Life of a sourcer, Part 2 // The transition…

mitchellake on January 10, 2017

In my first piece I spoke about my introduction to recruiting and my role as a sourcer. I’ve experienced some new and exciting things since then and wanted to give you all a quick update. Now, as a follow-up from ‘Life of a Sourcer, Part 1’, I was given the opportunity to act as the interim recruiter while my colleague was away on her honeymoon (congrats AS!). This was for a client who I was actually sourcing for back when our contract first started, so luckily I already had a relationship with the team. I was excited to switch it up from my usual task of sourcing and gain some more experience working the full cycle. I’ve shadowed the team numerous times before so I felt pretty comfortable taking it on, but this time it would be a little different knowing I was on my own. I was brought in to keep the process running smoothly, and even though I’d only be there a short amount of time, I wanted to get as many candidates as possible through the funnel. Luckily my colleague (who was the consultant beforehand) made the transition pretty seamless, leaving me in a good spot to do so.

Surprise!

Midway through my time in this interim-recruiter role, I received a promotion. Knowing I’ve been in a sourcer role for about a year, it still came to me as a bit of a surprise and really boosted my confidence. I was even more inclined to do well and eager to get some traction going on the open roles.

Busy bee

I knew that I would be busy to a degree, but juggling agencies, inbound, and project managing really left me zero time to source. Now I really understood the busy schedules that most of my colleagues have, and why having sourcing help does make a difference. In addition to the numerous phone calls that make up such a big part of the role, I was able to facilitate on-sites, hold feedback sessions, and even got to run my first weekly recruiting meeting. It was quite a change, going from just shadowing and taking notes to actually being the one in charge, which in turn allowed me to feel more confident. I was able to really test my skills on every aspect of the cycle, improving not only my relationship with candidates and the client but my abilities as well.

Unexpected events

As expected I ran into some challenging situations. And I’ll even admit that I made a mistake or two (note to self: don’t try to multi-task first thing in the morning) but with the help of the client’s office manager it was an easy fix. It was a good reminder to take your time and not rush things. I did, however, encounter some situations that proved to be more of a challenge. I had met with one candidate after his onsite and he’d told me what a terrible experience he’d been having throughout the entire process. He complained that no one had been in communication with him, he had no knowledge of the compensation, and overall he felt he had been kept in the dark. Thinking ahead and anticipating his answers, I quickly consoled the candidate and offered some solutions. Surprisingly and thankfully the candidate was receptive to my response. Another candidate absolutely refused to disclose his compensation. Like most of us, we naturally ask during the first call and do expect some pushback but even after attempting a few times, he refused. The hiring manager even tried and didn’t have much luck. So I came out of that situation a little bummed, but it was also important to note that some situations can be out of your control, no matter how hard you try to navigate around it. I know each client has their own set of difficulties but by staying positive and determined, you can really change how you approach them.

Onto the next challenge

These past two weeks gave me a taste of what the recruiting world is really like: it’s a constant rollercoaster. I’d heard it all before, but it was great l to experience it firsthand. It gave me a taste of what to expect. I experienced some small obstacles, managed to overcome them, and despite the short time I was there, I was even able to get an offer out! It has given me a list of things that I would like to improve upon, specifically towards the end of the process where you’re required to pre-close candidates and negotiate offers. But what I value the most is being put in those unexpected situations, something that can’t necessarily be learnt by the book. So I’m onto the next client, excited to work a full desk and I’m ready to take own a new set of challenges.

Yvette Martinez graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Molecular Biology. She was born and raised in Los Angeles but has fallen in love with the San Francisco Bay area, and continues to be an integral part of the MitchelLake team. To read her first installation of this blog, Life of a Sourcer Part 1, click here. To chat to the MitchelLake team about your next role or talent aims, contact us here.

Author

Yvette Martinez graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in Molecular Biology. She was born and raised in Los Angeles but has fallen in love with the San Francisco Bay area. In her free time she enjoys playing tennis, singing her heart out at karaoke and eating amazing food!

YvetteMartinez

yvettem@mitchellake.com

A Guide to Attracting and Retaining Millennials — As Written By a Millennial

mitchellake on January 4, 2017

Millennials.

It’s no secret that the future of the workforce rests in their hands. In fact, Millennials will comprise more than one in three adult Americans by 2020, with Forbes stating they will make up 75 per cent of the global workplace by 2025. There is no wonder why companies are feeling the pressure to evolve to include more flexible, transparent, and diverse cultures as more of these “digital natives” accept employment offers.

The introduction of technology has ended the regular nine-to-five workday, dull meetings and cubicles for remote work, digital meetings with coworkers based around the globe often in collaborative workspaces. The Millennial generation overtook Baby Boomers as the largest generation in the United States in 2016, and with all of the disruption they are causing, it’s not surprising that 53% of hiring managers in the US admit to having difficulty recruiting and retaining them.

Millennials are a boisterous bunch — with 90% of them using social media, they are more connected and have a voice that no other generation has had. Many find them to be entitled, selfish individuals who demand perks and have high expectations about access, but, according to Laszlo Bock, former Chief of Human Resources at Google, “the only thing that’s different about the Millennial generation is that it is actually asking for things that everybody else wants.” Who could blame them? With their entire lives on display due to the public nature of social media, it’s not surprising that they seek professional development that aligns with their personal brand and values.

While companies have continued to keep Generation X motivated by job security, they are finding it harder to retain top Millennial talent using these same tactics. After all, they are known as being ‘job-hoppers,’ aren’t they? So, if you can’t motivate them by offering a 15-year career, how do you?

Let them make an impact.

The way to keep a Millennial invested in your organization is to offer them the opportunity to make an impact, achieve professional growth and experience organizational transparency. To do so, you must start by finding candidates that share in the excitement around your mission and purpose; but don’t stop there! You must focus on these aspects throughout the candidate journey and beyond.

If you’re ready to embark on your journey to attracting top talent, look no further. I share with you below the secrets you need to find and retain Millennials:

Construct Your Foundation — Your Employer Brand
When you begin to build a house, you always start with the foundation; otherwise, the entire project will collapse. The same goes for recruiting in the digital age. Millennials are expert consumers, and as such, they expect dynamic, trustworthy visuals. Stock photos and buzzwords on your website do not cut it. These individuals consume hundreds of brands daily, and if they can’t find reliable information on your site, they will turn to social media, Glassdoor, or worse… move on to the next company.

If you want to hire talent that is right for your business, you will have to lay out the framework that will lead to future success.

The Framework For A Successful Employer Brand

Define your ideal candidate
Just like you would create a client persona for your sales team, you need to determine who an ideal candidate would be for your company. To do so, take a look at your current employees. Who is thriving in your organisation? What are the positive qualities and characteristics that led to their success? These are individuals that you can’t imagine not seeing every day. Take these people aside and talk to them about why they joined and why they continue to stay on at the company.

Define the ‘Pillars’ of your employer brand
What makes you stand apart from your competitors? These can be anything from your values, company traditions or culture. You want to be transparent and authentic if you hope to bring on someone who is a great cultural fit. These pillars will let candidates see what is important to you and your team, and will tell them whether or not they will succeed in a role at your company.

Communicate across all channels
You want to authentically express who you are as a brand both online and offline. Post team photos and videos across your website, social media, and anywhere else your prospective candidates might find you. Do you host happy hours, monthly book clubs or provide opportunities for staff to volunteer? This is your time to shine! Enlist your team in touting what gets them excited to come to work each day through the various channels of communication that are open to you. Photos and videos will help bring vibrancy to your touch points including your office, company website and job ads. You can even convey the prospective impact candidates can make on the company through your job descriptions.

Food for Thought: Lever.co creates “impact descriptions” that includes what candidates are expected to accomplish in their roles in 3, 6, and 12 months.

Now is the time to take action! Recruit your team to help build your employer on brand social media. Get everyone excited about creating a company culture and community that will attract incredible talent!

Stand Apart From Your Competition — Proactive Sourcing

If you want to bring top talent to your organisation, you need to be going out and ‘knocking on doors’ — so to speak. No high calibre employees just ‘show up’ at your doorstep demanding jobs these days; millennials are even less likely to do so. We’re in the age of technology, so get amongst it! 31% of candidates hired come through proactive sourcing, as opposed to waiting for applicants to find your company and apply. So, get onto LinkedIn, use their recruiting tool, which includes advanced features and access to all 400 million+ members, and find candidates with the skills you are looking for.

Or, better yet, give us a call and let one of our expert sourcing teams in North America, Europe, Australia, or Asia do the legwork for you and we’ll help you bring in the top talent your company needs to start firing on all cylinders! #SorryNotSorry for the shameless plug.

Keep in mind during the sourcing process that Millennials are an overstimulated bunch, and they connect in different places than previous generations. You want to be their resource during the entire candidate journey. They are avid information seekers, and they will do research to get the answers they need. If you communicate what makes your company unique early on, share links with them that give real life examples, and offer them opportunities to meet offline to get to know your business on a personal level, you are more likely to have them accept your offer later.

Food for Thought: Even when a prospective candidate is not currently seeking a new opportunity, they may still be open to an informal conversation about the role you are hiring for. Take them out for a coffee and speak casually about what their ideal role would look like. Even if they are not interested in moving on, they could refer you to a friend or offer you feedback on the position that could potentially make it more appealing to someone else.

Create Opportunities to Meet Millennials Offline
1. Host monthly or quarterly meet-ups or happy hours at your office.
2. Do you know any thought leaders in your community? Have them speak at an office event and ask your employees to invite their friends.
3. Provide bonuses or other incentives for your team to refer a friend who would be a good cultural fit for your company.

Your team’s extensive network is your most valuable resource. Enlist the help of the most passionate members of your team and start talking to them about becoming evangelists for your brand. They can offer information and resources to their network on social media such as Twitter, LinkedIn Publisher, Medium, and more. They can even provide honest, anonymous reviews on websites such as Glassdoor that allows potential employees see what your current employees think of your company. Remember to encourage everyone to be human and authentic throughout this entire process.

One Size Does NOT Fit All — A Customised Candidate Experience

The days of stuffy conference rooms and group interviews are behind us! It’s time to take a leaf or two out of the playbook of those tech unicorns we hear so much about. If you want to attract and retain top talent, you need to tow your current candidate experience out of the stone age and bring it into the 21st century. In the age of technology in which we live, Millennials expect smooth transactions and clean interfaces when navigating websites and applying for jobs — Psst… Do you need a UX or UI Designer? Our team has you covered.

Becoming an advocate for your candidates is important throughout the entire hiring process, and continues on even after they’ve accepted your offer. Remember that even after a candidate has accepted an offer, the ball is still in their court. As they say, “the devil we know is better than the devil we don’t.” If you do not walk with your candidate throughout the entire process, easing their concerns, and showing you are excited about them joining your team, they are just as likely to accept a counteroffer from their current employer. However, evidence shows that over 75% of candidates who accept a counter end up leaving the organisation after 3 months. Don’t be afraid to follow up with them regularly to motivate and remind them why they accepted (or are planning to accept) your offer in the first place; over-communication is better than no communication.

Your candidates want to see the real you and want to know that the position aligns with their values and needs. They want to be prepared for the interview process and know what to expect out of the job they are applying for. No one wants to sign on for what appears to be an ideal role, and suddenly there are a ton of surprises that weren’t discussed during the hiring process. More than 67% of employers believe that retention rates would be higher if candidates had a clearer picture of what to expect from working at the company before taking the job. So, make sure to communicate early and often.

How to Create a Seamless Candidate Experience
• Give your candidates a run sheet ahead of time with details on who they are meeting and what will be covered. This will help alleviate nerves and will give you a better idea of who they are without the interview jitters.
• Instead of heading straight to the conference room, provide them with a tour of the office and let them imagine what it would be like to work with the team.
• Introduce them to people from different teams, so they can learn about the inner workings of the company and know what areas they can best create an impact.
• Show them what it’s like to be part of the team by inviting them to participate in *real* team meetings. You can even have them work with your team to solve onsite challenges and give them the opportunity to shine.
• Take the time to do multiple interview rounds where you focus on company culture and core values. You both need to know whether they are a good fit, or if turnover is likely.

Food for Thought: Feedback is a two-way street, so develop feedback mechanisms into your hiring process. Statistics show that 90% of candidates agree to receive verbal feedback because they want to know how they can improve, so be sure to give it promptly. You should also be collecting candidate feedback after every interview and use it to improve the overall experience.

Remember that your vibe attracts your tribe. When you treat prospective employees like you do your existing team members, you create a seamless candidate experience.

“I’m Going to Make Him an Offer He Can’t Refuse.”

The offer stage of any search is a delicate process, but if you have followed the previous three steps, it’s likely that your candidate is ready to make the jump. Do not start easing off now! If anything, this is the time to pull out all of the stops and show them that your excitement is sincere. You’ve walked with them this far, the best thing you can do at this stage is to send them a personalised offer letter (before they receive one from HR) and tell them why you are excited for them to join the team. Be sure to include what made them stand out from other candidates you interviewed.

Food for Thought: The worst thing you can do is create a self-destructing job offer. This is an intense moment for them also, and they want to feel that they are supported throughout the offer stage. Provide them with ample time to meet again to go over any additional questions they have. If you haven’t heard back from them after they received your offer, make sure to follow up to soothe any possible fears or cold feet they may be experiencing.

Gestures That Will Help Get You To “Yes!”
• Arrange a time for senior leadership to take them to lunch to discuss vision. This is a prime selling opportunity that shows your entire team is invested in them.
• Surprise and delight — RecruitingSocial.com suggests exceeding candidate expectations by performing small gestures such as welcoming a candidate to an onsite interview with a basket of company swag and a hand-written note thanking them for the visit, sending a written thank you note before they send you one, or programming a personalised welcome message on your reception area leaderboard on the day of the interview.
• Walk them through a trajectory of their career thus far. Discuss the high and low points, their motivations in previous roles, and show that you are invested in their career advancement and that all of their efforts will go towards building something impactful. This is also a very good time to take detailed notes that can later be used in performance reviews and ensure that they are making the appropriate strides in their career to get them to the next level. This will make sure that you keep them invested down the road. According to Glassdoor, 46% of Millennials left their last job due to lack of career growth.

Remember that even if you think they are sold — don’t stop encouraging! The decision making process is a stressful time, especially when they have other offers on the table. It’s not always about who offers the most money or the best perks. More than 80% of Millennials reported that they would take a pay cut to find work that matches their values. This doesn’t mean to pay them less than they deserve, just make them a strong offer and keep their motivations in mind throughout the process and you are likely to get that “yes!”

Be An Advocate For Your Candidates Even After They’ve Joined

It’s not always about perks. To retain Millennials, you need to show that you value their professional growth and well-being. Constant communication and company-wide transparency are a great way to keep anyone on your team from feeling burnt out and isolated.

Food for Thought: Sarah Smith, VP of Advertising Sales and Operations at Quora suggests hosting a weekly company-wide Q&A session with leadership. She claims that questions are typically directed at the CEO, but give everyone a chance to ask questions and hold leadership accountable. These live sessions are useful because the audience can more easily detect dishonesty, and the level of transparency gives Millennials a clearer picture of how they fit into the company’s objectives.

Ways To Show You Are Invested in Your Team
• Offer opportunities for learning and development — this is just as important to Millennials as promotions or raise schedules.
• Emphasise flexibility. 88% of workers wish that they could start or finish work when they choose. 75% would like to start working (or work more often) from home.
• Create opportunities for your team to build relationships. 71% of Millennials report having friendships at work. Your people and culture matter!
• Encourage communication and transparency. 76% of Millennials report higher levels of satisfaction where there is a creative, inclusive working culture.

Millennials are the present and future of companies around the globe, and it is clear that they have a significant impact in the disruption we are seeing in recruitment. We hope that you put this guide to good use and help the tech industry become a more diverse and inclusive place to work.

Sources
Inside the Minds of Millennials by The Muse (Webinar)
11 Facts about the Millennial Generation by Brookings Now
Why You Can’t Ignore Millennials by Forbes
6 Ways to Ensure Your Candidate Turns Down Your Job Offer by RecruitLoop

Top HR Statistics by Glassdoor
Why Delight is the Icing on Your Candidate Experience Cake by RecruitingSocial

How to Retain Millennials in 2016 by Lever.co

2016 in Review // MitchelLake’s Hot Projects

mitchellake on December 29, 2016

With the year winding down, it’s a time to reflect on the successes of the last 12 months. MitchelLake are fiercely proud of people and businesses that we’re lucky enough to work with. Below we share some of the highlights that have kept us busy.

MELBOURNE

REA Group – We placed their Senior Mobile Project Manager – a hard skill set to find, but we were thrilled to fill this important role for the business. We also placed their CPO.

RateMyAgent – Successfully helped grow the tech team by hiring a Senior BA, Front and Back End Lead Software Engineer and placed a contracting Front End Architect (also). Also grew their marketing team from scratch, with two roles that complemented each other and both specialist skills sets.

McKinsey Health – We placed their first hire for the APAC team in a Senior Data Scientist role.

PaymentLogic – We were able to work with PaymentLogic to hire an interim CEO to develop their business strategy.

Unlockd  – Placed Non-Executive Director, David Baxby.

Pro Medicus – Non-Executive Director placement of Anthony Glennings to this ASX listed company.

Aconex – A pleasure to work for this home-grown success story in placing their CTO.

SYDNEY

OneFlare  – MitchelLake were pleased to find the first C-level marketing hire for the business.

AirService – A total of five hires across tech, sales and design.

Bigstone Capital – This was their first marketing role, and first external hire, for this early stage startup. We placed their Head of Marketing.

Spriggy– Exciting to work with this great FinTech business with a solid product. We placed their Marketing Lead.

HMD – In a really complex role, MitchelLake sourced HMD’s Technical Account Manager. We look forward to seeing the growth of this business.

Global English – This adaptive learning program made their first product hire this year, and we were tasked with finding their VP of Product.

Qantas Loyalty (Innovation Hub) – An exciting opportunity to help grow the product whilst aligning tech simultaneously, and we placed an outstanding Digital Technologist into this role.

Tyro – CPO

Team Viewer – VP Sales & MD APAC

3PL – Chief of Sales and Marketing in Carolina after an extensive global search run out of Sydney

SiteMinder – SVP Global Sales, CPO

Tech Sydney (formerly Piivot) – Placed Dean McEvoy in the CEO role after a global search. Dean will lead this exciting innovation hub for Sydney.

IBM – Lead Partner, Financial Services

Westpac – Head of Analytics

McKinsey – 10 hires in their digital labs.

NORTH AMERICA

OpenGov – 45 placements in 4 months

DNA Nexus – 30+ placements in 2016

CloudPassage – 50+ hires in the last 18 months, with average time-to-hire for engineers of 39.2 days. Built out a 9-strong engineering team.

DuoSecurity – DuoSecurity is a unicorn client and company and MitchelLake Group placed four security placements within 9 months.

Chartboost– We worked closely with Sequoia’s Jim Goetz for exciting client. We placed their VP of Product.

Instart Logic – Placed an amazing candidate as Head of Security.

Rhumbix – Exciting client to work for, we were able to fill their VP Engineering role.

SINGAPORE

TouchCorp – GM Asia

Seek Asia – CPO (Malaysia)

TaskUs – VP Talent

EY – Partner (EY Digital)

Lion & Lion – Country Manager (Hong Kong)

iMoney – CTO

EUROPE

TouchCorp – GM Sales Europe

Emirates – Head of Mobile & Web Development

MitchelLake Salary Guide: Looking into 2017 for Australian Market

mitchellake on December 22, 2016

With major and unforeseen political events like Brexit and the success of President-elect Donald Trump, we are certainly in interesting times, but how does this affect Australia and what does it mean for the demand technology & specialist digital skills?

Brexit has not yet created the economic turmoil some feared. According to a recent EY Survey, confidence in the UK economic outlook shifted from ‘positive’ to ‘stable’ six months ago. Looking deeper, labour (both recruitment and retention) consistently emerges as one of the biggest post-Brexit anxieties for businesses.
Like in the UK, I suspect things will settle down in the US, but the trend for internally focused politics, first seen in Britain then in the US, also has an effect on Australia. Over the past six months the Australian Government has succumb to the pressure of various factions to implement stronger policies around the 457 Visa which will further put pressure on our market to secure highly sought after tech and digital talent from abroad particularly.

Digital continues to be a hot topic, and we’re seeing companies experiment with business models that combine both legacy assets and digitally oriented approaches. We’re also witnessing major corporates looking to acquire digital startups to help drive innovation and efficiencies for their business.

Australia is no Silicon Valley, but that doesn’t mean Australia isn’t fit for innovative startups. The startup culture continues to evolve and prosper across Australia, with a larger number of accelerators, incubators & entrepreneurship educational programs driving innovation in our country while also impacting the global arena.

Looking ahead at 2017, Australia is no different to our global marketplaces; we anticipate increased challenges in attracting and retaining specialist talent. Skill shortages will continue to drive up salaries for engineers particularly around Front-end Technologies, DevOps, Mobile & Data Science. There is a continuing rise in demand for UI, UX, CX & Service Design specialists as well as Product Management leaders also.

We have put together a Salary Guide for 2017 (see below). It is an interactive compilation of salary and market information from the MitchelLake team, industry data points, clients and our active candidate network. Salary ranges relate to base salaries excluding superannuation and are approximate guides! While we work within salary ranges, unless otherwise stated, the salaries below are the median point of the salary range.

If you would like to chat with MitchelLake about this data, get in touch with our business wherever you are. Click here to connect.

My Remote Year Series // Entrepreneurship on an island that sits on a crystal?

mitchellake on December 15, 2016

Following a big-city month in hectic Kuala Lumpur (revisit my first Remote Year instalment here, my fellow remotes and I enjoyed a relaxing month living the island life in Koh Phangan, Thailand. Koh Phangan is recognised world-wide as a party island and best known for the infamous “Full Moon Party” which draws crowds by the thousands each month. However, it equally offers a calming and spiritual energy which draws in those seeking healthy living, spirituality, healing and self reflection. Many locals and expats attribute this to the claim that the island sits on an ancient bed of crystal (rose quartz).

Island Office for Digital Nomads

These two extremes left little in the middle and offered quite an interesting environment for a bunch of digital nomads. We were fortunate to be set up in the one and only co-working space on Koh Phangan (KP), BeacHub, which was co-founded and run by Melody Hidalgo, who was there almost every day and extremely helpful with anything BeacHub or KP related. While working every day with a stunning view of the crystal clear waters surrounding the Gulf of Thailand, I was introduced to a diverse assortment of travellers in our shared working space.

Multiple Businesses and Serial Entrepreneurs

Like many of the business I encountered in Thailand, BeacHub’s owners, Melody and her business partner, are serial entrepreneurs and also own one of my favourite restaurants on the island, Karma Kafe. If I wasn’t at the co-working space you almost always could find me at the cafe enjoying their delicious vegan food; my favourite dish being “The Hola!” – a Mexican inspired salad with hummus and broccamole (like guac, but with broccoli).

After much success with Karma Kafe, the business duo decided to embark on another business venture, with the goal of bringing something new to the island that didn’t exist already. They noticed many people worked remotely from Karma Kafe which sparked the idea of a co-working and networking space. Now that the space is up and running they see a steady stream of entrepreneurs, writers, bloggers, developers, designers, marketers, eCommerce professionals, and a host of other remote employees working for either startups or corporate businesses. These people are a mix of travellers passing through, long-term expats, and people like us that are somewhere in the middle. They also host various events like a weekly master classes/skill shares, networking dinners, and ‘wine’ down Fridays.

Multiple business entities seemed to be a recurring theme in KP. The owner of my accommodation for the month also runs a wellness center, focusing on yoga and healing. A couple I met ran a salon in one part of town and a burger bar in another. Another woman I met ran an in home threading business and also a lively hotel. Of course, all of these people have their own unique stories and reasons for their way of life and business but there are definitely common themes.

Entrepreneurship in a Tourist Hub

A big one is the unpredictability of tourism and living in a place with a distinct high and low season. The couple with the salon and burger bar said the salon brought in a lot more revenue during low season, probably because more people were looking for massages and pampering during the heavy rains. Other expats with multiple business ventures explained that this was just in their blood. They are explorers at heart so of course they would want to try their hand at different careers. Another reason is unpredictability of island life, or life as an expat. Most expats don’t have rights to land or business ownership so you have to rely on a business partner which can get tricky. Also, cultural or historical events can have massive impacts. While we were in Thailand, King Bhumibol Adulyadej died, leaving the country in mourning. The beloved king was the world’s longest-reigning monarch in history and people across the nation were visibly devastated. With the country in mourning, curfews and noise restrictions were put in place to respect the king, even the infamous Full Moon Party was cancelled.

Lessons Learned as a Remote Worker

Koh Phangan was our second stop of the year and I noticed people were really starting to find their groove in work and even launching new businesses. I saw remotes start to connect on side projects, and we even saw the beginning of a creative agency with three remote founders.

While some people were motivated and rolling on interesting projects in spite of the island life, others encountered scary conversations at work about time management, communication, and productivity. The first month felt like we were just getting situated and figuring out our new space, new family, and new work environments. Month 2 seemed to be more about learning from your mistakes and becoming a more effective and efficient remote employee.

For anyone considering a remote lifestyle the one piece of advice I’d offer is over communication (keep in mind this is only after 2 months of the digital life). Many of us learned that we needed to be more proactive in setting 1:1s with different colleagues and managers, sending emails at the beginning of the week laying out weekly plans and goals and then following up at the end of the week confirming what you did and did not do. It is important to remember that your colleagues are now really far removed from your day to day so you need to take ownership of sharing that information and making sure everyone is kept in the loop. A big part of being a remote employee is taking responsibility for your own work schedule, input and output. This means you might have to sing your own praise one week, and then explain why you might miss a deadline the next week. Even with the best manager, you are now the only one that truly knows what you are contributing and you need to be vocal about that.

Tech Scene in Thailand
If you have your eye on Thailand, here is some additional information on the tech scene in Thailand and references of different co-working space and incubators.

Who are the established and up and coming tech companies in Thailand?
AsiaSoft, gaming company focused on multiplayer online games
ZmyHome – site for homeowners to list their properties with no agents involved
Priceze – shopping search engine and price comparison tool
Silkspan -price comparison website specialising
ClaimDi – Mobile app to make insurance claims in real time
ACommerce – E-commerce solutions provider
Builk – crowdsourcing construction data
Page365 – Invoicing system
HotelQuickly – Impromptu booking engine
Blisby – E-commerce marketplace for handmade products, similar to etsy
HipFlat– Property portal

Co-Working spaces
HUBBA – Thailand’s first co-working space based in Bangkok, and now has 7 locations.
The Hive – Offers two locations in Bangkok: one in the heart of Thonglor and the other in Prakanong.
HATCH – In Phuket with shared spaces and private rooms to rent by the hour.
Punspace Nimman – the original co-working space in Chiang Mai with a quiet grassy courtyard.
Launch Pad – Open space co-working space in Bangkok with 5 private meeting rooms.
FabCafe – Global co-working network, starting in Taiwan with spaces in Thailand, Japan and Spain.

Startup Incubators/Accelerators
AIS – Annual program focused on digital entrepreneurs.
Dtac Accelerator – 3-month program for early stage startups that already have a team and a product that is getting traction.
True Incube – 3-month program for tech startups in Thailand.
Business Incubation Center (BIC)- Business facility for entrepreneurs providing support with new technology and state-of-the-art innovation.
mSEED – Supporting business in the beauty and personal care industry.

Sources
TechSauce
Bangkok Post
AseanUp
Wikipedia

Gemma is on an envy-inducing remote working journey where for 12 months she’ll be living in 12 different cities across Southeast Asia, Europe, Central America and South America. While she’s exploring the world, we’re hard at work in offices across Singapore, Australia, Europe and North America – drop us a line and let’s work together on finding you your next role, or helping to fill your team with talent. Contact us here.

The Recruiting Tackle Box

mitchellake on December 8, 2016

I like to go fishing. Yes, I enjoy going outside and catching fish with a rod and reel. “I thought this was a blog about recruiting,” you are probably now asking yourself. Hold on, we will get there. The truth is, I spend more of my time fishing than I do catching. The same way I spend more of my time sourcing than I do hiring. That is the reality of it. Any angler will tell you that fishing is not easy (an honest angler will, at least). Believe it or not, fishing is an interesting hobby. It is a hobby that will take you places, show you things and above all teach you things. I have and continue to learn many of life’s lesson from my time spent fishing, and over the years it has become one of my passions.

Now, I’m a recruiter, and when I think about it, I realise that it is something that I am truly passionate about. I then start to think about my other passions and begin searching for a correlation. In doing so, however, I have to ignore the remuneration factor of having a job (and trust me, if my other passions compensated me the way work does I would be out chasing fish and not writing this blog), Eventually, I started thinking beyond skill or ability and focused on the elements that go into this line of work; the core values that one needs to have in order to survive and succeed in a career in recruiting. And it hit me. Fishing! The recipe is the same: patience, dedication, hard work, determination and a bit of luck.

Patience
You need to take your time. You cannot rush a fish onto your line the same way you cannot rush a candidate into a role. There are situations where it is simply a waiting game. Either you are waiting on a candidate’s response or waiting for feedback from a hiring manager. Then there’s waiting for budget approval or an offer letter to be approved by the CEO. It’s just like waiting for a fish to strike your lure. You have to wait for the timing to be right. You have to wait for the fish to be ready.

Dedication
You can’t give up. If it was easy, everyone would do it. No surprises here, this profession is not easy. It can be gruelling at times and fraught with failure. You will fail. But either way, you have to keep your head down and make it happen because it can be great at times. Same with fishing. You will get skunked. You spend all day on the water, casting & waiting for a fish to hit with nothing to show. You have to keep at it. Stick to the process and it will happen. They will hit.

Hard work
Nothing comes easy. The best things come to those who work hard. Sweat equity. You reap what you sow. I could go on forever but you get my point. Those who excel work for it. Recruiting is no different, especially in a market where the competition for talent is fierce. You have to put in the work to land the best candidates. The same way you have to put in the work to land those fish.

Determination
Nothing is promised. You need to keep the faith and know that your efforts will pay dividends. You have to believe that success will attend your efforts. We have all had the role from hell before. Where there are few candidates and even fewer good ones. Candidates that are no shows, or ones that go cold on you. Nothing you try sticks and everything falls apart. But you can’t give up. You need to push through even though you are tired, your muscles ache and you’ve lost your favourite lures. But you gotta keep casting.

And a bit of luck
At the end of the day, you can do everything just right and it may or may not work out in your favour. That is part of life. Echoing my last blog – recruiters work with human beings, the most irrational species on this planet, famous for doing crazy things that make zero sense at the worst possible times. You ask all the right questions, quiete all the concerns, got the sign-on bonus, and your candidate may still just say no. The same applies with fishing. You have your best lure picked out, select the best spot to cast, it’s the perfect time of day and the fish still may not bite. You did all the right things and it may, or may not, work out in your favour. But with just a bit of luck…when all the elements of your tackle box come together…and you catch that fish…place that candidate… it makes it all worthwhile. That’s when you look back at the hard work and it all makes sense. So you do it again.

Or…you get skunked. That is why it’s called fishing and not catching. The same reason it’s called recruiting and not hiring: it’s a challenge to succeed when nothing is promised. I like the challenge. That’s why I enjoy what I do.

Kenny Acosta is a Recruiting Consultant with MitchelLake Onsite, based in San Francisco. He is an accomplished technical recruiter and a pretty decent fisherman.

If you’re looking for your next role to tackle, or for the perfect candidate out of all the fish in the sea, then get in touch now.

A Traveling Mass with a Memory Loss

mitchellake on December 1, 2016

One of my favourite lines from one of my favourite bands (The Samples) is stuck in my head as I reflect on a new executive search that my team and I are about to kick off. The search discovery meetings are beginning tomorrow morning and I didn’t get my usual 5 hours of sleep because I was pumped up and ready to begin the hunting process. We will be seeking another purple squirrel, a security executive from a great company in the Valley or beyond. It is what consumes me and drives me. We look for every avenue to locate and build relationships with the very best and most rare executive technical talent. The excitement is tethered by other feelings of concern about how prepared the client will be and how the candidates will perceive the search. I know that the client is closing in on their calibrating but not there and the candidate pool is already looking far ahead in their career progression while contemplating their objections before we make first contact. This excitement and conflict is normal; I have had these feelings many times before. After all, it is the job that I love. But as I mature (depending on who you ask) and begin reflecting on life’s lessons in this business I find myself often asking; “are we really progressing and learning from past lessons and mistakes, or are we just repeating the same themes and forgetting just enough to make things sound new and fresh?”. Are we a ‘traveling mass with a memory loss’? What does history say about that?

Looking back

It was over 20 years ago that I was sitting in Professor Maloba’s African History course at the University of Delaware (Go Hens!) when he explained that in Africa, as with most of the world, nationalism, government structures and even revolution are examples of history repeating itself. We see how new leaders and concepts rise on a platform of repetition, however, we don’t always recognise this as a trend in the business, particularly in the technology recruiting space. Now in my 40s and a true Gen X, I recognise this trend of repetition more than ever in the search world; particularly over the past few years in searching for security executives and leaders. Are we truly innovating and producing new leaders for these new positions, or are we borrowing and repeating themes from previous technology trends and simply applying those themes to the new hot disciplines of 2016?

I moved to the Valley in 1996 and have been fortunate to have rewarding and challenging careers in both IT services and search. I have had a front seat in the excitement; chaos, multiple booms and busts, new technology concepts, new nomenclatures, and yes, plenty of repetition and reinvention. To have the perspective from the front row is both frustrating and necessary for the success in my business, but history has taught me to take a different perspective.

In recent memory

In 2010 if a software company engaged in a search project for what was to essentially be their Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) they would most likely be aiming to solve a technical challenge that was brought on by IT or other technical stakeholders in the organisation. This was a position that almost always reported into the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and possessed a scope that was primarily focused around solving the corporate security infrastructure and data center problems; often gaping holes which still hold true today. There may have been a healthy amount of concern for the security of business applications as well as compliance, but in the end, the target was an infrastructure leader that was being asked to broaden their narrative across to the non-technical audience within the company.

By 2015, this position scope and the type of leader in the same company would have taken on a completely different feel, focus and narrative. The position would now be a technical and business leader hybrid; a Swiss-army knife with a broad arsenal of deep security skills ranging from InfoSec to AppSec to Corporate Security to Product Security, and it would require a strong understanding of working with product code and supporting developers, not to mention a sprinkling of compliance in SOC2 and/or FedRamp. This person would also need to possess the ability to drive initiatives across a global organisation, have moderate to significant experience in direct management, and perhaps possess outwardly facing executive presence to speak with other CISOs and even the press. Wow, that’s a mouthful!

So, what changed in five years?

What changed this new version of a CISO role is that this is decision originated in the board room, not in the data center. The Executive team and board of directors have recognised that there are only two kinds of companies left in the world: those whose data and infrastructure have been compromised, and they know it; and those whose data and infrastructure have been compromised, and they don’t know it.

If we looked at the security world just five years ago, only a select group of companies within eCommerce, financial, and the healthcare space (plus a few government regulated environments) truly treated security leadership as a business problem. The forcing function came into play with the rapid maturing process of the cloud as a viable, scalable and secure option. The data was now instantaneous. It was everywhere, could be assessed from anywhere and was available to everyone, thus creating amazing opportunities for both product development and the bad guys. As a result, a search that was confined to a skill set based on on-premise or co-located data center infrastructure challenges turned into a fabric of holes that required solutions overnight.

The result was a drastic change in what kind of talent leadership we are seeking. As we suspected there are nowhere near the number of qualified leaders, managers, or individual contributor resources available in the market to deal with supply. The numbers of unfilled security roles are astronomical and will continue to worsen over the next decade. In search we have not seen anything like this gap before. Or have we?

History repeating

Does this sound familiar to anyone else in IT, search or otherwise? In case it doesn’t, here are few examples. Having focused in CIO/CTO search for 10 years, I saw a similar change around 2010 as a CIOs role morphed from a technical infrastructure and business application leadership position to a business leader and data steward. We saw a similar change with the CTO position. Both the CIO and CTO positions continue to change rapidly. How about going a bit further down the stack and looking at Infrastructure Ops transitioning into TechOps? And didn’t those great IT leaders who once managed your enterprise business applications become our Cloud Apps leaders of today? I’m pretty old so I’m happy to reach back even further into the archives and bring up even more repeating themes. How about the transition from proprietary systems to open systems and client-server models? Does anyone recall DECs Star Coupler architecture, DSSI, or FDDI? If you do not know how they transformed server management you may want to read about these technologies.

In praise of the Cloud

The development of the cloud as a true business solution is one of the greatest innovations of our generation and in my opinion the largest single disruption the talent space has seen. As an executive search guy focused on disciplines like engineering, DevOps, and security I thank the cloud every day for the accelerated chaos and opportunity it has created in the talent space. Clients and candidates are often confused as to what the market will bear or how to approach their search process and approach.

With these unicorn types to security search projects, the cloud has created a need for new strategies in research, hunting, and extracting talent. We are now on full alert to provide guidance to both clients and candidates on nearly every aspect of the search process from the candidate engagement to internal client calibration, to setting the interview and feedback structure, organising team structure, deciding on the appropriate title nomenclature and negotiating on compensation. In addition, we are now dealing with a savvy pool of Gen-X, millennial/Gen-Y candidate hybrids that often don’t want to be found and have a different engagement style.

Moving forward

As we move from a traditionally InfoSec, AppSec, and Compliance driven position into a more Product and AppSec based leader I believe this will continue to be one of the most challenging technology leadership positions of our time. The bread crumbs are there to follow and I might suggest taking more of a historical perspective when searching for these rare security leaders.

Purple squirrel is a term used by employment recruiters to describe a job candidate with precisely the right education, experience, and qualifications that perfectly fits a job’s multifaceted requirements.

With over 20 years of combined technology practitioner and talent management experience, Michael Piacente is responsible for leading, growing, and expanding MLG’s US operation out of San Francisco. Get in touch now.

Innovation and Startups in Israel

mitchellake on November 24, 2016

I recently attended the Invest in Israel 2016 conference in Singapore organised by the Ministry of Economy and Industry State of Israel. Invest in Israel is a foreign direct investment initiative of the Israeli Ministry of Economy encouraging companies in Singapore to invest in startups coming from Israel.

Having limited knowledge of the startup scene in Israel, I was pleasantly surprised to learn many interesting facts about the country’s industry, such as Israel has the highest concentration of engineers in the world, its scientific infrastructure is ranked 3rd in the world and there have been 12 Nobel Prize Winners from Israel!

Blooming Innovation
With over new 1,000 startups per year, 250 companies in the high-tech and new media sectors, and thousands of entrepreneurs and comprehensive business ecosystem, it’s no wonder that the country also goes by the moniker *Startup Nation*. Israeli companies operate R&D facilities for top multinational new media companies such as Google, Facebook, AOL, eBay and Yahoo.
The more I learn about Israel and its startup ecosystem, the more I discovered that there’s so much innovation going on in Israel. With this in mind I’ve put together the top five Israeli startups to watch out for.

Audioburst
Audioburst was launched in 2015 and brings the radio medium into the modern age by making it searchable and shareable. Radio hasn’t been the easiest medium to consume online, its content doesn’t go viral as compared to videos or photos and effectively disappears into thin air as soon as it is broadcast. Audioburst transcribes radio broadcasts through its innovative and highly sophisticated search engine which result in snippets called “bursts” on a wide range of topics from sports and entertainment, to arts, politics and business. The company brings value to radio stations because it allows their content to have a longer shelf life, while at the same time offering monetisation and distribution opportunities.

Tipalti
Global e-commerce and online advertising companies (among others) make thousands of payments to partners all over the world every day. The paperwork this creates can be crushing. Tipalti has been a lifesaver for many of these businesses. It automates the process of making global mass payments and also manages the complexities of international regulatory and tax compliance. Some of the company’s clients have seen the resources they devote to making payments cut by 50 percent or more. Founded in 2010 by Chen Amit, a serial tech entrepreneur, and Oren Zeev, a prolific angel investor (Chegg, Duda Mobile, Houzz, and others), Tipalti raised $13 million in 2014 to fund continuing growth.

Moovit
Like Waze for public transportation, Moovit leverages user data as well as publicly available information like schedules to provide the most efficient directions from point A to point B. Like Google Maps’ public transit feature, Moovit combines various modes of transportation including walking, buses and subways. It differentiates itself with the application of user data, which Google doesn’t have access to. In some cities, Moovit also allows users to hail a ride through the app. Investors have pumped more than $80 million into the company.

Bizzabo
Bizzabo is the world’s first event success platform. It helps organizers create successful events by empowering them to build amazing websites, sell tickets, grow communities, go mobile and maximize event experiences. All using a beautiful, user friendly platform. Bizzabo has raised over $4M in funding from top investors.

Apester
Apester is a digital storytelling platform that drives increased engagement for publishers by integrating the voice of the reader into their editorial coverage. Apester is a leader in digital storytelling, with more than 300 million impressions a month and 600+ leading publishers using the platform, including AOL, The Daily Telegraph, The Huffington Post, BBC, Sky, and Bild.

Other startups to watch out for
Rounds
ClicksMob
LightTricks
Dapulse
fairfly

Resources
Tech in Asia
INC
Invest In Israel