When I left the vendor side as a VP / CRO to start this company, one of the main drivers was to help the industry as a whole instead of just the company I was employed full time by.
Once I started to speak with cyber companies at every level at scale, only then did I realize the magnitude of the problem. With over 3.0 million openings in cyber security, not only is it crucial to have a succinct hiring process to land the very best talent the industry has to offer, but it’s also critical as it relates to upholding your company’s reputation.
Over and over, I see young first time managers as well as seasoned leaders blow off or slow roll candidates that they may not feel are a fit. What they may not realize is even if they feel the candidate is not exactly what they are looking for, chances are those candidates are looking at multiple companies and will be a perfect fit somewhere else. The last thing you want to do is burn the bridge, yet I see it daily.
Here is one example:
I received an email yesterday from a very close industry contact of mine. This candidate is a cyber sales professional who has been in cyber for 13 years and is, essentially, the perfect candidate. This person sent me a message from a company trying to recruit him; the candidate was horrified. The back story … One year ago, a company hired me to fill openings in several cities. They were struggling immensely due to several factors: very junior internal recruiters that lacked industry credibility, the company’s technology was average but not great in a crowded space, and the company’s reputation was horrific on the street due to turnover and micromanagement. I understood the space, technology and value added and created a very polished message to deliver to the elite reps in my network. Every call I made, I had to overcome the reputation and technology objections, fine, that is what sales people do right? I brought multiple candidates to the table, the candidate above being one. The company wanted to hire this person and was getting ready to write up an offer.
Fast forward two weeks, the hiring manager who I was speaking with almost daily stopped all communication with me and the candidate. We went from expecting an offer in 24 hours, to dead silence. I sent daily emails and voicemails at every level. Still, not a single reply to me or the candidates. After a week the candidate was disgusted and lost all interest. He reminded me of the horrible reputation that he brought up on call 1 that I had to overcome. I was embarrassed and horrified. Luckily I know him intimately and have for many years so this did not reflect poorly on me.
Several months later I found out that the reason the company blew me and the candidate off was because someone at the “C” level did not approve outside recruiting firms. Instead of being honest, they simply cut all communication with everyone in cycles. Fast forward one year, the candidate that was blown off is speaking very negatively about the company publicly to their entire network. Unprofessional, sure, however in their eyes they are protecting their colleagues and counterparts from making a huge mistake. The rockstar salesperson referenced above sent me a screenshot of a message from a very young, inexperienced internal recruiter at this company a few weeks ago asking him if he’d like to work there. This company did not even realize that he was in the final stage waiting for an offer and was blown off.
This is catastrophic for two reasons. First, the region has not been filled due to the issues mentioned above. Lost pipeline, lost revenue, lost quota attainment for one year (metrics of a bad hire blog to come soon). Second, for one year this candidate has not been speaking highly of this company throughout an 8 state region where he is very networked. In the last year, the company mentioned has had significant turnover, missed nearly all sales goals, and is not on a good path in a tightening economic climate. I see this every week; there is lack of professionalism at every level. Please don’t look at candidates as a commodity that you either do or do not want. Look at them the same way you look at a CISO. They are that valuable. They, too, are peppered with 75-100 messages a week to come work for various companies, they also have spouses, kids, daily stresses, and the very same issues you have daily. The reason I am networked with the very top 5%, and many of them will only work with me, is because I treat them with enormous respect and I take the time to communicate and understand them. The damage to the almighty number that is missed, and the damage to your company’s reputation when these sorts of things happen is irreparable for years to come. This is just one example, and I have literally 50 of these, where companies don’t follow up or follow through and tarnish their brand.
