Always hiring. Everyone’s a hire.

How to build an always on hiring pipe

First off there’s a mentality swap - moving from hiring when you need (which is almost always in a fire situation when someone's left) to hiring when you don’t need (aka ‘always hiring’). The point here is that you never know when you might need someone, and you never know who the right hire might be - so give yourself a chance and always be in a hiring mentality.

Next up it’s about building an always on hiring pipe - the infrastructure which allows you to hire efficiently and effectively.

An example structure is as follows:

• Proposition & positioning: get your company's job page in shape.  Create a clear company proposition + sort out specific  job ads for core company roles.  You've got to sell yourselves as much as the candidates.

• Channels: optimise your channels: search (SEO), Linked-in, key 3rd party job boards /  Glass Door.

  • Search: SEO your job ads and create relevant / connected content

  • Linked-in: get your profile in shape & post regularly.  Pay for the Premium Linked-in recruiter service & use to connect / invite to chat at a granular level.

  • Indeed / Glassdoor: ensure your profiles & job ads are updated on core online recruiter platforms like Indeed and Glassdoor.  Encourage positive feedback from past employees .

• Data collection & conversion optimisation:  the core goal for always on hiring is data collection (i.e. if someone's looking for a job, you want to get their data so you keep in contact). 

• Funnel management: funnel all data into a single candidate database, and regularly review.  Use Zapier / Google / Slack alerts to efficiently manage / triage / keep in touch.

• Face time targets: set yourself weekly interview targets.  Be efficient.  Create short 15 min slots so 'first chats' to initially connect.  Lunch and post-work, generally work best.  Start at say 2 interviews / chats a week, and build to 4.

• Automation: automate as much as the process as possible.  Using Zapier to connect all the various tools you need is a good automation short-cut.

• Keep in Touch: ongoing relationship building is important.  You're never going to be ready to hire when the perfect candidate is ready, so keep connected via regular mailings / Linked-in postings / Social to ensure the stars will align ;-)

At the end of this, a key question for your senior management should be: how many new people have you spoken to this week?

Videographer needed (South London)

We’re looking for a freelance Videographer / video-maker to make some films with us.  You might be a young film-maker starting out, a part-timer who makes films for the love of it or a wise old film-making owl.  Experience isn’t really the factor.  The key thing is that you have the right skills and the right chemistry with us.

The kind of skills we’re looking for is an all-round, all-in-one film-maker, so someone who can shoot and edit.  Ideally you’d be based in London - preferably South London, as we’re based in Peckham.

The kind of films we’re looking to make are mostly product videos for the various products we make / sell across our companies.  To start with we’ll be making films around AMCO’s security product range.  AMCO are a pretty innovative company in the space of home security, and have some natty products we want to bring alive - so we can promote and sell them more effectively across the UK.

We may also be interested in making some films for Delib - a digital democracy company, that sells software to governments around the world to improve democratic processes.  Completely different to the AMCO brief, but equally as interesting.

If you’re interested in collaborating, drop us a note via email - including some links to examples of your work and anything else we should know.  Email: chris@kittencapital.com

[Photo credit to: Kai Teoh via BoingBoing]