A strong corporate culture leads to lower turnover, which equates to lower hiring and training costs, higher productivity, better customer relationships, greater customer loyalty, lower marketing costs, and higher sales. These were the findings of a study by Harvard Business School professors emeriti James L. Heskett and John P. Kotter, which also stated that up to half of the difference in operating profit between companies is due to their corporate culture.

In my last blog post, I discussed the core of what a corporate culture should be built around — your company’s values.

Once you are ready to move past defining your company’s values, here are seven tips to get you on your way to building a strong corporate culture.

7 Tips for Creating Corporate Culture

1) Create a Mission Statement

This ties back to your core values, but goes further to convey your company’s goals, philosophy, and unique differentiators in just a few sentences. This will serve as a reference point for further developing and maintaining your corporate culture.

2) Take Responsibility, but Don’t Do It Alone

A strong corporate culture arises consciously and is shaped by the CEO and management team, while weak corporate cultures evolve accidentally. That said, all of your employees should be involved in fine-tuning your mission statement and determining the type of culture they want to be a part of.

3) Keep It Real

Your corporate culture should be a natural extension of your company’s values and mission, your customers, and even your employees’ personalities. It requires work to create and develop it, but don’t try to force a culture that isn’t authentic to you and to the business.

4) Hire for Cultural Fit

This is not to say that everyone should be similar; in fact, diversity is incredibly important to building a successful team! Hiring for cultural fit means each employee needs to be able to understand and truly get behind your company’s values and mission.

5) Create Rituals

Rituals and rites of passage can help to sustain your corporate culture by building morale. It can be difficult to tie these directly back to your mission, but whether it’s hitting a gong after closing a big deal or celebrating customer renewals with pizza, rituals are an opportunity for team bonding and celebrating the successes which turn into business results.

6) Express It

Be proud of your corporate culture and express it in everything you do — from the design of your office, to your marketing collateral and content, to the way you interact with customers. Actively displaying your corporate culture not only helps engrain it into your company’s DNA, it also helps to get the word out about the values and mission your company is built around, which should lead to greater business results and more referrals for your open positions.

7) Check It and Change It

As your company grows, your values and mission may also need to evolve. Continue to check your corporate culture and make changes to improve it. It will never be a finished project — just like your company, itself, you’ll need to continue to innovate in order to achieve long-term success.

What factors have played into you developing your own company’s corporate culture?

At OpenView, we talk about company culture all the time because — particularly for expansion-stage companies who are scaling their businesses — it’s critical.

More than anything else — money, titles, MakerBots (OK, maybe not MakerBots) — developing and maintaining a strong corporate culture will help you attract and keep the best possible employees at your company. But how do you do it? After all, culture doesn’t just “happen”.

The task of creating and nurturing corporate culture starts with management teams, and trickles down to everyone else in the company. As a CEO or senior manager, your character, your values, and your style will set the tone for the entire organization. It’s not what you say you are as a company, it’s what you actually d0 — and how you act on the values and priorities you want to promote.

Clearly defining, discussing, and publishing your company’s social and business values (given they are true to who you are and what your company is and wants to be) will help employees embrace them and refer to them when making decisions. In Jim Collins’s Built to Last, he writes that one of the things that successful companies he studied have in common is a “cult-like culture.”

A properly designed culture often ends up seemingly cult-like (see HubSpot), but it doesn’t start that way. It is built around core business values that are deeply rooted in the company, and when these values are genuine and you’ve assembled a team who is driven by them, it catches on like wildfire. It’s not about offering perks for the sake of perks (though those are certainly nice, and can make the office a more pleasant place to work!), it’s about being provocative enough to change what people do every day.

One Question to Ask to Jump-Start a Strong Corporate Culture

What is it that your company takes truly seriously? Great design? Your customers? Protecting data? If someone outside of your company were to walk into your offices, would they be able to immediately grasp how seriously you take whatever it is that you do? If not, what can you do to make that the case? That’s a good place to start.

Try coming up with concepts around your office design, policies, and benefits that will set you apart from other companies but remain closely tied to your core business values. Although we often hear otherwise, a positive company culture is not about making the office “fun”. In order to attract and retain the best employees, you need to establish the core values that truly drive the business, and build everything else around those principles.

For a terrific inside look into a strong company culture, check out The HubSpot Culture Code below:

What do you think are the keys to a strong corporate culture?

Your next step is to hire a Director of Talent, but before you begin your search there’s a lot to think about.

To start, what will the scope of your Director of Talent’s responsibilities be?

Depending on your company’s size and growth projections, you will either want to hire someone who will focus exclusively on talent acquisition, or someone who will have both talent acquisition and human resources responsibilities.

It is more likely that your Director of Talent will have talent acquisition and HR responsibilities if you:

• Are not planning on hiring a VP of HR in the near future, and/or

• Do not have an HR generalist on staff.

The benefit to having someone completely focused on talent acquisition is just that — they are able to spend all of their time working with and managing the talent acquisition team who will scale your business. They will also have the ability to do some hands-on recruiting themselves, and actively participate in career fairs and other recruiting events.

If you have, or will soon have, a VP of Talent/HR or a Chief People Officer, or you have an HR generalist, you may not need a Director of Talent who has any HR experience. In this case, you should look for someone who has successfully managed multiple recruiters at a high growth technology company in the past, and will not necessarily need someone with HR experience.

If you have determined that your Director of Talent will hold HR responsibilities, you will want to look for someone who not only has extensive talent acquisition management experience, but who has also managed the HR function at a growing tech company that’s a similar size to your company size. This Director of HR should be expected to manage the full Talent/HR function, at least until your company scales to the point where you require a strategic VP or C-level executive who has previously owned this function at a larger company.

Although specific responsibilities will differ depending on your company’s needs, there are some general responsibilities that will remain the same.

General responsibilities that all Directors of Talent should have include:

• Hiring and Firing: The responsibility of hiring recruiters for their team, managing these recruiters for success, and firing underperforming team members when necessary.
• Managing the Team Budget: Ensuring the talent acquisition team is effectively operating within its budget, and periodically performing cost and productivity analysis.
• Goal-Setting: Developing metrics for the talent acquisition team, and creating quarterly and annual goals which the team can measure themselves against to determine their success.
• Day-to-Day Management: Working with the talent acquisition team to put best practices into place, resolve impediments, and help them achieve their quarterly and annual goals.
• Annual Reviews: Conducting annual performance reviews with each member of the talent acquisition team.

Oh, how times have changed!

Now, boomerang employees are widely considered to have one of the highest returns on recruiting investment an employer can ask for.

The cost to re-hire a boomerang employee has been reported to be 1/3 to 2/3 the cost of hiring a “new” employee. Little time or effort must be invested in getting to know the candidate, and boomerangs can be valuable to an organization because they already understand the company culture, they have a history with the business, and they bring a fresh new perspective gained from outside.

During their absence, there is a good chance boomerangs have learned new skills and strategies in a different setting. They are also likely to have made new connections and expanded their network.

Many large companies and consulting firms (HP, McKinsey, Deloitte, and Booz Allen, to name a few) now have alumni groups and recruiting teams dedicated to hiring “comeback kids”, but it’s also important for startups and expansion stage companies to keep in touch with top employees who left for a chance to try something new or what they thought were greener pastures.

Although I’ve already outlined a few of the reasons for hiring boomerangs, I came across a great article on ERE which outlines more reasons why it makes sense for companies to develop a formal effort to re-recruit previous top performers. Some of them include:

• Fast hire. I’ve mentioned the hiring speed and lower cost already, and although these should not be the main reasons to re-hire someone, they offer an opportunity to hire a top person quickly.
• Known skills. Since you have experience working with this employee, you already know their strengths, their weaknesses, and what skills and competencies you are obtaining with their hiring.
• Up to speed quickly. A boomerang employee already knows the company and its culture, and is likely to get up to speed faster than a new hire who would have to learn a new set of politics, culture, and processes.
• Low failure rate. They have a lower chance of failing because they have already adapted to the culture, and you already know their performance capabilities and ability to produce results.
• Browngrassers. After seeing the “color of the grass” on the other side, many of these employees will actually stay with your company longer the second time around because they have a greater appreciation for the company after having experienced somewhere else. The added benefit is that it can actually help with employee retention efforts because these employees can tell stories to others about life on the outside.
• Competitive intelligence. Boomerangs can provide competitive intelligence, new ideas, and a fresh perspective from their most recent company.
• A chain reaction. They occasionally bring other past employees back with them when they return, especially when the message spreads that your company is welcoming to those who have left.
• PR value. A high return rate might improve your company’s image and secure good PR in the industry and community.

Full disclosure: I am a boomerang employee at OpenView. I left for four months to join a local startup and the experience, although short, was invaluable. While I would not want anyone at OpenView to follow in my footsteps and leave the firm for any period of time, I learned a lot and made some great contacts during my time away. I came back to OpenView in April with a fresh perspective, and am thrilled to be back. I should also note that I’m not the first boomerang at OpenView. Ori Yankelev, whom I worked with from 2009-2010, also rejoined the firm during my absence.

Brian Zimmerman wrote a blog about how to react when one of your employees decides to leave for a new opportunity. If you handle the situation professionally and maintain your relationship with the employee, you may just find them back in your office sooner than you think!

Editor’s Note: For more advice on recruiting, employee retention, and much more , sign up for the OpenView newsletter.

A lack of follow-up makes me question how strong the candidate’s interest in the opportunity truly is, but for positions where closing a deal is essential — sales at an expansion stage company, sourcing for a venture capital firm, etc. — it can be a deal breaker.

If a candidate is truly interested in continuing conversations and potentially joining OpenView or one of the portfolio companies we support, why wouldn’t they continue to try to “close the deal” and follow up after an interview? Sales candidates, and candidates in any field for that matter, need to remember their ABCs when interviewing… Always Be Closing.

I have worked with hiring managers who have said to take any candidate out of the interview process who does not follow up with me after an interview, no matter how strong they were in their actual interview. Candidate follow-up is not only good manners, but may be essential to actually landing the job!

Do you consider a candidate’s follow-up, or lack of follow-up, during your interview process?

All companies, no matter what size, need to make sure social media guidelines are in place and understood by their employees in order to avoid such scenarios from happening.

But before you actually extend that offer, you must make sure you’ve completed these three checks…

1. Check the candidate’s LinkedIn profile, and make sure it matches up with their resume.  I have checked a candidate’s LinkedIn profile before, and found jobs listed that are not included on their resume (or the reverse). Sometimes, the dates a candidate says they’ve worked in previous roles are completely different, which can be  misleading. If any of the data does not match up, discuss these inconsistencies with the candidate.

2. Google them. You never know what you’ll find! I once Googled a candidate, who had transferred colleges after his sophomore year, and found that the transfer occurred because he had been charged with assault at his first school. While most information you find is unlikely to be a deal-breaker to your pending offer, it is worth doing this quick check to make sure you don’t find something that needs to be addressed before delivering an offer to a potential employee.

3. Look at their Facebook page, Twitter, and any other social networks that come up in your search. Again, no red flags = great! But in case you do find something inappropriate, it’s good to know about it and to address it now. Be careful not to let certain information — including a candidate’s political orientation, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, etc. –  acquired through social networks affect your hiring decision for better or worse. In order to make sure that such information does not cloud your decision making process in any way, you may want to ask a colleague not involved in the hiring decision to look at the final candidate’s profiles, but only to report back on that information that is not considered “protected”. Check out my previous blog for more advice on using social media sites when making hiring decisions.

Happy Hiring!

Prior to joining the OpenView team, Nick was an Equity Analyst for Echo Bridge Capital, a startup hedge fund in Boston. Nick has a BA in Economics and Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis, and has completed Level I of the CFA program. Now, on to our Q&A!

10 Questions with Nick Petri – OpenView Labs, Market Research Analyst

1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).

NP: Recently crowned by Diana as OpenView Labs’ biggest Red Sox fan. I’m new to VC but have worked with startups before and loved every minute.

[Editor's notes: Congratulations, Nick! It is quite an honor, I'm sure. Nick is new to Twitter, as well -- start following him as he explores venture capital @NCPetri!]

2. What are you most looking forward to about working at OpenView?

NP: I’m really looking forward to working directly with the decision makers at our portfolio companies, and giving them actionable insight into how to take their business to the next level. I love that entrepreneurs are willing and able to pivot and take risks in order to be disruptive. That’s the biggest difference from my previous role as an equity analyst, because big public companies don’t give you much access to data, and are usually pretty resistant to change.

3. What do you think will be your biggest challenge?

NP: Some of the analysis I’ll be doing in the Research and Analytics group requires pretty detailed knowledge of our companies’ technologies and how they’re applied. Since I don’t have a tech background, I think it’ll be a bit of a challenge to get up to speed. Luckily I find the companies really interesting, so I’ll enjoy learning about them.

4. What is your favorite type of analysis?

NP: I find sizing new markets—where there isn’t already a powerful incumbent—both extremely challenging and extremely rewarding. Looking at a promising new business frontier and trying to estimate how big it will be really embodies the spirit of Venture Capital.

5. What is the last book you read?

NP: Black Mass – It’s a fascinating book about Whitey Bulger and his illicit ties to the FBI, plus it all took place in South Boston about a mile away from our offices. I almost always read non-fiction because I think a story is much more captivating when you know it actually happened.

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

NP: Definitely the sandwiches from Viga. I can’t get enough.

7. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston?

NP: I grew up on Beacon Hill, and I think it’s one of the coolest historic neighborhoods in the country. But Cambridge, where I live now, is way more fun.

8. What are your hobbies outside of work?

NP: I love being outside and will jump on pretty much any excuse to get out of the house, whether it’s golf, basketball, skiing, the beach, or just about anything else. I also really enjoy cooking.

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role?

NP: I don’t think Brad Pitt could properly capture my awkward mannerisms, so I’d have to go with Keanu Reeves.

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

NP: At first I wanted to be Mo Vaughn, but I realized that was unrealistic because I was right-handed, so I decided to be Nomar Garciaparra instead. There was no question I was going to be on the Red Sox.

For past Q&As with other members of the OpenView team, check out my previous posts here.

Prior to OpenView, Dan was with Morgan Stanley in Boston where he worked as a member of a wealth management team that focused on providing customized investment strategies for their clients. His areas of focus specifically included equities, fixed income, and alternative investments. Dan received his BA in Economics from Boston College, where he was also a member of the soccer team.

10 Questions with Dan Lane – OpenView Venture Partners, Research Analyst

 1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).

D: As long I am living close enough to the beach, a mountain, and a good golf course I will be happy.

2. What are you most looking forward to about working at OpenView?

D: Getting to know some very interesting people and learning about exciting businesses. From there, being part of a firm that really creates tangible value.

3. What do you think will be your biggest challenge?

D: Limiting my iced coffee intake. The refills at Flour could be an issue.

4. What industries are you most excited to learn about?

D: I’ve always been very much a generalist and am excited at the opportunity to have a chance to learn a lot about many different industries.

5. What is the last book you read?

D: Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager by Keith McCullough, great perspective into the life of a junior guy on a trading desk all the way up to running money at a large hedge fund with some clever insights into the industry along the way.

(p.s. Turns out I write sweet book reviews)

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

D: Chicken Parm hands down. I even did a speech about it in high school.

7. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston?

D: From experience, probably Southie. It’s all young people and there is always something fun going on right outside your door. The food is awful there though. Other than that, I like the Seaport a lot, especially during the summer.

8. What are your hobbies outside of work?

D: Golfing, Skiing, spending time with friends, not cooking, and Golf.

[Editor's note: It appears Dan really likes Golf]

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role?

D: Leonardo DiCaprio – someone started calling me Leo in college and I didn’t see it at first. But I do think he’s the total package and has the skills to nail my part. Not sure if he’s athletic enough though.

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

D: A professional athlete; it varied depending on the season. At one point I thought I could definitely manage an NHL and MLB career at once, but I ended up playing college soccer, go figure…

Check out last week’s Q&A with Jessica Ray… and tune in next week as we introduce you to another new member of the OpenView team!

Jessica was most recently working as a recruiter for Pegasystems in Cambridge.  Before joining Pegasystems, Jessica worked for two executive search firms– Cook Associates and J. Robert Scott– as a Researcher.  Jessica graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Marketing, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Human Resources at Suffolk University.

10 Questions with Jessica Ray – OpenView Labs, Recruiting Analyst

1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).  

J:Mass-native, and a true foodie, with a heart for dessert and a passion for recruiting, practicing yoga and running, and an avid movie goer.

[Editor's note: Follow Jessica on Twitter: @RayJessicaG]

2. What are you most looking forward to about working at OpenView?

J: I’m really looking forward to working with our portfolio companies to build outstanding teams to support them at a critical and exciting stage in their development.  I’m also excited to be working with a great group of people who are all truly passionate about what they do while adding value to our portfolio companies.

3. What do you think will be your biggest challenge? 

J: Most recently, I have been focused on identifying and recruiting hands-on technical talent for a 25 year-old software company.  I’m looking forward to the challenge of shifting gears outside of this realm, focusing on a variety of roles, including sales, marketing and product management, while accurately assessing candidates that are not only the most qualified but who also have the right attitude and mindset for successfully adding value within an expansion stage company.

4. What do you enjoy the most about recruiting?

For me, the most satisfying part of my role as a recruiter is to make the match between an exciting opportunity and a great candidate.  Finding out what motivates the candidate and assessing if this is a great fit from both sides  is something that I truly love about my job, while also knowing that this person is going to be able to really add great value to the hiring manager’s team and the organization.  I also truly enjoy developing and refining recruitment strategies in order to make that great match, whether it be defining a target company list, working the job specification and profile, or creating new messaging tactics.

5. What is the last book you read?

J: I just finished Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell.  I also jumped on the bandwagon to read The Help by Kathryn Stockett (before seeing the movie), and I was so happy that I did – great read!

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

J: It would have to be French Fries and if I can pick an entire meal, it would be cheeseburgers, fries and a milkshake.  I’m also hoping that if this were to ever happen, calories would not need to be considered.

7. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston? 

J: My favorite neighborhoods are in Brookline – Coolidge Corner, Brookline Village and Washington Square (which now makes the top of the list since it’s now also “home”).

8. What are your hobbies outside of work?

J: Baking, practicing yoga (power, heated, vinyasa), running, and trying new restaurants.

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role? 

J: Anne Hathaway – she’s a little nerdy, awkward and goofy, but I think in a cute, loveable sort of way.

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

J: When I was really young, I wanted to be an artist and, later on, I wanted to be a TV news anchor or a music video producer.

One of the top trends I have seen on Jobs/Careers sites in the past year are videos.  These are often short videos (1-3min) that allow candidates to see a company’s office, meet some of its employees, and learn what gets them up in the morning.  This way, before candidates apply to open positions, they will have a much better idea of whether your company culture is one in which they will thrive.

The major advantage of videos is that you are able to share your company’s mission, vision, and values with passionate candidates that cannot be fully communicated in a text format.  When candidates who watch these videos enter your recruiting process, they should have more knowledge about firm culture and better understand your employee value proposition from the get-go.

For some examples of these videos, check out the following from the Google (below) and Adobe career sites. OpenView is now putting together a “60 Seconds at OpenView” video about what it is like to work here and, I challenge you to do the same for your company!

If you have already created such a video, or if you create one at some point down the line, please share your results.  Check out my previous post for more ideas on what to consider when renovating your Careers page.

Here are a few of the top recruiting lessons I have learned from my dad:

You can’t over communicate. There is never too much information that you can give to a client or hiring manager. It’s important to give them the good and the bad, and to keep them abreast of whatever is going on in your recruiting process. Always seek clarity with your stakeholders.

Secondary reference checks are essential. You will often learn more from a reference who was not given to you by a candidate (sometimes called “back door references”) than by one who was. Feedback on a candidate’s performance and character is usually more helpful when it comes from someone who has not given the candidate the go-ahead to pass their contact information along.

Maintain your high ethical standards. Protect your candidates’ privacy in their job search, and be honest and open throughout the hiring process with your stakeholders.

Don’t quit. My dad once framed this Don’t Quit poem for my brother and me when we were in high school. Although he meant it as inspiration for life in general, I find that much of its contents are helpful in recruitment. When a search is particularly frustrating, or you are not satisfied with the candidates you are finding, do not give up.

The search is not over when a candidate accepts an offer. Anyone who has been in the recruiting business (or in any business, for that matter) for a while has likely seen it all when it comes to candidates who have accepted job offers. You may have a candidate accept an offer, but end up taking a counter-offer, and you may even have candidates accept an offer, and simply not show up on their first day. You can’t prevent every bad situation from happening, but to lessen the probability, it is important to follow up with candidates after they have accepted an offer and even after they have begun their new job.

Happy Father’s Day weekend to the dads out there… and as always, Happy Hiring!

According to CNN, 40% of the 130,000 job openings in Silicon Valley are for software engineers. With so many open positions, where can you find the top talent and hire them over your competition, while keeping up with your non-recruitment related responsibilities?

While OpenView’s expansion stage portfolio companies have been able to utilize the recruiting support provided by the OpenView Labs team, most companies at this stage of growth do not have recruitment help at their disposal. Last month, Business Insider put out a great piece on the top five reasons why startups without recruiting support are at a distinct disadvantage, and I want to share them below:

1. You never have enough proactive time. Management teams at expansion stage companies have a lot on their plates. Recruitment, particularly for companies at this size which do not already have a well established brand behind them, requires a great deal of proactive time to find top candidates. It requires effort and energy to develop candidate flow, meet candidates, vet them, check references, etc. Having a recruiter who will work with you to push you to react to candidates and help to prioritize your recruitment initiatives should mprove your time to hire.

2. Hiring inexperience. If you do not have a lot of experience hiring, particularly when it comes to hiring for more senior positions, you will likely benefit from hiring a recruiter who has. According to Business Insider, many entrepreneurs are not skilled interviewers, and are not experienced at assessing their current human capital needs, analyzing any gaps of management team members, and then understanding the market and how to fill the gap. An experienced recruiter is invaluable in this regard.

3. Shallow reference checking. Busy entrepreneurs often rush one of the most important components in the interview process– the reference check. Perhaps they already feel that they have made a decision on a candidate, but are going through the rhythm of contacting references, when really this should be an opportunity to push for a deeper understanding of the candidates’ histories and claims. Further, this is an opportunity to learn from your candidates’ former managers on how they can best be managed for success.

4. Quarterbacking the selling process. The best candidates are doing their due dilligence on you as much, or more, than your due dilligence on them. Even though you are deciding whether a candidate is a fit for your company throughout the interview process, you need to be in a position to sell every step of the way. A recruiter can be very helpful in this aspect of the recruiting process- by proactively surfacing objections and handling them with data and follow-up conversations, linking candidates to the right people who can best answer their questions and give them a greater understanding of the opportunity.

5. Focus on closing. Closing candidates in a competitive market is difficult. Many things can get in the way of closing out an interview process with your top candidates, including counteroffers, compressed timeframes and personal considerations. If you do not have the proactive time necessary to seal the deal, you may lose out on your best candidates. Having a recruiter on board gives you a focused closer.

Does your company have a dedicated recruiter on board? If not, how do you manage the recruiting process at your company?

This week we launched a search for a third recruiter for OpenView Labs (if you happen to know a rockstar corporate recruiter, please pass along our job posting!), and several of our portfolio companies have recently added or are looking to add corporate recruiters to their growing teams.

So it was timely that I came across an article this week discussing the changing role of the corporate recruiter on ERE. According to this article, three recurring corporate recruitment trends, based on the CEO perspective and their needs of their corporate recruiters, are:

Corporate recruiters are salespeople. We are not going to strong-arm someone into joining the companies we work for, but when we are trying to recruit A-players, we must remember that they are likely looking at several options. We need to be more strategic, have a keen business orientation, and the ability to sell prospective employees on the company. To do this, recruiters need to understand the corporate culture, business goals, and talent needs of the company in order for it to attract the right employees.

The corporate recruiter’s role is being elevated to talent management.  The business need to both recruit and retain employees is growing exponentially, and therefore the skills and experience of a talent manager are critical when scaling a business. Recruiters will be judged on who they invite to the corporate front door and how employees they recruit contribute to the company.

Developing new data analytics is required. Cost-based data (how recruiters show their value and progress) is quickly being replaced with quality-based cost analytics. The percentage of new hires who are performing at or above average (based on peer review) and how many are still with the company after one year are now better indications of a recruiter’s success than the cost to hire X number of employees. The new data should reflect how the performance of new hires and their longevity with the company supports business growth strategies.

Brendan joined OpenView last month from TechTarget, where he was most recently a senior editor working with a team of freelance contributors and in-house editors to create editorial content for IT managers and administrators. Brendan graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a BA in Journalism, and was the managing editor for Rhode Island’s only daily college newspaper, The Good Five Cent Cigar. Below please find Brendan’s answers’ to some of our favorite new employee questions…

Q&A with Brendan Cournoyer – OpenView Labs, Marketing Associate1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less)B: I like guitars and sports, Mitch Hedberg and The Daily Show, early 90s music and the ‘Net (for all its given us) And I love living in Boston

[Editor's note: Follow Brendan on Twitter @brencournoyer and check out his blog!]

2. What are you most looking forward to about working on OpenView’s marketing team?B: Coming from a large online publishing company, it’s exciting to get involved with a content initiative that is still so young, with so much room to build and grow. The marketing team has done an incredible job in a short period of time enhancing the OpenView brand with these sites. They’ve utilized blogging, social media, newsletters, podcasting, videos, content curation – the whole shebang! It’s very cool to see what they’ve created, and I’m psyched to be a part of it.

3. What do you think will be your biggest challenge?B: Managing all this content! We crank it out here, and for a small team, the sites have a tremendous amount to offer. So at least initially, getting a handle on everything and making sure the content we deliver is targeted toward the right people will certainly be a continuous challenge, but it’s one I’m looking forward to. The team here is so sharp, and everyone works so well together, that I know we’ll continue to improve day after day. 

4. What is your top source for marketing news/information? B: Believe it or not, I actually use Twitter to find most of the latest info on content marketing and SEO. Those who are really interested in the power of online content are naturally also skilled in social media, so as long as you follow the right people, they’ll let you know about the best stuff. Some of my favorite sites are JeffBullas.com, Joe Pulizzi’s Junta42, SEOmoz and SEO Pledge. 

5. What is the last book you read?B: I just finished The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons, which I had been reading in pieces since December. It’s a really interesting (and funny) history of the NBA from a fan’s point of view. It also includes a few guest passages from Chuck Klosterman, who is easily my favorite writer. 

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?B: Just one? For whatever reason, my favorite meal is chicken parmesan from Olive Garden. I can’t explain it, but I can never get enough of it. But if you would grant me a dessert, I’d definitely pick the white fudge-covered Oreos that only come out for like three weeks each year around the holidays. They are amazing. I usually buy like eight boxes when they hit the shelves. I doubt I could live off of them for the rest of my life though. 

7. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston?B: My fiancée and I spend a lot of time around the squares just outside the city. I find myself bar hopping in Davis Square quite a bit, but Harvard Square is probably our favorite. If you are ever in Casablanca’s in Harvard, order the duck. It’ll knock your socks off. 

8. What are your favorite things to do outside of work?B: Seeing live music, definitely. I like smaller venues around the city like Paradise or Middle East. The Bank of America Pavilion is also a great place to see a show during the summer. A lot of my favorite artists tend to draw smaller crowds, but the energy is a lot better in those kinds of venues.

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role?B: Clive Owen. I would definitely go see that.

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?B: Small forward for the Celtics. I was 5’8” before I was 12, so I thought I might make it. Something went wrong though, because I only grew 3 inches after that. Can awesomeness stunt your growth? That must’ve been it. 
Meet more members of the team! Check out our previous Q&As with the three other new members to OpenView’s team in 2011 below…

• Brandon Hickie, Market Research Analyst
• Nick Hammerschlag, Associate
• Aki Balogh, Associate

Rebecca recently joined OpenView Labs after spending several years with Allsteel, where she was a Regional Manager for the East coast, responsible for managing five offices and coordinating events. Prior to Allsteel, she was the Lead Event Coordinator at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI. Rebecca graduated from Calvin College with a BA in Business in Spanish, and she studied abroad in Spain.

10 Questions with Rebecca Jacobs - OpenView Labs, Administrative Associate

1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).
R: I’m a hard working person w/ a passion for fitness & travel. I love teaching spin class & use dance/electronic music.Ran the NYCMarathon 2x.
2. What are you most looking forward to about working at OpenView?
R: The people are really great! Everyone has something to offer therefore I will learn a lot from everyone. Oh yeah . . . the roof deck is a major bonus!
3. What do you think will be your biggest challenge?
R: The phone system… I’ve already learned the “sigh”, as Katie calls it.
4. What is your #1 tip for planning or managing a successful event?
R: The food. People always remember the food. Mini sliders and kabobs are always a hit! Another fun part of planning an event is offering a signature drink.
5. What is the last books you read?
R: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller and Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. Next on my list is The Room by Emma Donoghue.
6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
R: Apples. I absolutely love apples. I’ve been eating an apple a day since I was a young one. My favorite are organic Gala apples!
7. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston?
R: The North End, not only because that is where I reside, but because I love the old European feel of the neighborhood. Some of the streets bring me right back to my old neighborhood in Spain.
8. What are your hobbies outside of work?
R: I love spending my free time running, spinning, shopping and reading. In the summertime, my favorite activities also include hitting the beach and boating.
9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role?
R: Uma Thurman. I really don’t look like her but I love her role in Kill Bill and I’ve gone as “Mrs Mia Wallace” from Pulp Fiction for Halloween. It was a big hit.
10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
R: A News Anchor. As a child, I played dress up all the time and turned my parents’ basement into a news studio.

While the threat of a counter offer will not be removed completely (nothing is 100% when you are dealing with people!), the chances of your top candidate accepting one can be decreased if you follow the four tips below.

Four Tips On How to Avoid a Counter Offer
1. Find out the candidate’s true intentions for wanting to leave their current role. Often, the first answer which is given is not the true one. Take a deeper dive to try to understand the motivations of the candidate, so you will know whether the position at your company addresses their needs. If it does, this information will help you to make it clear to the candidate that the opportunity with your company fulfills what they were looking for when they began their job search.

2. Discuss the potential of a counter offer as soon as there is genuine interest in the candidate. This may be as early as at the end of the first interview. Asking a candidate how they would react should they receive a counter offer is a good way to find out how serious they are about leaving their current company, and requests of them an increased level of commitment in the recruiting process.

3. Don’t get into a compensation war. You likely won’t win, and do not want a candidate to make a decision to join your company solely for this reason anyway. Make the candidate a fair offer and leave it at that. Let the candidate know you are making your best offer, and only offer, to remove the possibility of getting into a wage war.

4. Continue your relationship with the candidate after they accept your offer. The momentum and the candidate’s excitement about joining your company have likely been building throughout their interview process. Once the candidate has accepted your offer, resist the temptation to feel as though the hiring process is over. Check in with them to see how their current company responded when they put in their notice. Invite them to join in a company meeting or outing, include them in some emails related to projects they will be working on, and allow them to feel that they are transitioning to your team.

For additional information on handling and preventing counter offers, check out:
Careerbuilder for Employers
The IMPACT Hiring Solutions BlogAdweek

Tips for Improving your Employee Survey Process:

1. Start Small. Make your next survey extremely short and easy to complete. Once you receive the results of each survey, provide immediate feedback, and be sure not to share data and comments that could be identifiable to a specific employee. Your employees will need to gain your trust that their responses will be both anonymous and acted upon.

2. Provide Anonymity. Provide a detailed explanation of the importance of the information you are asking from your employees and of how you will keep their responses anonymous and will not hold the information given to you in their surveys against them. You will need to build trust with your employees in order to get feedback that is truly helpful.

3. Include Every Employee. Particularly when your company is at this stage of growth, every single employee should be involved in the feedback process. Ideas on how you can improve your business may come from your VP of Sales, and an equally great idea may come from your Marketing Coordinator. Surveying all of your employees also shows how serious you are about getting genuine feedback.

4. Share Results ASAP. In order to develop and support the trust of your employees, ALWAYS share the results of your surveys. Your employee feedback will not always paint your company in a positive light, but hiding that fact will discourage your employees from sharing flaws they see within your organization, rather than help you address them. In order to share feedback in a timely matter, set a deadline for completing your surveys, and never miss it. If employees see that others are sharing helpful and honest feedback, they will be more inclined to do so as well.

5. Ask Both Open and Closed-Ended Questions. Although open-ended questions are helpful to generate qualitative data, they can be difficult to analyze. Closed-ended questions will allow you to analyze the data more efficiently and to look for patterns. For each piece of information that you are seeking feedback on, try to include one closed and one open-ended question.

If you follow these steps, the value and quality of your employee feedback should increase over time and help to grow your company and aid your employee retention. To get started, determine what feedback you wish to solicit feedback for, and how you plan to act on those results.

For additional resources, check out:
10 Mistakes in Employee Engagement Surveys
Soliciting Employee Feedback: Getting Results
Five Recommendations for Employee Satisfaction Surveys

While a standard job description which outlines the role, responsibilities, and qualifications necessary for an applicant may yield the candidates you are looking for, job postings with some flair will communicate your company’s personality and may actually yield more qualified, interested candidates. If you do not yet have a recognizable name behind your company, this extra push may be helpful in garnering top talent for your startup recruitment initiatives.

I came across a posting on the FourLabs Blog which tested the posting of a standard and a creative job description on Craigslist to see how different their applicants would be. Their standard job posting for an Office Manager was posted one week prior to their creative job posting, and overall their results were that while the standard job posting received more applicants, the creative job posting received more personalized letters/resumes. To me, this means fewer people applying blindly to the role, and more who have researched the company enough to apply with something more than a form cover letter and resume.

Will a creative job posting help your competitive positioning?
Test it for yourself… 

Start with an imaginative title. As an example, see Zmags’ below…

Particularly when looking through title after title which are the same, a slight tweak to a title in your job posting will make yours jump off the screen.

Make it SEO friendly. Think of what your ideal candidate is searching for… then make sure those words are in your job postings… or maybe even in your title!

Enable social media sharing. If you can, have a feature on your Careers page which enables viewers to immediately forward the job posting or share it with those on their social networks. Make it easy for people to spread the word about your job posting!

Include audio or video. This goes back to my last post about our Jobs page revamp (which is in progress)… but all the new media tools are making it easier than ever. If you cannot embed video or audio on to your site, include a link so potential candidates can have more interaction with your company.

Describe your company. This should be in a small paragraph, or in bits sprinkled throughout your posting, depending on your format. Describe what your company does, what its mission is, and what type of people make up your company.

Describe the hiring manager.  It’s often said that people quit their boss, not their company. So, what is it like to work for this hiring manager? What type of person will work best with them, and what is their management style and professional background? You may want to include a link to their LinkedIn profile, if it is detailed and contains recommendations.

Show your flair! For some examples of creative posts by OpenView’s expansion stage portfolio companies, check out Kareo’s Superstar Sales Support Analyst and Zmags’ Kick-Ass Flash Designer.

A recent article in the New York Times, aptly titled “Don’t Call Me, I Won’t Call You,” discussed this cultural change, and made me think about its impact on business.

In general, we have become uncomfortable with the unscheduled phone call. Calling someone without a prior arrangement and interrupting what they are doing now comes across as more rude than commonplace.

The New Rule of Phone Calls: If what needs to be discussed can not be communicated over email, and is not an urgent matter, schedule a time to speak.

More often than not, if a call is not scheduled, a game of phone tag will begin, wasting time on both sides.

When I worked for a recruiting firm several years ago, if I received a resume of a candidate I wanted to speak with, I immediately gave them a call. Now, when providing recruiting support to OpenView’s portfolio companies, if I called a candidate without a scheduled call, I would feel as though I was unfairly putting them on the spot and was being too demanding of their time, as well as wasting my own.

Have you noticed a change in your phone habits at work? Has a change in phone usage led to any alteration in your company’s business development strategies? If so, please comment below!

Previously, our Taleo-driven page included the positions which OpenView Labs is providing recruiting support for to our portfolio companies, and linked to each company’s Careers page for further listings. Our updated page will include ALL listings at our portfolio companies.

This reboot is also exciting for me, as it will involve a make-over in how we position ourselves to potential candidates. Careers pages which simply list available positions at a company are, in my opinion, outdated.

I believe that a Careers page which conveys OpenView’s employee value proposition and gets potential applicants excited about working for OpenView and our portfolio will help attract more top candidates to open requisitions. If you think your company’s Careers page needs tweaking, check out my tips below which I hope to incorporate into our new site…

7 Tips to a Careers Page Reboot
- Make it easy to find. It shouldn’t be a scavenger hunt for interested job seekers to learn more about joining your company. Make sure that the link to your About Us/Careers/Jobs/People page is right at the top of your company’s main page. It’s that important.

- Introduce potential candidates to your employees.Maybe not all of them, but at least a few, particularly if bios on your site are only those of your management teams. The best examples I’ve seen are creative bios, videos and Q&As with a variety of employees about what gets them up in the morning and what they like about working for your company. (Examples: SCVNGR & Google)

- Explain your culture and values.What is it like to work at your company? What types of people thrive there? A brief paragraph or a listing of your values may cover this, but it’s also extremely effective to explain through video. (Example: Adobe)

- Be creative! Make sure the job descriptions you post and your Careers page itself are reflective of your company culture. (Examples: Hubspot & Etsy)

- Tell candidates what your benefits are. Do you offer free lunch? How about exceptional insurance coverage, or the ability to play on the company kickball team? No matter how small the benefit, tell candidates about it! It’s part of what sets your company apart from others they may be considering. (Example: Facebook)

- Include information about possible career growth and professional development.  Perhaps there isn’t a definite career track, but any information you can include about training, support and the ability to be a part of a growing team is beneficial. (Example: ExactTarget)

- If you recruit at local universities, tell which ones and when you will be there.In addition, if you recruit recent graduates at a relatively high volume, you may want to create a separate page geared towards these recruitment efforts. (Example: NetApp)
Have you redesigned your Careers site in a way which incorporates any of the ideas listed above? Have you seen any particularly creative Careers sites? If so, please share in the comments below!

If you have a large number of applicants (lucky you!), the best way to gain perspective of your candidate pool is with the resume quick scan. This quick scan of all your applicants will allow you to gain a better understanding of your candidate pool and help you to determine who your top candidates are, who you may consider, and who you will not.

Here are the basics of what to look for in the resume quick scan…

• Right type and amount of work experience for the role
• Proper educational, certification or licensing requirements
• Correct technical background and skills if necessary
• Current location of the candidate (in case of relocation)
• Software efficiency
• Names/industries of previous employers
• Dates of employment (are they reliable)

During this quick scan, place candidates in separate piles (or files) so you can continue to prioritize in your deeper dive of each resume. These may be “A” pile, “B” pile, etc., of each candidate’s background for the role, or a “Yes”, “Maybe”, and “No” pile of who you would like to conduct interviews with.

Once you go through this initial scan, you should have a much better idea of the backgrounds of interested applicants and of your overall candidate pool. You can then take a more thorough look at the resumes and cover letters of your top applicants (and beyond) to make sure that you are moving forward with the candidates you and your management teams are most interested in speaking with.

Time is money, and the quick scan should help you get the ball rolling on determining your top applicants and moving forward with interviews. Happy Hiring!

Don’t forget passive job seekers. They are out there, and they are open to hearing about your company’s available position, even though they have not applied for it yet!

A recent study conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Plateau Systems found that 77% of workers (considered in this particular statistic as college graduates employed full time or part time and not self employed) would consider a new job opportunity.

Even more telling, and important for expansion stage companies to remember, is that generally these people are satisfied in their current jobs. Why should a top candidate want to leave their current position, if they are happy with it, to join your team? The idea of creating company and role-specific employee value propositions is something I have written about in the past in this blog, but Plateau’s recent study also examined the key motivators for job seekers when they are considering a new opportunity.

When passive job seekers were asked, “Why would you leave your current role?”,Their top 5 reasons for considering a move were:
1. Salary – 57%2. Need a Change – 31%
3. Career/Advancement Opportunities – 29% (This is the top reason active job seekers would make a move, at 42%)
4. I’d like to change careers and/or professions – 22%
5. I’m not confident in my employer’s future – 18%
Since only 25% of working college grads are engaged in a job search, according to Plateau’s study, tap in to the total candidate pool by contacting and networking with top prospect candidates. While providing recruiting support and networking, keep these 5 key motivators in mind, and you may find stronger returns on your networking attempts.

Below are 7 tips which I believe all hiring managers should find useful to get the most out of LinkedIn…

1. Get networking! A common misconception about LinkedIn is that unless you know someone personally, you should not connect with them. The whole purpose of the site is to network, so be open to it! Expand your network by connecting to 2nd connections, 3rd connections, and people in common groups who you would want to network with when you’re hiring. In your connection request, write a brief message about why you’re reaching out to them, as opposed to keeping the generic request message. Speaking of which… Let’s connect!
2. Pay for TopLinked or a Premium Membership to grow your network.  Unless you are always responsible for hiring or you are scaling your team, it may not make sense to do this for an extended period of time. However, anyone who is hiring will get a jumpstart on building their network and see stronger search results with a few months of these paid services.
3. Study your competition. How are your competitors using LinkedIn for recruitment? Check out what groups they belong to, how and where they post open positions, etc. Try it for yourself and see if you yield stronger results. It is also helpful to look at their employees’ profiles, to see what backgrounds they have, and what other companies they worked for which prepared them for their current roles.
4. InMails work… sometimes. The response rate is fairly low, so to get the most out of your InMails, craft a thoughtful message that does not sound like spam. Hopefully, you are only contacting those who you are very interested in, so take the time to craft a message that does not read like a form letter. Another great thing about InMails that you may not know? If they are not read by the recipient within 7 days, you’ll get the credit back.
5. Your profile is a marketing tool. Think like a potential candidate and take a look at your own profile. Does it give an accurate picture of your professional background? Why should a potential candidate want to work for you or with you? Why should they want to work for your company? These are all things that can be communicated on your personal profile, and potential candidates you reach out to may decide whether to network with you based on what they see. Make sure that you are not only communicating what potential candidates should know about you, but also what they should know about your company and its mission as well.
6. Know how to search. LinkedIn responds to traditional Boolean searches. So, if you need to get more specific in your potential candidate pool, make use of “OR” and “NOT”. To learn more about how to search LinkedIn for specific results, check out this entry in their Help Center.
7. Explore the site. Get yourself out there!
- Join groups relevant to your company’s industry and become an active participant in group discussions.
- Ask questions
- Put the “in” icon or open networker icon on your profile to show that you are open to networking.
- Use the “save this search” feature to quickly pull up frequently used searches.
- Save candidate’s profiles to folders for easy future reference.
- Put notes in candidate’s profiles when you interact with them, so you have documention of the last interaction you had.

LinkedIn is the largest live professional networking site. It’s certainly not the be-all, end-all of recruiting and sourcing candidates, but it is a fantastic place to grow your network and gain referrals. Take advantage of its services as you build your team!

For additional information and LinkedIn tips, check out Firstful of Talent.

Your first problem may be that you are trying to control them in the first place!

If your company doesn’t address this problem, it will be devastating for your startup employee retention. According to Hurst, the issue stems from two generations of leaders taking to heart too much of the old adage, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” The “it” in this case should apply to processes, but not to people.

At expansion stage companies, every role is critical to their success. For this reason, managers feel increased pressure when it comes to each managed person’s success.Also, managers have their own responsibilities outside of management, and you could have a major issue if they are attempting to measure and control their reports.

In order to increase employee engagement, leaders need to manage processes and lead people.

According to Hurst, the job of a leader is to free their employees from constraints that keep them from doing a good job and to liberate them from burdensome controls and bureaucratic red tape that drain the energy out of their work.

A successful leader will paint a picture of where the company is going and then blaze the path to get there. This type of management style should make employees feel empowered, and take pride in putting their best efforts into their work. In order to be a more effective manager and to attract and maintain top talent… leaders need to encourage and allow their employees to do their best work.

Have you dealt with this issue in the past? If you have tips on how to overcome this growing issue, please share them below! Next on my reading list: Peter Drucker’s Management Challenges of the Twenty-First Century.

Brandon Hickie recently moved to Boston from California, where he was an Associate in the Competition Practice at Charles River Associates, and worked with companies operating in the technology, internet, energy, healthcare, and primary product industries. Brandon graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a MA in Public Policy Economics with a concentration in statistic and economic analysis, and has a BA from Occidental College in Spanish and Diplomacy and World Affairs.

10 Questions with Brandon Hickie – OpenView Labs, Market Research Analyst
1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).B: I am a California transplant who enjoys traveling, hiking, running and watching sports. I am an avid Dodgers fan and wine enthusiast.

[Editor's note: Follow Brandon on Twitter (@bhickie) and check out his blog!]

2. What are you most looking forward to about working on OpenView Labs’ research and analytics team? B: I am looking forward to working with OpenView’s portfolio companies and learning about new technologies. I am very excited to work with these companies at such a pivotal point in their development.

3. What is your favorite type of analysis? B: I really enjoy doing all types of customer analytics, especially customer loss analysis.

4. What is your top source for news? B: The Economist.

5. What is the last book you read? B: The last book I read was Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven. I also recently read Julia Flynn Siler’s The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Wine Dynasty.

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be? B: Mexican Food. I love fajitas, vegetable enchiladas and chile relleños. Mexican food is the thing I miss most about California, not the weather.

7. Boston winter weather: worse than expected or not all it’s cracked up to be? B: Boston winters are not as bad as everyone makes them out to be. As long as the temperature stays above zero and does not dip into the single digits too often, it is very livable. I would trade a Boston winter for a Boston fall any day.

8. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston so far? B: The North End without question. I love the cultural aspects of the North End and the amazing Italian food. I also really like the South End.

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role? B: Ben Affleck.

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? B: I wanted to be a professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Growing up I always looked up to Orel Hershiser and Mike Piazza.

Thank you to our newest employees for participating in our Q&A! Happy Hiring :)

Aki Balogh moved to Boston from New York City last month, where he was an Analyst at Family Equity Partners, a middle-market private equity firm. Prior to that role, Aki was an Associate at Diamond Management & Technology Consultants. Aki graduated from the University of Michigan with a BBA in Business and is originally from Hungary. Now, on to our questionnaire… 

10 Questions with Aki Balogh – OpenView Venture Partners, Associate

1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).A: I’m a late-stage venture investor, former private equiteer, recovering management consultant and aspiring entrepreneur. 

[Editor's note: @akibalogh is a Twitter pro!]

2. What are you most looking forward to about working on OpenView’s investment team?A: I love the people — especially our very talented OpenView Labs team.

3. What market segments are you most interested in exploring for potential investments?A: I love anything around data or information services and analytics. There’s tremendous potential for DaaS, MaaS, IaaS and PaaS. Which are all SaaS. Unfortunately if this keeps going the tech community will run out of acronyms soon.

4. What is your top source for news? A: Quite a few: HackerNews, TechCrunch, peHUB Wire, Economist and my RSS feeds. I read the more ‘standard’ VC bloggers (Fred Wilson, Mark Suster, Ben Horowitz) and some more targeted bloggers (Robert Hacker a.k.a. Sophisticated Finance, John Sviokla). 

5. What is the last book you read?A: I tend to read books in parallel (and then I never finish them). So right now I’m reading 5 books at the same time. The last one that I actually finished was Do More Faster [by Brad Feld and David Cohen].

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?A: Japanese food! Or, more specifically, sushi. (Note: Grandma’s chicken noodle soup was a close contender.)

7. Boston winter weather: worse than expected or not all it’s cracked up to be?A: Not terrible. I spent a winter in Minnetonka, MN once… that was brutal.

8. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston so far?A: South End… but to be fair, I haven’t really seen the other areas yet.

9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role?A: Great question. Probably a mix of Neil Patrick Harris plus that guy who starred in Crank (Jason Statham) and Jaleel White (a.k.a. Urkel). And a dash of Alf. But Johnny Depp could probably play all of those well.

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?A: Older. And a VC at OpenView! :)
[Editor's note: Aki has incredible foresight! This should come in handy when identifying potential investment opportunities.] 

Check out Happy Hiring next week to meet the latest member to the OpenView Labs team!

Nick Hammerschlag is an Associate on OpenView’s investment team. Nick recently relocated to Boston from New York City, where he was an Analyst in the Financial Restructuring Group at Houlihan Lokey. Nick graduated from Columbia University with an AB in History, and is conversational in Mandarin Chinese. Now for our Q&A… 

10 Questions with Nick Hammerschlag - OpenView Venture Partners, Associate

1. Tell us about yourself—Twitter style (in 140 characters or less).N: Born and raised New Yorker recently transplanted in Boston. Passion for all things entrepreneurial, education, technology, health and wellness, and espionage (just reading about it, not doing it!). I’m also a serious foodie and lover of music. Getting married in June!

[Editor's note: It appears that Nick needs a Twitter lesson... I expect him to receive a meeting invitation from Corey O'Loughlin in 10, 9, 8...]

2. What are you most looking forward to about working on OpenView’s investment team?N: I’m excited to learn a ton, invest in and help build great companies, and surround myself with such smart people.

3. What market segments are you most interested in exploring for potential investments?N: I am seriously interested in education technology and see a ton of opportunity for OpenView to make some terrific investments and help build great companies in this sector.
4. What is your top source for news?N: Wall Street Journal, Drudge Report, and the New York Times for general news. TechCrunch and Mashable are my go-to resources for general technology/start-up news. 
5. What is the last book you read?N: I just finished two: A Voice from Old New York by Louis Auchincloss and Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh.

6. If you had to eat one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?N: Without a doubt sushi. I could eat sushi for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the rest of my life. I crave sushi when I’m hungover-is that weird?

7. Boston winter weather: worse than expected or not all it’s cracked up to be?N: It’s worse than expected and definitely all it’s cracked up to be.
8. What is your favorite neighborhood in Boston so far?N: The South End seems to have the most interesting concentration of restaurants and that’s the way to my heart. I also think that OpenView’s offices are located in a pretty cool spot.
9. If Hollywood made a movie about your life, which actor would play you in the lead role?N: If the movie was a comedy – Seth Rogen…but maybe a better looking version of Seth Rogen. Not that Seth is bad looking dude, I’d just like to think I’m a better looking one. So maybe Seth Rogen would play an ugly me. If the movie was a drama…Keanu Reaves. Love his stuff!

10. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?N: I wanted to be the only policeman chef firefighter businessman navy seal the world has ever known. That’s one job by the way.
Stay tuned for next week‘s Q&A to get to know more members of the OpenView team!

I knew this article would be a great resource for the OpenView Labs site, since its suggestions for fostering a culture which breeds innovation are crucial reminders for managers at expansion stage companies. I wanted to further discuss it here since it hits close to home for many of our blog readers.

Change can require significant effort and commitment which many companies are not willing to exert. Yet in order to drive innovation and build great companies, change needs to occur.  If management teams are ready to commit to making changes in their company for the sake of innovation, they should consider the following:

1. Risk-taking must be rewarded.Operationally-minded companies must shift to emphasize a more entrepreneurial bent by encouraging employees to take risks and attempt initiatives that are beyond the scope of their company’s traditional operating boundaries. Rewards do not always need to be monetary, but a carefully crafted system of rewards and recognition for taking such risks will foster the desired spirit.

2. Mistake-making must be tolerated. I have heard Scott Maxwell, the Managing Partner at OpenView, say something to the effect of, “If you’re not making mistakes, you’re doing something wrong.” In order to challenge status quo and find better ways to do things, mistakes will be made, and a supportive environment where employees are encouraged to learn from their mistakes when testing new ideas will allow them to experiment.

3. Communication must be open.Make your employees aware of both attempts at creativity and at the failures made during these attempts. Everyone at the company should be encouraged to submit suggestions for improvement, and these suggestions should be taken seriously. If employees feel that their ideas for improvements will be given thoughtful consideration, management teams are more likely to learn about areas for change which may be critical to the company’s success.

4. Leaders must be comfortable hiring and nurturing stronger people than themselves.When we hired my colleague Vic Mahillon, the manager of the Labs, Brian Zimmerman, asked me if I thought he would be a better recruiter than I am. I said, “I hope so!” Brian said, “Good answer”. This is important for managers to keep in mind when hiring, as the strongest leaders are those who surround themselves with the best and brightest talent available. Once this talent is on board, it is critical for managers to listen to their ideas and to trust their expertise, particularly if it differs from their own. A new employee’s viewpoint may also help to shed light on problem areas which have been overlooked, and aid in the implementation of necessary changes to current processes.

5. A system of measure must be implemented to ensure all of this is happening as planned.Without actual measurements, you may not know with certainty which direction your company’s culture is trending, or whether it is changing at all. Implementing a tool that quantifies a company-wide perspective on leadership, communication, and teamwork will serve as an essential guide in the process of creating an innovation-centric culture.

In what ways does your company foster an innovative culture?

In order to identify the reasons why the position is a winner, ask yourself:

1. What professional development will the candidate have in this role?  This may mean more formal types of professional development, including training programs, forums, and workshops. You may also want to highlight how the candidate will have the opportunity to grow professionally in terms of their job requirements. What skills and experiences not required for this person during the initial qualification will they acquire in this role in the future?
2. What is the career track for this role?At what point will a successful employee in this role have the opportunity to become a manager, receive a promotion, or gain more responsibility? Particularly at expansion stage companies, this is a major selling point, since there is likely less red tape than at larger companies, and more opportunity for career advancement.
3. What value does this role have for the company? This can include the ability for someone in this role to make an impact on the company, or the reasons why this role is vital to keep the company running smoothly. When it comes to startup recruitment, highlighting the value each employee adds to the company as a whole is key.
4. Get creative… Why would I want this role? Since you are the hiring manager for the role, if you have not listed it already, think of the various reasons why someone who is qualified for the role should want it. It may be because they will have the opportunity to interact with the CEO on a daily basis… perhaps it is because they will work for a great boss (give yourself a pat on the back) who really cares about their professional development. Try to tap into a few reasons why your ideal candidate should want to apply for and accept this particular role over another role for which they are qualified.

Once you come up with your employee value proposition specific to the role, incorporate it into your job description, and make sure the role’s major selling points are discussed throughout the interview process. Unless a potential candidate knows why your available opportunity is a good one, you may find that the top candidates who read it may not choose to apply.

What is your company’s employee value proposition? If you don’t have one already, now is a great time to make one! An employee value proposition will be helpful to you as you put together job descriptions which speak to the candidates you are trying to attract, and during the interview process as you communicate to candidates the benefits of working for your company.

In order to start compiling an employee value proposition that is geared to the role for which you are recruiting, ask yourself:

1. Why do I like working for this company? Some examples to consider include the work content (variety, challenge, autonomy, feedback), career advantages (advancement opportunity, training, personal growth), the affiliation (company commitment, work environment, teamwork, trust), compensation (base salary, incentives, cash recognition, raise eligibility), and benefits (health, retirement, recognition). You may want to add more to this list, and conversely not all may apply, but hopefully they will help you consider the full spectrum of reasons as to why you like where you work, and why someone else may too!
2. What do my colleagues like about working for this company? Not only is it helpful to ask this question to get others’ perspectives on what makes working for your company rewarding, but it also helps when they become cheerleaders for your company within their own networks or while involved in the hiring process.
3. What are the company’s aspirations? Identifying your company’s aspirations in your job description, on your website, or in interviews, will help candidates understand the goals of your company, and whether they are excited to be a part of them.
4. What is the company strategy for the next 6 months? 1 year? 2+ years? Particularly at expansion stage companies, candidates will want to know your business growth strategies for scaling and for growing in the near future, and longer term.
5. Will the person in this role have the ability to make an impact on the company as a whole? This is crucial to remember when trying to find and speak with true A-players. Don’t wait for it– tell them how they can make an impact. What can they do in this role that will help take your company to the next level? How will their job have an impact on your company’s success and growth?

Once you compile your employee value proposition, you may want to share it with your colleagues to get their input. You also should publish your final employee value proposition on the Careers section of your website. At a minimum, it should be referred to whenever you create a job description or when anyone in your company is interviewing potential candidates.

If you can clearly communicate why the best candidates should join your company, it is more likely that they will!

A recent article on Inc. provided some excellent tips:

Don’t Avoid It. The first and most important tip is to not avoid delivering bad news once you receive it. While you may want to procrastinate communicating negative information, the delay only makes it worse. This is especially true when you avoid giving negative feedback to employees regarding their performance. This type of feedback should not be delayed because the performance issues are likely to continue without it, potentially resulting in lost time, money, and increased frustration for you as a manager. Particularly if it is a single-employee issue, address the problem as soon as it arises. If it is a company-wide announcement (such as a merger or negative financial news), take charge if you are a member of the company’s management team, and address the issue quickly. Rumors begin when these issues delay, and you would not want to risk losing some of your best employees due to fear of the unknown.

Be Clear and Direct.  Brevity is important. Do not build up the announcement or give advanced statements; just get straight to the point. Keep the message brief, direct, and don’t sugar-coat it.

Take Ownership of the Problem. If a decision has been made that affects your employees, take ownership of the decision. Be ready to explain what caused the decision.

Consider your Timing and Medium for Delivery. No one wants to hear bad news from their boss via email. Speak with your employees face to face out of respect, so they can respond directly with questions. In terms of timing, if it is a company-wide announcement, it is considered best to wait until late in the day between the middle and end of the week. But if it is a serious issue, take action at the start of the day. Always allow your employees to ask questions after delivering such news. Another great tip is to take suggestions from your employees as to how you can improve the situation by asking, “What would you do in my shoes?”

Your employees will evaluate you as a manager based on your actions in both good times and bad, and handling bad news poorly may sabotage future productivity and have a negative effect on your employee retention. In order to keep your team working productively and to keep your top employees on board, treat them with respect if and when you must deliver negative news.

Throughout the past year, I worked directly with management teams at many of OpenView’s thirteen expansion stage portfolio companies to offer hiring tips and to support and lead startup recruitment initiatives.

Here are Five of the People team’s accomplishments in 2010…

1. We launched OpenView’s first Applicant Tracking System (ATS) supported Careers page.
2. We contributed weekly blog posts for an entire year (this was quite a feat for us!).
3. We built and followed a recruiting framework for how we engage with hiring managers and management teams when leading or supporting a search.
4. Our recruiting support resulted in the hiring of over 50 employees for our expansion stage portfolio companies across the U.S.
5. Our team doubled in size when Victor Mahillon joined the team in November!

As I reflect on 2010, I am proud of our team’s achievements and the positive impact we had on our portfolio companies. I am looking forward to another highly successful year for OpenView Labs and to continued success for our portfolio companies!

Enjoy the holidays and Happy Hiring in 2011!

A marked rise in the number of job postings (according to Indeed) and the related increase in hiring has signaled a slow and steady turnaround to the economic crisis. People who clung to their jobs for the past few years with employers who hung them out to dry are now ready to leave for greener pastures.

What does this mean for expansion stage management teams?  Hopefully, it means that more people will apply for positions within your company in 2011 who were not ready to leave their “comfortable” job for a startup in the past couple of years. It also means focusing on employee retention is especially important right now. Make sure your employees know they are valued and that they will be continually challenged.

According to TLNT, four factors may contribute to employee turnover. Check them out and determine how you can combat them within your company to help your startup employee retention. Also, determine how you can show potential candidates the greater benefits your company offers over their previous employers.

Four Factors That May Contribute to Employee Turnover in 2011 are:

Exhaustion- While many companies had to let employees go during the recession in direct relation to a significant downturn in activity, others took advantage of the economy to preemptively cut labor costs by reducing staff more dramatically than business required. In many cases, remaining employees were left with a greater workload than before, with fewer acknowledgments of the need for work-life balance.

Pay & Disillusionment- Many companies around the country froze pay rates and halted promotions for the past two years, citing reduced profits. While in many cases these actions kept companies afloat, few companies seemed to make it a priority to recognize and commend employees for their work in other ways.

Retirement- Many people who had planned to retire several years ago delayed their retirement due to their financial losses and also because they had to support family members and spouses they had not intended on supporting. Now that the economy is picking up, many of those people will prepare for retirement once again, leaving gaps in staff as well as in knowledge.

Return-to-Home Parents- Many stay-at-home moms and dads dusted off their resumes during the recession and returned to the workforce as their spouses and partners were laid off or were forced to accept reduced hours and/or salaries. Some of these newly re-engaged employees may happily remain in the workforce going forward, but they may need increased flexibility in terms of their hours. Others may decide to go back to stay-at-home parents.

Should you be concerned?

Companies that took advantage of their employees over the past few years should be concerned. The rest of us should be excited that more potential candidates will be entering the job market in 2011. Let the mass exodus begin!

• Explain why. If you are asking your employees to perform an action, explain why, and if you can’t, you should not ask them to complete the task in the first place. This line of thinking forces managers to think, plan, and communicate more effectively.
• Show that you care. Create a more trusting and respectful environment in your office by showing your employees you care about their success and professional development.
• Listen before you speak. If employees are involved in a dispute, ask them what they think, ask follow-up questions, and listen carefully for truths or inconsistencies within their answers. Once you find the answers that work, thank and praise those who participated in the dialogue.
• Say what you mean and mean what you say. Companies need to stand for accuracy, honesty, openness, and transparency. This raises the bar on the management team’s behaviors and employee’s expectations, and ultimately it changes everyone’s behavior. If employees believe that everyone around them is acting honestly, trust will grow, and people who trust one another have fewer disputes.
• Be fair. If you are trying to resolve a dispute, listen and assess the relative value of things and seek to find consensus, and your employees will be more willing and open to discuss the issues and consider the options for resolution.
• Engage and encourage people to come up with their own solutions. If your employees can come up with ways to improve communications, decision-making and interactions, you will face fewer disputes requiring your input. Try to start this dialogue during the interview stage, continue during an employee’s onboarding, and provide classes for managers and employees. The better your managers are at facilitating open communication, the better your company will run.
• Promote this: “You have the right to disagree, but you should never be disagreeable”. Companies that promote this concept have provided safety valves to release the pressure of pent-up concerns and confusion. If people have the chance to voice their concerns, listen to others and their views, and to process both sides of an issue, they may be more accepting of decisions that are made. Once a decision is made, everyone should be encouraged to support it.

Everything is centered on communication and trust when it comes to preventing and resolving disputes. If a manager creates an environment where open and honest communication is encouraged, disputes will likely become less frequent.

How Not to be a Scrooge

Control what you can control – Around the holidays, some things will be out of your control. Prepare for this reality by working with your team to make sure that anyone who will be out for vacation signs off on everything for which they are responsible, or has passed along their duties to someone else during their absence. If an issue arises, know that it may take longer than normal to resolve due to a decreased staff, both at your company and at those on which you rely to help yours run smoothly.

Use December to find balance – This may entail committing to leave work every day on time, or arriving at work early some days so you can leave earlier. This may also mean not worrying as much about the “little” things, and hunkering down to get done what is needed. December is also a great time to reflect on the year of business and what you’re happy with, and what you are looking forward to in 2011. Use this time to recharge and find some balance in order to prepare for the year ahead.

Spend some time with your employees – This is a great time to catch up with your employees to discuss both work (how they are performing, how they are enjoying their job, etc.) and non-work related matters. Try to, at least, have a brief conversation with every person you manage. This can go a long way in terms of your startup employee retention. Show your employees you care about their lives both inside and outside of the office.

How do you manage your teams for success (and less stress) around the holidays?

According to a study by the New York-based Families and Work Institute, overworked employees are more likely to exhibit anxiety, make mistakes on the job, harbor angry feelings toward their employers for expecting them to be on the job for long hours, and resent co-workers who don’t pull what they think is their share of the load.

The study also found that nearly half of employees who feel overworked also reported they were in poor health, and nearly one-quarter (21 percent) of those overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression, compared to 8 percent of those who are not overworked. I came across a great article on HR Executives Online which outlines tips on how managers can help their employees feel less overworked, and at the same time see them finish their tasks in a given day. Part of your startup employee retention strategy should involve making sure your employees are not overworked.

In order to help your employees feel less overwhelmed on the job:

1. Offer training for time-management principles. Everyone can use a refresher in time management skills!
2. Insist employees use their vacation time. Ending the year without using a vacation day, or only taking a few, is not something to reward. Taking time off from work will enable your employees to come to work refreshed.
3. Permit flexible work hours when appropriate. 
4. Discourage the practice of eating at desks and working through lunch. 
5. Encourage non-interrupt zones during the day so your employees can better focus on their tasks. 
6. Help your employees become more effective. 

In order to be efficient, you must first be effective.

In order to encourage efficiency and effectiveness, managers can:

1. Implement clearly stated goals with built-in deadlines.
2. Insist employees make a daily “to do” list.
3. Make certain employees alert them or IT if their equipment is not working properly.
4. Supply the necessary materials for job completion.
5. Train employees on software packages that enable more efficient work.

For more information on how to more effectively manage your teams for high efficiency, check out the Scrum Alliance and the Lean Enterprise Institute.

Also, for more great ideas targeted at senior managers of expansion stage technology companies, please sign up, if you haven’t already, for our weekly newsletter “Viewing Value“

Groups
Particularly in areas where I do not have an established network, such as Boise, Idaho (where Balihoo is located), joining a LinkedIn group such as Linked Local Boise Valley gives me an immediate connection to nearly 1,300 people interested in networking in the area. Groups also include a Jobs tab where members can post positions and links to external job postings for free.

Job Postings
I purchase job postings on LinkedIn in bulk so that each job posting is less expensive, and I typically receive between 30-100 applicants through the site for a 30 day post (depending on factors such as position, time of year, and location). The quality of the resumes we receive through LinkedIn are usually much higher than those received from job postings on other job sites, especially for mid-level positions providing sales and marketing support. 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving weekend!

1. Revisit old promises. As the economic recovery takes hold, make sure you revisit and address any benefit cuts or salary freezes which were agreed upon due to economic conditions.

2. Take action. Address your employees’ complaints, and if they are asking for additional responsibilities, involve them in new projects. Employees who feel they are part of a team and their voice matters are more inclined to feel satisfied at work.

3. Have fun. Plan group activities outside of the office, even just once a month, to help encourage team bonding and employee morale.

4. Keep talking. Continue to keep employees up to date regarding the status of the company and its prospects. This can go a long way in easing any of your employee’s fears about the future.

5. Be transparent. Make sure to communicate both the company’s good and bad news without “sugarcoating” the bad news. Speak to each of your employees individually and tell them how they fit into the company’s plans for growth.

6. Address inequities. Rewarding employees based on performance is a good idea, but if there are pay inequities in your company, your employees are usually aware of them. Now is a good time to address any pay inequities with raises where the inequities exist.

7. Be realistic. As the economy improves, some degree of attrition may be inevitable, but if you show your employees they are important to your company’s success, and are open and honest with them regarding what is happening at your company and about their future there, they are more likely to stick with you.

4 Reasons Social Recruiting Fails

1. Lack of an overall strategy – Just like anything you do in recruiting, you must have an overarching strategy behind your social recruiting. Who is in charge of managing your social profiles? What type of content will you share with your followers/contacts in terms of recruitment? While experimentation in terms of social networking platforms and how to best utilize them for your company’s recruitment strategies is important, an overarching social recruiting strategy will help you stay focused on your objectives.
    
2. Lack of measurement – In order to measure the success of your social recruiting initiatives, track your metrics such as the hits to your Careers site (and which social networks have led them there), Mentions and ReTweets on Twitter, and source data for candidates to enter in your ATS (Applicant Tracking System).
3. Not enough time - If you aren’t willing to take the time to learn and develop your social profiles/connections, you probably aren’t ready to start a social recruiting strategy. Any social recruiting strategy should involve your company’s management teams, and if they are not prioritizing it, there is less chance for success.
    
4. Just another job board – Your recruiting efforts are likely to fall on deaf ears if the only way you utilize your company’s LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook page is with job postings. Share articles pertinent to your company and your industry, and be personable! Social networks are a great way to communicate the culture of your company, which is something a potential candidate will consider when deciding whether to apply for a job.

People who are considered Learning Agile do at least four things well:

1. They are critical thinkers who examine problems carefully and make fresh connections
2. They know themselves better and are able to handle tough situations
3. They like to experiment with new approaches and ideas and can deal with the discomfort of change
4. They deliver results in first-time situations through team building and personal drive

   There are also four learning agility factors to keep in mind:

1. Mental Agility – Describes people who think through problems from a fresh point of view and are comfortable with complexity, ambiguity and explaining their thinking to others.
2. People Agility – Describes people who know themselves well, learn from experience, treat others constructively, and are cool and resilient under the pressure of change.
3. Change Agility – Describes people who are curious, have a passion for ideas, like to experiment with test cases, and engage in skill building activities.
4. Results Agility – Describes people who get results under tough conditions, inspire others to perform beyond normal, and exhibit the sort of presence that builds confidence in others.

High potentials aren’t perfect, however! Some downsides of the highly learning agile are that they are often perfectionists and independent, are not particularly people-oriented, can’t stop tinkering and pushing, or they cause noise. Despite these possible impediments to their success, a highly learning agile person’s saving grace is their self knowledge. Learning agile employees rate themselves lower, are very self-critical, possess no notable flaws, and are highly self confident.

Now that I have a greater understanding of learning agility, it is something I will certainly attempt to evaluate when conducting interviews. Do you evaluate learning agility during your hiring process?

It seems as though over the past several years, job seekers devised more unique ways to stand out from the crowd, and this type of t-shirt advertising is certainly an example of this new trend. Perhaps a recruiter who is hiring for a Customer Service position will see someone wearing the shirt, but would the hiring manager start a conversation with the job seeker based on the message on their t-shirt?

Many other somewhat aggressive job seeker tactics have gained popularity over the past two years. Recently, a candidate came by our office immediately after applying for a position on our website to hand us a hard copy of his resume and to speak with us more about the role. Since I provide recruiting support to OpenView and our portfolio companies, I appreciate any extra effort from a candidate who displays their interest in a role, but this type of aggressive behavior asks whoever the job seeker meets to stop what they are doing in order to attend to them. Without a scheduled meeting in advance, this kind of “drop by” interview attempt can come across as rude, even though the job seeker’s motives were not. Have you ever witnessed a candidate trying unusual tactics to attract attention? How were they received by you and your company’s management teams?

I came across an article today by Mark Bregman which simplifies some key traits all A-Players should possess, whether they are currently on your staff, or whether you are evaluating a candidate. Here are some great hiring tips:

The 8 traits you will find in every A-Player are:

1. Initiative- Do you think this candidate would go above and beyond their standard job expectations? At expansion stage companies, it is imperative that employees at all levels require only minimal hand holding and direction.
2. Drive- Does the candidate possess a true desire to excel? When conducting a topgrading interview, you should see a pattern of behavior based upon a drive to succeed.
3. Leadership- Look for people who not only have high expectations of themselves, but also have the ability to empower, inspire, coach and teach those working with and working for them. Leadership is an important trait to look for in candidates for all positions and at all levels, not just your management teams.
4. Flexibility- At any startup, it is important that those you bring aboard are agile workers who are able to switch gears and quickly adapt to changes within the company. Has your candidate demonstrated this ability in the past?
5. Problem-Solving- The ability to quickly, creatively, and decisively drive toward solutions on critical issues could save your company time and money. Can your candidate give an example of problem-solving skills they used to make a difficult decision or to determine a solution to a problem?
6. Teamwork- At an expansion stage company, the ability to support and work with others is critical. A true team player will help to facilitate a better performance from his/her peers. Ask your candidates for examples to display their teamwork skills.
7. Job-Fit- Assessing a candidate’s past performance can help to predict their future success in the role. An excellent way to assess past performance is through a focused interview. You may also want to determine job fit through an assignment, such as a questionnaire, to better evaluate how a candidate may react in given situations, or even to test their knowledge in certain key areas. It is also important to assess whether a candidate is a character and personality fit for the company culture and needs of the job, and to utilize reference checks to cross check your assessment.
8. Motivation- Why does your candidate want the job? Try to evaluate whether their expectations, needs, and wants are aligned with the ideals the position and your company has to offer. Those who are highly motivated in their jobs will outperform those who are bored or unhappy, so make sure your candidate is the appropriate match for the position so they will strive for continued success.

Every year, Fortune magazine and the Great Place to Work Institute conduct a nationwide employer survey to find the 100 Best Companies to Work For. In 2008, Human Resource Executive Magazine asked the Institute to sort the rankings by age of the respondents, which formed the Millennial Magnets list of the companies ranked best in America by employees under 25. According to this Workforce blog, the Millennial Magnet companies share five basic traits.
 The Five Basic Best Practices of Millennial Magnets are:

1. Personal-Touch recruiting. Many of the companies take a very active and personal role in their recruitment of young employees. As an example, FactSet, a software company based in Connecticut, sends gift baskets and “good-luck” notes to new college senior hires before they take their finals.
    
2. Work-Life balance. Many of the top companies listed offer employees flexible schedules that allow them to have a more balanced life. Some even allow employees to schedule their own hours.
    
3. Group socializing. Studies have shown that as a whole Millennials enjoy working and socializing in groups, and as a result, these employees are more satisfied when they have regular lunchtime forums and social get-togethers.
    
4. Recognition. The companies that came out on top for Millennial employee satisfaction know how to motivate employees through positive feedback. Several of the top companies also make employees eligible for both awards and rewards for their success.
    
5. Casual but professional environment.  Many of the Millennial Magnets are following Google’s lead in crafting a corporate environment that is friendly, comfortable, and cutting edge.

The bottom line is that targeted policy adjustments can make a big difference in recruiting, engaging, and energizing Millennials. When it comes to startup recruitment, understanding how to target and manage Millennials as they continue to fill the workplace will be crucial to your business growth strategies.

Since I provide recruiting support to expansion stage companies at , and am interested in HR policies, I was curious whether Sesame Street had a dress code policy in place for their show, including its guest stars. If they do have a dress code policy, it’s possible that it may not have included policies for those who are not full-time employees. Or, perhaps the producers of the show did not feel comfortable telling the star what she could not wear.

An article published on the HR website TLNT last week discussed this issue as well, and asked its readers, How Would You Deal With Katy Perry? The article is interesting because it discusses the fact that Sesame Street knew who they were hiring — someone who is known for her over-the-top attire — and only got cold feet about about airing the segment once it started receiving negative press. Perhaps press of any form was what Sesame Street was looking for in the first place, but regardless, there are certainly lessons that can be learned from what I feel was a poor decision by producers (or maybe even HR!).

What can your company learn from Katy Perry?

1. If you have a dress code policy, enforce it, no matter who is breaking the rules! Even if someone on your management teams (or a famous pop star!) is breaking your employee dress code policies, make sure that they are enforced. The rules may start slipping for everyone when more senior members of your company start to bend the rules for themselves.
2. If you don’t have a dress code policy, make one! It does not have to be long, or even strict. Many expansion stage companies welcome diversity in dress and style preferences, but it should be to a point. Would it be acceptable for someone to come to work wearing a tube top in the summer? Everyone working at your company is a representative for it, so even if you embrace a casual dress working environment, you should consider putting some rules into place to avoid an uncomfortable conversation about dress code when someone breaks unwritten policies.

Many people do not put much thought into this part of the process, but the delivery of an offer is a very important step in the overall recruitment process, and its significance should not be overlooked. In order to make sure that there are no surprises at this point in the interview process, there are a few steps you should take earlier in the interview process, and when preparing to actually deliver your offer. As a recruiting analyst at OpenView Venture Partners, here are some pointers I have taken over the years, as well as from a recent article on Boston.com, about delivering a job offer…

• Be open. Make sure there are no surprises when it comes to the salary component of the offer by being open about money issues throughout the interview process. You should already know the candidate’s current compensation (or what their most recent salary package was) before coming up with your offer. The candidate should also be aware ahead of time if the offer may be a lateral move in compensation, or if they are at the high end of the range you had budgeted for the role. It is also important to be open about your company’s policies on salary negotiation (if there are any), commission structure, and start date flexibility before delivering the offer.
• Be prepared. Before you make your call, know the company’s benefits so you can give the candidate the full picture of what their offer includes. Make sure to tell the candidate details such as what types of insurance are covered, vacation policies, and any other benefits that your company has (such as free lunch, or getting off of work for your birthday). These little things are not only important for a candidate to truly assess their offer, but are also an opportunity to show the ways in which your company cares for its employees.
• Keep it personal. Once you have the candidate on the phone and know that it is a good time for them to speak, start of with the good news! It is likely that the candidate is highly interested in the role at this point, and will be excited to receive the offer… so be sure that you convey the enthusiasm you and your team feel about bringing the candidate on board as well!
• Keep communication channels open. On the flip side, if a candidate does not immediately accept the offer, do not take this as meaning that the candidate is not excited about joining your company. Make it clear to candidates that if they have any questions, they can reach out to you any time. If there is someone else who may be better equipped to answer a particular question, put them in touch with that person.
• Be understanding. The hiring process is a personal experience, and each candidate enters the process with their own set of expectations and perceptions. Some candidates think that they should always negotiate an offer. Be careful not to overreact to a candidate’s actions, and try to see things from their point of view.
• Put it in writing. Once you deliver a verbal offer to a candidate, either email them a PDF or priority mail them a hard copy of the offer as soon as possible. When sending an offer via email, attach or include details that were discussed during your call in regards to your company’s vacation policies and benefits information.

You may already be aware that considering a candidate’s gender, race, ethnicity and/or national origin, marital or maternity status, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability when considering them for a job is illegal, but you may not be aware that certain questions you ask may be an indication of those things, and are therefore illegal as well. An article on VentureBeat brought this to my attention again today, and I thought it would be an interesting topic for management teams to further explore.

Here are five questions you should never ask in an interview…

1. I love your accent… where is it from? Even if you can already tell where the accent is from, don’t ask. This question can be interpreted as asking where the candidate is from, and discrimination based on national origin is illegal. If you are asking because you are curious as to the applicant’s citizenship, it is legal to ask: Are you authorized to work in the US?
2. Did you miss many days of work last year? Although excessive absence from work can be highly relevant, this question invites answers about physical disabilities or maternity leave, and should therefore be avoided. If you have any concerns about a candidate’s physical ability to complete the work required for the job, that should be part of the job description and may be confirmed in an interview. If your concern lays in the candidate’s reliability, that can be discussed with a previous manager in a reference check.
3. Do you have any kids?  This may seem like small talk, but asking about familial status, including a candidate’s husband/wife, children, and/or aging parents who may be cared for at home, is off limits. Even if a candidate brings up the subject themselves, steer clear. If the reason you’re asking is to determine if the candidate will be able to work regular work hours (or overtime), ask instead: Are you able to work a regular work schedule?
4. My brother went to State U, too…. what year did you graduate? Even if the candidate appears as though they are a couple years out of school, you should not ask this question, or ask any questions that cannot be answered without a candidate having to give away their age. If you are curious about the amount of experience a candidate has in a position related to the one at hand, you may ask about that, but not a question which would force the candidate to identify how old they are.
5. I noticed your necklace… do you attend Church locally?  You may ask just because you are socially interested in whether a candidate attends a local church, synagogue or mosque, or perhaps you are curious for scheduling purposes due to upcoming religious holidays, but asking about religious affiliation is illegal. If your concern is whether a candidate will need to miss an important work function or event because of religious reasons, ask instead: Are you able to work with our required schedule?

Other topics you should not discuss during an interview include a candidate’s status as a veteran of the armed services, whether they smoke or drink (while not working, of course!), or whether they have any illnesses.

To avoid a potential lawsuit, here are some interview suggestions:

• Stick to a pre-written list of questions and let the candidate speak freely.
• If you move off of your interview questions list, make sure you are asking directly about a candidate’s work experience or their capabilities related to the position they are interviewing for. Simply put: If your question isn’t imperative to the job at hand, don’t ask it.
• If you are interested in the candidate, contact their references, as well as any references suggested by those references. This is not a chance to ask what are still illegal interview questions, but should give you the opportunity to touch upon any area of concern you have about a candidate’s aptitude for the job.

Jibe had just launched in private beta at the time, but yesterday they announced their public launch, and as someone who provides recruiting support for expansion stage technology companies across the country, I was eager to sign up. I’m very curious to find out whether a site that combines social networks will be a game changer in the recruiting world. Up until now, I have utilized LinkedIn to find passive candidates, and see whether I have any connections to a candidate. Since Jibe will compile the professional and educational information of users on various social networks, we as recruiters may be able to find candidates who were not on LinkedIn previously.

So, how does it work? Once on the site, job seekers will sign in with Facebook Connect or LinkedIn, which will pull their work and education history from their profile to pre-populate a Jibe profile. Jibe will also populate profiles for the user’s contacts on the social networks they connect to Jibe, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Yahoo, and LiveID. For every job posting the user sees on the site, they will also be able to see whether they are connected to anyone who works for that company. Jibe will allow members to message those people directly to ask for a recommendation or job advice.

In order to use the site, Jibe uses a credit system to allow applicants to apply for jobs. Applicants can earn credits by linking their Jibe account to their other social networks, by broadcasting their job search, by sending private messages through the system, and by updating their work history profile. They can also purchase credits.

Right now, employers can post jobs for free, but will pay $15 to unlock an applicant’s profile, which will reveal their name and whether they are connected to anyone in the company. The company will also have the ability to send the applicant a direct message.

For additional information on Jibe, take a look at these articles by Vator.tv and OnlineRecruitingNews. Or, click here to check Jibe out for yourself!

A major theme of the article was that Americans will increasingly find jobs not through external recruiters, job boards, and their resumes, but by showcasing themselves online and undergoing less subjected automated assessments. I have discussed boards which are meant to display software developers’ expertise in the past, such as StackOverflow.com, but discussion boards are now becoming popular in other areas of expertise.

Slate also predicts that video will become more highly utilized in future recruiting. According to the article, a handful of Bay Area startups have started using HireHive, a company that offers monthly plans to pre-screen applicants on video. Another startup, RoundPegg, assesses how a candidate will fit into the culture of a workplace. A series of short surveys and analysis by an organizational psychologist can tell the hiring manager whether an applicant will have a problem with the manager or team. For more information on other types of video and remote interview software that are becoming increasingly popular, check out this earlier post of mine on the subject.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, and Happy Hiring!

We promise...

1. To treat you with honesty and respect.
2. That working full-time will guarantee a basic standard of living.
3. That our workplace will be free of discrimination.
4. That if you work here, you will have health insurance.
5. That you should be able to leave a job with dignity.
6. That our office will be as safe as possible.
7. That we understand there is more to life than work.
8. That you are entitled to work together.
9. That you should be able to stand up for your rights and will not face punishment from management teams for doing so.
10. That you will be paid on time each month.
11. To define your role and objectives to the best of our ability.
12. That you will have the opportunity (and will be encouraged!) to help out in other areas.
13. To give you regular feedback (at least every 90 days) on your performance.
14. That, as we grow, we will work hard to maintain our company culture.
15. That your success is vital to this company’s success, and we are invested in it!