Practical tips for skilling up as you’re scaling up.
Talent management, especially in the tech industry, is a challenge.
There are often too few candidates, and too many desirable companies all competing for the limited pool of people available. And there is nothing more important than having the right talent on board.
Nowhere is this more true than if you’re currently going through a period of growth, whether that’s an international expansion, opening a new office, or growing your current team.
Luckily for you, we’ve got a fair few decades of experience with solving this exact problem, both in companies we’ve run, and helping our portfolio companies.
We’ve distilled the most vital lessons learnt into this handy pocket-guide. It’s in three sections: 01 Find: Where do you source the best talent? 02 Hire: How do you get them to come onboard? 03 Retain: What can you do to keep them?
Then we finish with the 7 talent management rules you should carve in stone and hang above your desk.
Advice is only as valuable as the giver, so let’s meet the brains behind this ebook’s insights:
— Talent Management, Monterro
Johan has done more than 8,000 interviews in his 20 years of experience in executive search across Europe, primarily for the technology sector and Fortune 100 companies as well as high-growth technology start-ups. He’s been there, done that, got the many, many t-shirts.
— CEO, Outpost24
Martin specialises in leading innovative companies to major success. For the past 25 years, Martin has held positions such as President and CEO, sharpening his focus on solid business performance and extending business impact globally.
— Operations, Monterro
Per is our resident expert on the trials and tribulations of hiring and retaining software engineers having been SVP, Global CTO and Managing Director EMEA at Episerver. And this was just one small part of his illustrious 20+ year career in the software industry as a senior executive.
— Co-founder, Operations, Monterro
You name a role in the software industry, Peter’s done it. He was CTO of Front Capital Systems, CEO of Protect Data/Pointsec and Episerver, and chairman of companies like Lime Technologies. Which means if there’s something worth knowing about growth, Peter knows it.
— People & Culture, Lime
When it comes to trainee programs, Lime’s is second-to-none. For years now it’s been a breeding ground for amazing talent. And right at the heart of that is Cornelia. As trainee program coordinator she’s the one who finds the talent and makes the program the success it is today.
Ready? Let’s do this.
Your company is only as strong as the people who work there.
Which means finding the right people is one of the most important things you ever can do.
move support.
The first step is always going to be deciding what roles you need to hire for. Hiring your 20th developer at the mothership is going to be totally different to hiring your first employee when expanding into a new region.
Involve anyone that will have a say in the recruitment early on, and put the SMART goals for the position in the brief. That way, everyone knows what the role is, and you don’t have to do a last-minute pivot because the CEO thought you were looking for something else.
Johan Redtzer“Companies should always be proactively on the lookout for great people, by asking all contacts (clients, suppliers, anyone you trust) for recommendations. For a growth company, doing this is as important as having a sales department probing for prospects and clients.”
You put out a job listing, shortlist the candidates you think meet your criteria and go from there. You know the drill. This is like casting a fishing net out into an uncharted bit of the ocean. You might get what you want, but you’ll get a lot of other fish too.
You ask your contacts if they know anyone that fits the role you’re hiring for. If you’re looking for an initial hire when entering a new market this will be your best option. Also, if you find someone perfect this way, make sure you grab the opportunity, even if it means creating a role for them.
This works particularly well if you’re expanding your team in a region other than your home base. If you are going this route, always use your network to find the best partner for you.
Trainee programs can be an excellent way of sourcing talent in fields like development where there is often a shortage of experienced workers applying for positions. And you may not even have an extended ‘training gap’ before they become profitable:
Cornelia Olsérius:“Recruitment partners can start to know your company and help hire the right people for you. And you can get guarantees that makes the partner work extra hard for you. When I moved to America, I got a 12-month guarantee from our partner. So if I didn’t like the hire, they’d find a new recruit for free.”
“Due to the complexity of our products, all new employees, regardless of previous experience, need specific training before getting up to speed. We provide the mentorship and training, they infuse Lime with their creativity, new perspectives, and a strong will to learn more, which is our recipe to grow and improve.”
If you find yourself in a position where you need to hire cold, do everything to make yourself as attractive as possible to recruits.
The factors that generally make a company a talent magnet: Culture – What’s it going to be like to actually work for you (beyond the bean bags)? Company vision and the Why – What is your company trying to achieve, and Why, what’s the purpose of your business? Growth opportunities – What skills can they learn or roles can they fill? Reputation of team – Is there a leader (or a whole team) that the industry respects? The technology used – Are they going to use the latest and greatest technology? A stake in the game – Do they get the opportunity to get shares in a growing company? Competitive package – What are they going to earn?
And remember, if you’re hiring as you’ve just entered a region, you will not have anywhere near the same pull you have back home. In this case it’s worth remembering that being a “start-up manager” for a foreign company is an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurial candidates who like the idea of building business in a region from scratch - but don’t want to start their own business.
Hiring abroad is hard. You don’t know many people, and you lack the cultural shorthand that helps you filter candidates. Is that a good school? What does their experience say about them? Does anyone in your network know about the region? This is where your local contacts are invaluable.
Also, take the opportunity to meet many more candidates than normal to help you get the understanding of what good looks like (this is a good idea for roles you’ve never hired for back home too).
Okay, you’ve decided what role you’re trying to fill and found some desirable candidates. How do you figure out which ones to hire?
The best interviews are ones where the person leading the interview understands that interview means ‘look in both directions’. The person being interviewed should also be interviewing you, learning about your company, if the fit works well for them. The first meeting is as much a sales meeting as an interview.
Per Ivansson“When hiring engineers, make sure to involve your CEO, CTO and development manager in the interviews. Inspire the candidate with a vision of the future, the team spirit and the company’s Why.”
This is a stage that shouldn’t be rushed. Leave enough time for there to be multiple stages for the hire. Meet the final candidate many times. Get them in front of lots of people. Like Lime, they hire 50 people a year and every hire meets the CEO. And if you’re in any doubt – don’t hire. And if you find yourself in the enviable position of getting to choose between a couple of great candidates, let them do a realistic case and present to you – if the hiring team meets the candidates and ask all the same follow-up questions you get a clear winner.
Cornelia Olsérius“Our recruitment process is quite thorough. Our strategy is to make sure we’ve got a great match on both ends. That’s why our process involves several steps. We want candidates to meet a lot of different people, to see them in various situations, and we want to see them presenting a case that reflects the position they’ve applied for. We also want them to get a feeling for who we are, and if Lime and the position is the right fit for them.”
References can be a tricky thing. Not every region treats them in the same way, so you can easily be blind-sided by a reference that looks glowing, when actually the referee was just trying to protect themselves against litigation.
Safeguard against this by using a system that removes some of the subjectivity from the equation:
Then you say, ‘And how will he grade your performance when I call him?’ They can’t lie, so you end up getting very honest answers. Then when you do the reference checks, you have a list of 10 names, and you get to choose the references to check.”
“Always use a probationary period for new employees and never keep them if something feels wrong. It will never get better.
When hiring abroad make sure to pay the region’s rates. Over the course of your interviews you should get a pretty good picture of what the going rate is for the role you’re hiring, based on the salaries the interviewees are currently on. Match this, not what the salary would be for the role back home. Even if it does seem a staggering amount (which has happened more times than we can count) it’s worth it to secure the best talent.
If you have the opportunity, stock-options are always a trigger – but be aware to dig into the local tax-regulations.
Per Ivansson“I use something called Threat of Reference Check, which is part of the Top Grading method. During the interview you ask for all the people they reported to, find out about how they were as a boss, and get them to grade the bosses.
You’ve hired some great people. Pop the champagne.
Now, how do you get them to stay?
There are as many reasons people stay at your company as there are employees at your company. But figuring out what’s motivating people to stay will drive down your employee churn.
Factors include: Personal growth – What hard and soft skills can you help them develop? Travel – Is there a possibility for them to work abroad? Promotion opportunities – Do they want more responsibilities? Great culture – Are they happy with the day-to-day work environment? Company vision and the Why – Do they feel proud of the direction you’re going in and the purpose of the company?
Compensation – Do they feel fairly compensated for their work?
It’s easy to get lost in the ‘what’ of a job. A new deadline to meet, a new product to ship or update to launch. Which is why you have to proactively think about ways to cultivate your ‘why’ to a place Simon Sinek would be proud of, then communicate it with your people.
By remembering to zoom out every once in a while and think about the big picture of why your company exists–and therefore why your employees are doing what they are doing–you’ll notice a significant morale boost alongside improvements in engagement and output.
Johan Redtzer“I’ve talked to a lot of candidates when it hasn’t worked out. Normally the reason is their boss. You need to find the right chemistry with the manager, and build trust.”
Take responsibility for the successes (and failures) of international hires
One of the worst possible outcomes in an international hire is that the person feels that they are unsupported. It can lead to lack of motivation and reckless decision-making. Stop this from happening by proactively taking responsibility for your employee.
Martin Henricson“If you employ someone who is supposed to be responsible for the local market somewhere then you need to be close to them. Otherwise they might start thinking ‘Hey, I’ve been put here on my own. If I succeed I’ll be a big hero and climb the ranks, but if I fail it’s easy to get rid of me.’ You don’t want this. You want them to feel safe, because if they don’t feel safe, they won’t perform well.”
The grass isn’t always greener, and you may find that employees who were tempted away decide that actually they’d like to come back. The former A-players can be a very rich source of talent, as they are people who know your company well, and having tasted life outside your company are actually more likely to be vocal about the positive aspects of working for you.
It may even be worth reaching out to old A-players from time to time to test the waters. Just make sure you don’t hire them back as freelancers or contractors. They come back completely or they don’t come back at all.
We’re Monterro, an investment firm (of the get-your-hands-dirty with strategy and operational support variety) that specializes in Nordic software firms looking to scale.
