Optimizing Recruitment Processes

Louder for the people at the back 🎤 Many organisations today seem to have shifted from being institutions that develop great talent to those that primarily seek ready-made talent. This trend overlooks the immense value of individuals who, despite lacking experience, possess a great attitude, commitment, and a team-oriented mindset. These qualities often outweigh the drawbacks of hiring experienced individuals with a fixed and toxic mindset. The best organisations attract talent with their best years ahead of them, focusing on potential rather than past achievements. Let’s be clear this is more about mindset and willingness to learn and unlearn as apposed to age. To realise the incredible potential return, organisations must commit to creating an environment where continuous development is possible. This requires a multi-faceted approach: 1. Robust Training Programmes: Employers should invest in comprehensive training programmes that equip employees with the necessary skills for their roles. This includes on-the-job training, mentorship programmes, online courses, and workshops. 2. Redefining Hiring Criteria: Organisations should revise their hiring criteria to focus more on candidates’ potential and willingness to learn rather than solely on prior experience or formal qualifications. Behavioural interviews, aptitude tests, and probationary periods can help assess a candidate's ability to learn and adapt. 3. Partnerships with Educational Institutions: Companies can collaborate with educational institutions to design curricula that align with industry needs. Apprenticeship programmes, internships, and cooperative education can bridge the gap between academic learning and practical job skills. 4. Lifelong Learning Culture: Encouraging a culture of lifelong learning within organisations is crucial. Employers should provide ongoing education opportunities and support for professional development. This includes continuous skills assessment and access to resources for upskilling and reskilling. 5. Inclusive Recruitment Practices: Employers should implement inclusive recruitment practices that remove biases and barriers. Blind recruitment, diversity quotas, and targeted outreach programmes can help ensure that diverse candidates are given a fair chance. By implementing these measures, organisations can develop a workforce that is adaptable, innovative, and resilient, ensuring sustainable success and growth.

I managed a 70 person recruiting team, hired thousands of engineers, and was told that the facebook recruiting team had an internal blog breaking down my outbound approach bc so many engineers had shared it internally... These are my outbound sourcing maxims. 1. get good at email - use the prospect's personal email (NEVER INMAIL!!!!) - subject line must be about THEM (but not basic "go trojans!") - declare your intent ("I think you fit for our team") - 90% of message should be about THEM - people like to be liked - list why you are impressed by them - humor helps most of the time - DO NOT TALK ABOUT YOURSELF - DO NOT LINK JOB DESCRIPTIONS - SERIOUSLY STOP WTF - ... sell the conversation, not the job Two main takeaways here. One, approaching someone and telling them that you are amazing "gives the ick." This is as true in recruiting as it is in dating. Two - don't force existential consideration early. If you give lots details about the opportunity, people will find every reason to find that it's not a fit. Also, you're coming on too hard. 2. you need to contact WAY more people than you think - good response rate = >20% - good interested response rate = >10% - only a fraction of those who take a call will actually be a fit - == >50 outreaches per day for most roles ... seriously, LOTS OF OUTBOUND, and it's gotta be good. I used to not even check my email until I'd sent 50 outbounds every day. Each outbound had to meet my conditions above. 3. people are most honest at the outset - take advantage - more time in process == candidate is more likely to WANT the job - people who WANT something are more covetous of it - and people who want something might not be entirely open ... the stakes are low on the first call - so candidates are more likely to be open about their needs - so you should do everything you can to get them NOW. 4. STOP TALKING!!! ("god made you with two ears...") - people love to talk about themselves (if it feels safe!) - 30 minute call? Candidate should be talking for 27 of them - ask good questions, think "Hot Ones" quality - goal: figure out what they care about - ... then spend 3 minutes delivering a supremely tailored pitch Bad recruiters pitch at the outset, with no idea what the candidate cares about. Great recruiters find the buttons, then push them. 5. move as fast as possible once you have the right one - people want to feel wanted... - time is typically interpreted as disinterest (even if that's not accurate) - so, move fast as you possibly can, give clarity about next steps, etc ------------------------------------------ The succinct version... - Write great emails - Write a lot of emails - Ask deep questions early - Listen before speaking - And don't dilly dally when you have the one Easy to write. Hard to do. But this is 100% my blue print.

📱 My phone’s been blowing up lately—colleagues on both sides of the hiring game are venting about the same thing. Job seekers can’t land roles, and hiring managers can’t find people who actually stay. About half of my network who were job-hunting have found something, but the other half are still stuck in the grind. Meanwhile, companies tell me that even when they do make a hire, retention is a nightmare—new employees are bouncing within six months. The disconnect is real: companies are hiring, candidates are applying, but something is clearly broken. Traditional hiring—bloated job descriptions, ATS black holes, and never-ending interview rounds—is failing everyone. So, what needs to change? 🔄 Here’s what I’ve seen work: ✅ Ditch the ATS Dependence – Get back to human recruiting instead of relying on keyword filters. ✍️ Fix Job Descriptions – Make them clear, real, and relevant—cut the jargon. 🤝 Prioritize Personal Connections – Hiring managers should actively engage instead of passively posting. 🎯 Focus on Skills, Not Just Titles – Look at what candidates can actually do, not just where they’ve been. ⏳ Speed Up the Process – The best talent won’t wait around for a four-week approval cycle. 💬 Improve the Candidate Experience – Give real feedback and make the process transparent. Here’s a real-world fix I put in place: At a previous company, the hiring pipeline was a mess—ATS filters blocked great candidates, and the process dragged on. I introduced a referral-first hiring approach, tapping employees’ networks before posting publicly. We also replaced multiple early-stage screenings with a 30-minute call with the hiring manager. 📉 Time-to-hire dropped 35% 🎯 Quality of hires improved—better fits, fewer regrets 📈 Retention rates increased—candidates knew exactly what they were signing up for 🔑 Bottom line: Hiring is broken, but it doesn’t have to be. The best hires come through real connections, not algorithms. What’s been your biggest hiring (or job search) frustration lately? Drop a comment 👇 #Hiring #Recruiting #JobSearch #TalentStrategy #HR #FutureOfWork

Treat your recruiting team the way you'd want them to treat your candidates. Your recruiters can only deliver what you enable them to deliver. No clarity from hiring managers means no clarity for candidates. Here's what this principle actually means: 1. Give them real ammunition, not job descriptions Recruiters can't sell what they don't understand. Yet most hiring managers hand them a JD and say "go find someone." Then wonder why candidates aren't excited. Do a real kickoff. Create an intake doc. Brief your recruiters like you'd brief your sales team. Why does this role matter? What will this person actually build? Show them the real impact. When recruiters understand the mission & the role, candidates feel it. 2. Stop making them chase you for answers Imagine if you applied somewhere and waited a week for every response. That's what recruiters face internally. They message candidates "we'll get back to you soon" while waiting days for your feedback. They look incompetent because you're not responding. Every delayed decision is a recruiter losing credibility with a candidate who has three other offers. 3. Your urgency becomes their urgency When a CEO personally joins a recruiting standup or sends a quick note about why a role matters, everything changes. Recruiters move faster. They push harder. They believe more. Send emails on their behalf. Jump into nurture sequences. When hiring is treated as "HR's problem," recruiters feel it. And so do candidates. The energy you bring to hiring is the energy candidates feel in the process. 4. Let them shape the process, not just execute it Recruiters see hundreds of interviews. They start to see which questions actually predict success. They spot patterns you miss. Too many companies treat them like admins. Include them in designing interview loops. Let them flag when your process is losing good people. They're your early warning system if you actually listen. 5. They're selling your company 100 times while you're building it Every recruiter conversation is a brand moment. Every rejection handled poorly is a Glassdoor review. Every candidate who feels respected tells ten friends. Even your rejections matter. Give real feedback. Close the loop. Your recruiters are having more conversations about your company than anyone except customers. Treat them like the frontline brand ambassadors they actually are. When recruiters feel like partners, candidates feel it too. When they feel like order-takers, your hiring shows it. The best companies don't have recruiting teams. They have talent partners.

Everyone in Silicon Valley is hiring. Very few are hiring well. Every day on Instagram, I get DMs from candidates frustrated by how broken the job market feels. And on LinkedIn? Recruiters are just as overwhelmed. So over the last three weeks, I’ve been meeting with recruiters and marketers in my network to understand where things are actually breaking down. The takeaway: it’s not a talent shortage - it’s signal overload. If you’re a recruiter drowning in resumes, intro calls, and “on paper they looked great,” here are three ways to make your life easier and attract better talent:  1. 𝗛𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰: Not a generic “We’re hiring a Marketing Lead - apply here.”I mean showing the process. Post a video explaining what you’re actually looking for. Share anonymized examples of what moves candidates forward (and what doesn’t). Talk about the good, the bad, and the messy. It creates social buzz, builds trust, and teaches candidates how to stand out before they apply.  2. 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿-𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗽: Instead of endless intro calls, give candidates a short, async exercise tied to the real job - a Loom walkthrough, mini case, or 30-minute prompt. High-intent candidates lean in, low-intent ones opt out. You get a real signal before the first call. Candidates save time, and interviews become conversations, not auditions. I’ve been exploring tools like The Aurora Co. (www.theauroraco.com) which let recruiters create role-specific, AI-scored case exercises with structured feedback and analytics.  3. 𝗣𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮 “𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗛𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗝𝗼𝗯” 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁: Instead of overselling the role, be radically honest. Share what’s messy, what’s unclear, and what kind of person will struggle in this job. Is it scrappy? Under-resourced? Fast-changing? Say that. The wrong candidates will self-select out immediately, and the right ones will lean in harder. Recruiters waste less time on misaligned interviews, and candidates walk in with eyes wide open - which makes every conversation higher quality.

Are you noticing that recruitment is taking longer these days? It’s not just the summer season slowing things down. Overwhelmed recruiters face a flood of generic, AI-generated CVs, delaying hiring and making it harder to spot real talent. So, why is AI making recruitment harder?  🔷AI-generated content in applications often lacks a personal touch, making it harder for recruiters to evaluate skills and motivation, especially when combined with mass, untailored applications in an already squeezed labour market. 🔷Without proper editing and the overuse of keywords, AI-generated CVs often come across as clunky and generic, making it a frustrating task for hiring managers to review them. 🔷Increased screening time: More applications mean longer review times, prolonging the recruitment process.   A recent study by ResumeGenius found that AI-generated CVs are a major red flag for recruiters, with 53% identifying them as the top indicator of an unsuitable candidate. What strategies are hiring managers using to cut through the noise? 1. The Big Four accountants, Deloitte, EY, PwC, and KPMG, have warned graduates against using AI in their applications. 2. The Coca-Cola Company clearly distinguishes between must-have and nice-to-have skills in its job ads, incorporating specific challenges to filter out unqualified applicants and assess genuine engagement early in the process. 3. Amazon is strategically leveraging automation through AI-powered ATS to analyze keywords and contextual relevance, ensuring that CVs are evaluated based on substance rather than being saturated with irrelevant buzzwords. 4. Most hiring managers have so much sensory/channel overload that reviewing hundreds/thousands of resumes from the “online job posting" channel gets turned off. Salesforce, Philips, Airbnb, Tesla, and others are concentrating more on headhunting practices and relaunching employee referral programs.  5. Dyson has found its way to ‘feed’ top talent into its recruitment funnel. It organizes campus tours for top engineering and business schools, putting a particular focus on students who are driven, curious, and passionate about creating something new. 6. While many companies hire externally to fill vacant, specialized roles, Infosys is looking within, helping employees grow their careers by upskilling and taking up more advanced roles within the company. 7. Slack replaced many traditional applications with a technical exercise and offered applicants the option to complete assessments on-site rather than online. 8. After Citrix Systems receives a promising application, the recruiter contacts the candidate and guides them through the whole hiring process. This 5-minute intro call can reveal far more about a candidate’s suitability than a generic application. And how does your company break through the noise, avoid the pitfalls of AI-driven hiring mistakes, and secure the best talent?

We just lost the best candidate we interviewed all year. Not because we paid too little. Not because our culture was a bad fit. Not because they did not want the job. We lost them because we took three weeks to make a decision, and our competitor took three days. The candidate had already passed a screening call, a technical interview, and a culture fit round. I told the team I wanted just one more quick chat with them to be absolutely certain before we sent the contract. While I was busy trying to schedule a fourth call to make myself feel comfortable, another founder simply picked up the phone and made them an offer. I was frustrated at first. Then I realized the failure was entirely my own. That experience forced me to completely audit how we evaluate people. I realized that adding more interview rounds does not actually increase the quality of the hire. It just dilutes the accountability of the hiring manager. If you cannot figure out if someone is right for the job after two conversations and a look at their past work, a third conversation is not going to save you. It just means you are afraid to make a decision. Top tier talent does not sit around waiting for a company to overcome its own bureaucracy. They go to the teams that value them quickly and decisively. We cut our entire hiring process down to two steps the very next day. Stop dragging candidates through five rounds of interviews just to make your internal process feel thorough. Speed is a competitive advantage in hiring. As a job seeker, what is the longest interview process a company has ever put you through?

Every time I see a job posting advertising for low-cost offshore talent, I already know how the story ends. Companies congratulate themselves on their cost-cutting brilliance while completely missing what actually makes global talent valuable. This opportunistic race to the bottom does not internalize the true cost of this approach. When professionals are treated as disposable and underpaid, essentially as a commodity, they respond rationally. They treat the job as temporary while searching for better opportunities. The supposed savings quickly evaporate in the face of constant turnover, labor claims, and low performance. By the time someone becomes fully productive in their role, they are already interviewing elsewhere. And that is if they even get there. The cycle of recruitment, onboarding, and training becomes endless. I think the race to the bottom in offshoring is not just ethically questionable. It is a flawed business strategy that I have witnessed fail repeatedly. I have also observed what happens when companies take a different approach. Businesses that pay fair wages, provide growth opportunities, and create supportive environments build remarkably stable teams. Their Filipino professionals develop deeper expertise, stronger relationships with clients, and deliver consistently higher quality work. A number of our clients who joined us at our founding 10 years ago have since built their core teams with us that remain integral to their operations today. By trying to extract maximum value at minimum cost, companies actually receive less value. By investing fairly in their offshore teams, they receive exponentially more. The most successful offshore partnerships I have seen are not built on exploitation. They are built on mutual respect, fair compensation, and shared growth. This is not just about being morally right. It delivers substantially better business outcomes. The real competitive advantage of offshoring is building relationships with exceptional professionals who become genuinely invested in your success.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 Recruitment is known as a fast paced industry, but there’s one part of our role as recruiters that can’t be rushed; building relationships. In my experience, creating long-term relationships with our clients, candidates, and colleagues is invaluable. Not only does this approach lead to better hiring decisions, but it also shapes careers, fuels business growth, and creates networks of trust that last for years. Here’s why long-term relationships should be the foundation of any great recruitment strategy: 𝟏. 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞  The best partnerships – whether with clients or candidates – aren’t built in a single conversation. They develop over time, through consistency, honesty, and delivering results. When businesses work with recruiters they trust, they gain a true partner, not just a service provider. The same applies to candidates. Many of the strongest hires come from professionals we’ve known for years and placed more than once. 𝟐. 𝐀 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐁𝐞 𝐚 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰 One of the most rewarding aspects of long-term relationship-building is seeing how careers evolve. Many candidates we’ve placed early in their careers have gone on to become hiring managers or senior leaders, and when they need to build their own teams, they often return to the recruiters they trust. A single placement can turn into a lifelong professional partnership. 𝟑. 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐇𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬  Understanding a company’s culture, leadership style, and long-term growth strategy takes time. The deeper that understanding, the better the hires. Clients who treat recruiters as strategic partners rather than short-term vendors see the biggest return on investment – not just in speed to hire, but in quality and retention. 𝟒. 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬  In today’s job market, candidates expect a personal, transparent process – one where they feel valued beyond a single application. A recruiter who stays in touch, offers advice, and provides genuine career guidance builds relationships that last. And when candidates have a great experience, they refer others, expanding the recruiter’s network even further. 𝟓. 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠-𝐓𝐞𝐫𝐦 𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧  The recruitment industry is built on trust and reputation. The most successful recruiters are the ones known for honest, long-standing relationships that create value for both businesses and professionals over time. At the end of the day, recruitment is about people, not transactions. The strongest partnerships aren’t measured in placements but rather in careers built, businesses grown, and trust earned.

A common pitfall I've observed—and have navigated through myself—often unfolds like this: 1. A company lands a multimillion-dollar funding round. 2. VCs recommend tripling the headcount within a year to pave the way for the next funding milestone. This could mean scaling from 15 to 80 employees. 3. Founders, often without prior experience in massive scaling, lack the necessary recruiting strategies and HR infrastructure to manage such rapid growth. 4. Yet, driven by the urgency to meet funding criteria, they forge ahead with the expansion. 5. The rush to increase numbers sees the company's staff swell by 40 or more, often hiring anyone who shows interest without rigorous selection. 6. During this hectic growth, there's scarcely any time to evaluate whether the new hires contribute positively or align with the core company culture. 7. The practice of implementing a trial period is often bypassed. 8. Eventually, the company finds itself burdened with employees who don’t possess the required skills or fit the cultural ethos, and it’s too late for straightforward terminations as the opportunity for trial evaluations has been missed. 10. The company struggles to manage these misalignments, which could have been mitigated with more deliberate hiring practices. This scenario highlights the critical need for thoughtful hiring that aligns with the company’s foundational values and capabilities, ensuring sustainable growth that supports long-term success. Machine gun hiring might meet short-term KPIs but doesn’t build long-term success.