting Challenges and Their Solutions

Challenge Solution

Broken feedback loop (Talent team is not receiving timely feed-back from hiring manag-ers or stakeholders)

Set up a meeting with the stakeholders in the search to regroup. Go over expectations for feedback and explain that if filling the role is not a prior-ity it should be put on hold until all stakeholders will be able to commit to it. Also, if you don’t already have one, set up a weekly update call with the hiring manager and stress that they adhere to participating.

Underperforming mem-bers of your talent team

Meet with the team member to address your concerns; be open and honest with your feedback. Find out if there is something they need help with and go over any impediments or questions they may have. Follow up by hav-ing weekly meetings with that team member to review their progress and performance.

Disgruntled candidates

Have the talent specialist call the candidate to better understand and help rectify the issue. A call will mean much more to the candidate than an e-mail. The candidate should leave the call feeling positive about the company.

A candidate’s response to an offer is delayed

Reach out to the candidate to find out why they are withholding their response and if there are any issues with the offer that can be resolved. Be sure to give them a deadline to respond; this should prevent any further delayed response.

A candidate has received a counter offer

Remind the candidate of their original motivation for finding a new job; it is likely that it was not financial, and they will see that staying with their cur-rent company will not change their situation. If possible, increase the offer to match the counter offer or consider adding a sign-on bonus. This will show the candidate your eagerness to have them join the team.

Lack of response from sourcing activity

Change your messaging and see what candidates respond to. Maybe it’s flattery, maybe it’s highlighting awards and company growth, or maybe it’s accentuating the benefits of working for your company. In addition, follow up a few times with target candidates before giving up on them.

Recruiting in a saturated market

Get creative: Join Meetup groups or host networking events for specific skill sets. Attend job fairs in the area. Set up a referral program for both inter-nal and external use. Implement a University Recruiting Program to attract candidates out of schools. Set your company apart from the rest.

http://www.meetup.com


Standard Templates for Applicant Communications

Response to unsolicited resume:

Dear Applicant,

Thank you for sending your resume to XYZ Company. We sincerely appreciate your interest in our company.

Should an appropriate position be identified, we will contact you to discuss any possible next steps.

Thank you.

The XYZ Company Talent Team

Rejection to candidate not interviewed:

Hello [Name],

Thank you for your interest in XYZ Company. Although we were impressed with your background, we have

decided to move forward with other candidates whose experience is more similar to the qualifications that

we are looking for at this time.

We will keep your resume on file in the event that a future opening at XYZ Company may become available.

Thank you again for your interest in XYZ Company.

Kind regards,


Rejection to candidate who was interviewed:

Hello [Name],

Thank you for your interest in XYZ Company. We appreciate the time you took from your schedule to par-

ticipate in the interview process for the position, but regret to inform you that we have decided not to move

forward with your candidacy at this time.

We will keep your resume on file in the event that a future opening at XYZ Company may become available.

Thank you again for your interest in XYZ Company.

Kind regards,



Sample Job Descriptions

Director of Talent Job Description

ABC Company’s explosive growth requires HR leadership expertise and involvement in many areas of the

company, particularly guidance and support for the recruiting team. Additionally, the Director/VP of Talent

will be responsible for refining and executing ABC’s People strategy, working with a combination of internal

and external resources. As a member of the leadership team with multifunctional accountability, our Direc-

tor of Talent has budget responsibility and reports to the CEO.

Specific Responsibilities Include:

• Lead a team of recruiters in providing a superior employee experience at ABC

• Provide support and guidance to a team of recruiters

• Manage employee relations, benefits, compensation, talent development, and compliance

• Build and maintain ABC’s positive culture and brand as an employer of choice

Qualifications:

• B.S. or B.A. in human resources or equivalent

• Minimum 10 years of general HR experience including recruitment (high-growth environment

strongly preferred)

• Demonstrated success in a fast-paced, small company and/or startup

ABC offers highly competitive salaries and great benefits. We operate in a casual, high-tech environment,

feed ourselves with a catered lunch every day, work pretty hard, have a lot of fun, and enjoy bringing

together some of the smartest and friendliest people around.

Talent Specialist Job Description

ABC Company is looking for a talent specialist to join its recruiting team. The qualified candidate will have

a record of success leading full life cycle recruitment initiatives, and have proven themselves as a leader

in their school or work experience. This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is passionate about

recruitment to make a serious impact on growing technology companies by helping them bring the best

possible people on board.

Specific Responsibilities Include:

• Working closely with hiring managers across the company

• Sourcing active and passive candidates, conducting phone interviews, scheduling in-person inter-

views with hiring managers, conducting reference checks, and delivering offers to candidates

• Driving the hiring process from initial requisition to candidate acceptance in a timely manner,

according to a predefined priority system and estimated start date


Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and a strong academic record

• 2-5 years experience in full life cycle recruiting for full-time positions, including senior-level roles

• Outstanding leadership experience in school or at work

• Very strong interest in technology and the business of technology

• A passion for recruiting and helping companies grow by connecting them with top talent

• Aspiration to become an operational specialist in recruiting for technology companies

Skills:

• Exceptional communication skills (oral and written)

• Ability to manage projects and complete searches on specified deadlines

• A very flexible self-starter

• Meticulous attention to detail; a perfectionist

• Familiarity with applicant tracking systems, such as LinkedIn’s ATS, is preferred

Common Behavioral Interviewing Questions

Competency Behavioral Interview Questions

Accountability,

Organizational

Skills, Decision

Making

• Please describe in detail a project that you were responsible for. How did you carry out the project and what were the end results?

• When given an important assignment with strict deadlines, how do you approach it?

• How have you adjusted your style when it was not meeting the objectives and/or people were not responding correctly?

Agility • Tell me about a time when you had to take on a new role, or new tasks. Describe the situation and what you did.

• Describe a situation where you had to adjust your own behavior or style to build relationships with those who have different styles/cultures/values.

• Tell me about a project that did not go according to plan. What corrections did you make and what were the results?

• How well do you adapt to new situations? Provide an example.

Communication • Tell me about a time when you had to introduce a new idea. How did you do it?

• Describe a time when you received information about a project or work-related item that was critical to success. How did you share the information with the team? When did you share the information?

• How do you go about explaining a problem to a person who does not understand the technical jargon?


Competency Behavioral Interview Questions

Critical Think-

ing, Decision

Making

• Provide me with a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem.

• Tell me about a difficult decision you’ve made in the last year.

• Describe the steps you go through to make an important decision. Please provide an example.

• We sometimes work in an environment where the guidelines are not clear. Tell me about a time you have experienced this. How did you react?

• What have you learned from your mistakes?

Development

(self and others)

• Describe a time when you were not satisfied with your own performance, or the performance of someone who reported to you. What did you do about it?

• How do you go about setting goals, for yourself and for those you manage?

• How do you coach an employee?

• Give me an example of a situation you think highlights your leadership skills.

Efficiency,

Organizational

Skills

• What is your process for prioritizing your responsibilities? Provide an example. What should you do to be more efficient?

• Everyone procrastinates at some point. What are the kinds of things that you procrastinate on?

• What do you find helps you manage your time?

• What do you do when faced with a deadline that is extremely difficult to meet?

Initiative • What have you accomplished that shows your initiative and willingness to work?

• Tell me about a time when you were instrumental in finding a new, more efficient way of doing something.

• Give me an example of a time when you took the lead.

• Give me an example of a career goal you set for yourself. Did you achieve it, and what were some of the obstacles you faced along the way?

Persistence • Tell me about a time when you got results when others tried and failed.

• Tell me about a time when you were the first to take on a tough issue.

• Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done.


Illegal Interview Questions and Legal Substitutes

Area of Inquiry Illegal Legal

Work/Visa Status, Nationality

• Are you a U.S. citizen?

• Where are you from?

• Where were you born?

• Is English your first language?

• What is your native language?

• Are you authorized to work in the U.S.?

• Can you show proof of your eli-gibility to work in the U.S.?

• What languages do you speak?

Family and Marital Status

• Are you married?

• Do you have children?

• How many children do you have?

• Do you plan to have children?

• What child care arrangements do you have?

• Have you been divorced?

• Who is your closest relative to notify in case of an emergency?

• What is your maiden name?

• Are you willing and able to put in the amount of overtime and travel the position requires? Are you willing to relocate?

• What hours and days can you work?

• Do you have responsibili-ties other than work that will interfere with the specific job requirements?

• In case of emergency, who should we notify?

Age • How old are you?

• What year did you graduate?

• How long have you been working?

• Do you have any concerns about working the long hours and travel schedule that this job requires?

Health, Disability Status, Physical Ability

• How is your health?

• Are you pregnant or planning to become pregnant?

• Do you have any disabilities or medical conditions?

• Do you smoke/drink?

• Do you take drugs?

• How tall are you?

• How many sick days did you take last year?

• Are you able to perform this job with or without reasonable accommodation?

• Do you use illegal drugs?

• How many unscheduled days of work did you miss last year?


Area of Inquiry Illegal Legal

Religious Affiliation

• What is your religious affiliation?

• Do you observe [insert religious holiday]?

• Do you belong to a club or social organization?

• Was [insert school name] a [insert religious affiliation]?

• None

Conviction Record, Arrest Record

• Have you ever been arrested? • Have you ever been convicted of a crime?

Military Record • Are you in the National Guard (or any reserve unit)?

• What type of discharge did you receive from the military?

• What type of education, train-ing, and work experience did you receive in the military?

Credit • Do you own your own home?

• Have you ever declared bankruptcy?

• None. Credit reference may be obtained if in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 and the Consumer Credit Reporting Reform Act of 1996

Residence • How far is your commute?

• Do you live nearby?

• Are you able to start work at 8 a.m.?

• Are you willing to relocate?

Race, Gender, Sexual Preference

• Do you prefer to be addressed by Ms., Mrs., Mr., or Miss?

• Any question that would indicate race or color.

• None


Sample Reference Check Guide

Reference questions will vary by position. This format is intended to provide a general guideline for refer-

ence checking.

Job Search (Company and Position): Candidate Name:

Date: Reference Name:

The Reference:

1. Confirm the reference’s title and career track

2. How long have you known the candidate? In what context?

Candidate Job History:

3. To what position did the candidate report? What roles (if any) reported directly into the candidate?

4. Can you describe the candidate’s general responsibilities?

5. What was the candidate’s total compensation? What was the base and the bonus breakdown? (Note: Applicable if the reference was a superior and it is known)

6. What are the standards of successful performance in the candidate’s role? Describe how the candidate met these standards.

7. Describe any key achievements or discrepancies that occurred during the candidate’s tenure in the role.

Professional Relationships:

8. At (Company Name), how was the candidate regarded by…?

• Superiors:

• Clients:

• Peers:

• Subordinates:

9. Describe the candidate’s approach to managing, training, developing, and evaluating subordinates.

Performance:

10. How would you rate the candidate’s…?

• Technical and functional skills

• Organization capabilities (time management, meeting deadlines, meeting budget, etc.)

• Staff development capabilities (coaching, mentoring, developing, evaluating)

• Communication skills (oral and written)

11. What do you consider the candidate’s key strengths to be?

12. What do you consider the candidate’s weaknesses to be?

13. How would the candidate best be managed?


Growth Potential:

14. What is the candidate’s growth potential? How far do you envision this person going professionally?

15. Do you have any concerns about the candidate’s ability to succeed in the role we are considering

them for?

Additional Probe:

16. Is there anything else you would like to add?

Thank you for your time.

Recruiting Strategy Workflow

Strategic talent acquisition functions have a recruitment strategy to guide team operations. This is a

mapped-out workflow plan that can be modified as new recruitment practices develop. Documenting the

recruitment strategy will provide your talent team a method to reference, as well as act as a guide for

future new hires on the team.

1. Job Description a. Development of job descriptionb. Posting

2. Kickoffa. Meet with hiring managerb. Identify all stakeholders in searchc. Hiring manager’s overview of the roled. Compensatione. Establish weekly hiring

manager call

3. Work Plana. Stakeholders/Decision Makersb. Constraintsc. Criteriad. Scope Limitationse. Deliverable/Outcomef. Timeline g. Recruitment Strategy for Search

i. Planningii. Sourcingiii. Screeningiv. Interviewingv. Feedbackvi. Offer

4. Research on Recruiting Targetsa. Target backgroundsb. Target industryc. Target company sized. Target competitors/companies

5. Recruitment Approacha. Best resources for finding candidates based

on recruiting targetsb. Messagingc. Weekly meeting with hiring managerd. Weekly e-mail documentation

of search progress

6. Sourcing a. Direct Sourcing

i. Direct contactsii. Referral programiii. Outbound outreach

b. Inbound Screeningi. Job applicationsii. Sorting applicationsiii. Screening applications

c. Networkingi. Events (conferences, trade shows, etc.)


7. Interviewing a. Initial Phone Screen (Recruiter)b. Exploratory Call (Recruiter)c. Phone Interview (Hiring Manager)d. In-person Interview (Who, how many) e. Final Round Interview/Presentation

8. Candidate Rejection Communicationa. Timeline for correspondenceb. Feedbackc. Method of communication

i. E-mailii. Phone

9. Reference Checkinga. Superiorsb. Peersc. Subordinatesd. Backdoor (if applicable)e. Background check (if applicable)

10. Offera. Delivery

i. Compensation – base, variable, equityii. Relocation (if applicable)iii. Miscellaneous iv. Timeline for answer

b. Acceptancei. Start date

c. Rejectioni. Counter offer protocolii. Exit feedback from candidate

d. Post-acceptance communication

11. Onboarding

12. Feedbacka. Hiring manager feedbackb. Candidate experience survey

13. Scorecard: Record of activity and metrics for search

Visa Types and Requirements

While there are many types of work visas in the U.S., the most common ones that you are likely to deal

with are as follows:

TN

The North American Free Trade Agreement allows citizens of both Mexico and Canada to temporarily seek

entry into the U.S. and engage in professional business activities. Some of these professions include

accountants, engineers, lawyers, scientists, and teachers. For a full list please refer to the NAFTA Profes-

sional Job Series. These visas are less expensive than an H1B visa, described later in this section.

Eligibility Requirements for the TN Visa:

• The individual must be a citizen of Canada or Mexico

• The profession must qualify under the regulations

• The position in the United States requires a NAFTA professional

• The individual should have pre-arranged a full- or part-time job with a U.S. employer

(not self-employment)

• The individual must have the qualifications to practice in the profession in question

1.

http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/en/view.aspx%3Fx%3D343%26mtpiID%3D147%23Ap1603.D.1

http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/en/view.aspx%3Fx%3D343%26mtpiID%3D147%23Ap1603.D.1


Requirements for Canadian Citizens

Canadian citizens are not required to apply for a TN visa at the U.S. consulate. They may establish eligibil-

ity for TN classification at the time they seek admission to the United States by presenting the required

documentation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) either after arriving in the U.S. or at a des-

ignated pre-flight inspection station. Alternatively, the prospective employer can also apply on behalf of a

Canadian citizen who is outside of the United States.

The following documentation is required by the CBP upon arriving to the U.S.:

• Proof of Canadian citizenship

• Letter from prospective employer stating the person’s role, purpose of employment, length of stay,

and educational qualifications

• Credentials (if applicable) such as degree and resume

• Applicable fee

If you have already applied on behalf of the individual and received approval, the documentation required

upon arrival to the U.S. is:

• Proof of Canadian citizenship

• Approval notice from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for

Form I-129

Requirements for Mexican Citizens

Citizens of Mexico are required to obtain a TN visa through the U.S. embassy or consulate prior to arriving

in the U.S.

Period of Stay

The initial period of stay is up to three years; an individual wishing to remain in the U.S. beyond three

years must seek an extension of stay. If he/she has not left the U.S., the employer may file Form I-129 on

their behalf.

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

H1-B Specialty Occupations

This visa has an annual cap of 65,000 new visas for overseas professional workers each fiscal year, plus 20,000

visas restricted for those individuals with a U.S. master’s or higher degree. For further information about the

annual cap, see the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 H-1B Cap Season Web page. The initial period of stay in the U.S. is

up to three years and extensions are possible for another three years with a maximum stay of six years.

2.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=bac00b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=bac00b89284a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=4b7cdd1d5fd37210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD


General Requirements

The job must meet one of the following criteria to qualify as a specialty occupation:

a) Bachelor’s degree or higher (or equivalent)

b) Employer requires a degree or equivalent for the position

c) Nature of the specific duties is very specialized/complex, such that knowledge required is usually

associated with a bachelor’s or higher degree

d) The degree requirement for the job is common to the industry and thus the job can only be

performed by an individual with a degree

For the individual to qualify to accept a job offer in a specialty occupation they must meet one of the

following criteria:

• Have obtained a U.S. bachelor’s or higher degree from an accredited college or university

• Hold a foreign degree that is equivalent to a U.S. bachelor’s or higher degree

• Hold an unrestricted state license, registration, or certification that authorizes the individual to

fully practice the occupation and be engaged in that specialty where they are employed

• Have education, training, or progressively responsible experience in the specialty that is equivalent

to the completion of such a degree

Note: The prospective employer must file an approved Form ETA-9035, Labor Condition Application (LCA),

with the form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant worker.

Source: US Citizenship and Immigration Services

F-1/OPT Optional Practice Training

This visa is for students who are currently on an F-1 visa and wish to start a business or work in the U.S. in

a role that is directly related to their area of study. OPT visas are issued for a maximum 29-month period,

specifically issued at 12 months, with a 17-month science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

(STEM) extension. Please refer here for more details.

3.

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.eb1d4c2a3e5b9ac89243c6a7543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=73566811264a3210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/OPT_FAQ_4apr08.pdf

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