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kylieKneale
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How the BigTech hiring freeze could benefit your hiring strategy

As the tech market continues to be challenged, we're offering advice for how to make these latest updates benefit your hiring strategy.

A bit of background… 

Over the past six months, we’ve been reading names in BigTech, such as Peloton and Netflix, have been making lay-offs and Meta, Uber and Lyft reported slowing down their hiring. 

This month, more of BigTech is hitting the pause button: Google announced a two-week pause while it assesses priorities, Microsoft confirmed it was working through a business-by-business review and Apple seems it’s also looking to slow hiring. 

And as the tech market continues to be challenged, Shopify has recently joined the list of companies making lay-offs. 

A key question people are asking is whether they are acting preemptively or they have evidence that their products and services are deemed less popular than recent years. 

Whatever the reason, with these world-renowned big fish in a freeze, it gives the smaller fish a rare opportunity to take a few bites.    

You have more similarities than you think with BigTech companies 

Sure, candidates that apply to BigTech companies are interested in the brand and unique job roles on offer. There are also many similarities that startups share (or can share if implemented) with the giants out there that we know candidates desire from a career and company: 

  • Personal and professional growth: L&D, mentorships, coaching and strong leadership all contribute to an employees’ growth within a company. 
  • Diversity: With such a wide net to choose from and forward-thinking diversity guidelines and regulations in place, BigTech don’t have any problems building diverse teams where people feel like they can belong. 
  • EVP and a North Star: Employees want purpose and confidence in what they’re spending most of their time and headspace creating. They also want to be recognised for their good deeds and rewarded for their skills. 
  • Stakes in the company: This isn’t ‘new’ news, but startups are already finding a way to compete with the larger scale salaries by offering higher stakes in their business. 
  • Remote working opportunities: After the pandemic, remote or hybrid working is being offered to employees all over the world. This is also an effective way to cast a wider hiring net. 
  • A unique culture: There’s something in the water with tech company culture. The pace is fast, the risks and challenges are high, the pressure is always on – and that’s how we like it! Tech startups and BigTech share this environment therefore will attract the same kind of candidates.  

How to weave all of this into your hiring strategy to attract and retain talent during the BigTech freeze 

💡Tip 1: Work with your CFO and financial team to review (or implement) your ESOP strategy. Could you make it clearer and more irresistible? Make sure you have the ESOP education piece attached to ensure your candidates are clued up to how they’ll benefit from high stakes over high salary. 

💡Tip 2: Refine your EVP and mission statement to reflect the exciting and supportive environment you can offer candidates. We actually have a free EVP template to help you do this. 

💡Tip 3: Speak to your CPO or Head of People about mentorship and coaching opportunities you’re able to offer. Who in your leadership team would be open to leading or being involved with developing this?

💡Tip 4: Cast a wide net that encourages diversity. This is much harder to do through your own connections and internal hiring team, especially with a smaller network and outreach possibilities, which is why so many companies like Canva, Zepto and Airtasker have come to us for help. 

Our clients utilize our global network and our exec search, hiring and onboarding methodology in order to secure the talent they need for their next phase of growth. 

Keep calm and carry on hiring 

If it’s the right decision in your stage of growth and you’re confident in the roles and humans you’re looking for to join your team, then the big hiring freeze shouldn’t cause you to panic. 

For advice on making the right hiring moves or how we can help you capitalize on this current freeze to ensure top talent for your next growth phase – contact dan@thinkandgrowinc.com or head to our site thinkandgrowinc.com and we’ll be happy to chat. 

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