In 2023, during a tech recession, 1,675,576 tech professionals found new jobs in North America. That’s 6.37x the number of people laid off in tech that year… globally.
A lot more hiring happens in the tech ecosystem than we all think.
Currently, there are 616,370 open tech jobs in North America and another 403,201 in Europe. Every company is trying to fill these roles with great hires. A great hire is someone who: performs well against targets, opportunities, and peers, is additive to your culture and strategy, and passes the ideal tenure threshold.
Most of these companies won’t make great hires. Partly because there is too much of a mismatch between the demand for and supply of elite candidates, and partly because most are not systematic about attracting, choosing, and retaining elite talent.
This problem will only worsen because the supply of tech companies is increasing at a staggering rate of 31.08% per year, while the supply of tech talent is only increasing by 2% per year. The math just does not work.
So, in addition to mastering capital allocation and obsessing over product market fit, leaders need to master attracting and retaining great talent to have a shot at building great companies. This is the problem I have been solving for the last 10 years. Over that decade, I have had the opportunity to learn from and help some truly exceptional business leaders build world-class GTM teams. This is what we have learned together:
7 Lessons from 10 years:
1) Hiring has to become your passion, not a necessity
The very best business leaders know that the worst nights they sleep are the ones when critical hiring mistakes occur. As such, they obsess over optimizing every stage, from who they are looking for to how they talk and interact with them, to how they manage the selection process, and throughout their lengthy onboarding (more on that later).
2) Risk assessment and mitigation require smart scorecards
Every hire we make is a risk. The reward is increased revenue. Before you even start looking for a candidate, it is essential to detail every competency and characteristic required for a low-risk/high-reward hire—that is your scorecard. Ensuring every member of your interview team believes in and closely follows that scorecard will drive clarity of thought and increase your confidence that you selected the right person.
3) Hiring A-players is challenging in every market
The best GTM talent is often not easily available. In a hot market, they are treated like gold by their employers. In a cold market they are treated like platinum. As such, in a hot market, you may be tempted to hire a B-player and may even get away with it. But you’ll be laying them off when things slow down, so what was the point? In a cooler market, you may feel like you have to hire a B-player, because it feels like that is all that is available. Do not settle. Your bar has to be high because your potential clients’ bars are high.
4) Onboarding should be the progression to greatness… not just orientation
We know great hires require time, yet most employers treat onboarding like a brief ramp-up period. The best leaders know that employees navigate multiple stages on their way to greatness, requiring different strategies and management approaches. As an employee goes from the wide-eyed optimism of a rookie to a deeply ingrained realism of a vet, you must consider what support and management tactics they’ll need at each stage.
5) Take time to analyze every time an employee leaves or is let go
Every hire you make will end up in one of 3 buckets: A great hire, a potentially great hire that never materialized, or a mistake. The most successful leaders don’t just move on; they take a moment to think about what they could have done differently. Did they choose poorly? Did they not have Potentially Great Hires to choose from? Did they not equip Potentially Great Hires for success? While it can often be uncomfortable to reflect in that moment of frustration, it enables the leader to use all mistakes as a way to improve for the future
6) Done right, you learn more from an assignment than from assessments
Almost all of our clients now have some kind of assignment in their selection process, but very rarely are they well thought-out and individual-specific. A great assignment should very closely correspond with the parts of the job that you have identified as your biggest questions of that specific candidate. For example, if you know they have a great personality but are worried about their attention to detail, have the assignment focus more on exploring that potential weakness, don’t just let them wow you with their presentation skills.
7) Don’t be swayed into saying yes
While it is critical as a leader to empower your team and listen to all opinions, that little doubt you have in your mind should reign supreme. Having someone talk you into a “no” can be okay if you trust the doubt of a proven team member. Having someone talk you into a “yes” will always bite you. The only person you can blame in that situation is yourself.
If you are successful… I mean really successful… you’ll make hundreds or even thousands of hires as you build out a world-class team. Being 10% better can be the difference between success and failure.
