Hiring in a candidates market - 4 messages that help me attract the right talent
I don’t pretend to be a recruiting expert. However, I have been a tech recruiter in a past life and everyone who is out there trying to recruit tech talent in 2021 / 2022 would agree that they have never seen a market like this in their lifetime.
It’s an extremely HOT candidates market. Fact. Tech companies are duking it out for top talent right now. Boomers are retiring like crazy, the number of SaaS jobs is exploding, and it’s harder than ever to attract young, more diverse talent. Specifically in my field (product marketing SaaS) there is extremely high demand and the role is not an easy one to fill. Employers are realizing that it's very hard to find someone who can both understand technical products deeply and explain them in a simple way to SMB customers on why it matters to their businesses / industries. That, coupled with the hottest market in decades, means a good PMM should definitely expect to get pinged a lot right now. So how do you attract them to your company, role and team? You cannot fall back on “a great brand on your resume”, a competitive salary and RSUs because EVERYONE is offering that. Your competitor will slap down a bigger comp package to snag a good candidate - you can bank on that.
One hiring manager told me she’d be willing to give the next competent Sr. PMM she meets a TESLA if that’s what it took to get them on board. WOWZA - it’s a good time to be looking for a job! And a terribly hard time to be building a team.
While ensuring your comp packages are competitive is table stakes, I have found giving PMMs questions to consider when they come back with “why should I select you vs. other offers” helps them frame opportunities they are considering in a new light. Further, if the answer to these questions do not truthfully point them towards me/my company, this likely means it would not be a good fit longterm. It’s a win win for all parties if candidates considers these 4 questions when selecting between roles if compensation is ballpark the same.
In 3 years from now, what career trajectory do you want to be on? You don’t need to know for certain, but write down anything that comes to mind. Do you want to hone in on your analytical skills? Do you want to get better at public speaking / presentation skills? Storytelling skills? Creative/design? Product management? Customer research? Segmentation? Which roles map to you getting those skills and experiences?
What kind of projects will you be working on that are ‘bragworthy’ later? What are the ‘stand out’ projects/experiences you will gain from X role? Which role will allow you to shine against the rest in your next interviews? The company profile and growth numbers matters here too.
What do you hope to get out of this role, outside of hard skills and a competitive salary? A glowing recommendation, a network of people who can refer you into other companies they worked at / be your reference. This is where cultural fit comes in – where do you think you fit in better, that you’d make these deep connections with people, to ask for favours later on?
Which hiring manager do you connect best with? People don’t quit companies, they quit managers. Having a leader that will be invested in your growth is very important. There are a lot of well-meaning and very smart leaders out there that might not have enough bandwidth to properly support all the people working for them. Feeling supported by your direct manager is the number 1 reason people get promoted vs. not, stay vs. quit.
I hope this helps any PMMs who are currently exploring their next opportunities and hiring managers alike who are duking it out in the talent wars of 2022. Remember, if the candidate cannot truthfully answer these questions and select your role, it’s not worth hiring them only to have to replace them 6-12 months later.
Happy hiring!
