Where Increasing Internal Transparency and Accountability Can Lead to Recruiting Team Success
About this Episode
Leah dives into the specifics of the hiring process at Help Scout. She talks about the value of retrospectives, where they analyze the hiring process for each role filled, learning from their experiences and making necessary adjustments for future hires. She shares how this approach has helped them identify bottlenecks and improve their hiring timeline.
Finally, Leah shares her hot take on hiring. She believes that many people struggle with hiring and that those who think they're great at it are often the worst. She advocates for respecting candidates' time and compensating them for any work or projects they do as part of the hiring process. Tune in to learn more about Leah's approach to hiring and how Help Scout is innovating in this space.
Topics
This Episode's Guest
Leah Knobler
VP of People @ Help Scout
Leah is the Vice President of People at Help Scout, a fully remote software company that provides tools for businesses to enhance their customer support. She previously served as the Director of Talent Acquisition at Help Scout. She has been with Help Scout for eight years and oversees the people function, managing a team of eight and handling all aspects of talent acquisition, total rewards, business partnerships, and employee experience.
Takeaway 1
Use Hiring Summaries to Boost Trust and Collaboration 🤝
Leah’s approach to transparency centers around creating detailed hiring summaries that are shared across the organization. These summaries document every critical aspect of the hiring process, from why the role was opened to what made the final candidate stand out. They also highlight challenges encountered during the process and what can be improved for future hires.
Why It Matters:
Hiring summaries build trust by demystifying the decision-making process. At Help Scout, Leah’s team saw immediate benefits, including cross-team alignment, increased appreciation for the recruiting effort, and better collaboration with hiring managers. Sharing these summaries company-wide reinforced transparency, helping remote teams stay aligned and fostering greater accountability in hiring decisions.
Quick Tips:
- Keep It Comprehensive: Include sections for role justification, interview stages, and key decision factors to paint a full picture of the hiring process.
- Highlight Learnings: Add a dedicated section to reflect on what worked, what didn’t, and how the process can improve next time.
- Share Widely: Ensure hiring summaries are accessible to the entire organization to encourage transparency and shared understanding.
Takeaway 2
Analyze Time to Hire Data for Bottlenecks ⏱️
When Help Scout identified that their engineering hires were taking over 90 days, Leah’s team dug into the data and discovered delays caused by lengthy take-home assignments. By redesigning these assignments to be more efficient and introducing tools like CodeSubmit, the team reduced overall time-to-hire while maintaining a high-quality candidate experience.
Why It Matters:
Bottlenecks in the hiring process can lead to losing top candidates and diminishing team productivity. Leah’s example illustrates the importance of analyzing data to identify inefficiencies and proactively address them. Streamlining take-home projects helped Help Scout speed up their process without compromising on candidate quality.
Quick Tips:
- Examine Time Metrics: Regularly analyze time-to-hire data for trends and bottlenecks in specific roles or stages.
- Revamp Assessments: Simplify or restructure take-home assignments to minimize unnecessary delays while retaining their evaluative value.
- Leverage Tools: Use software like CodeSubmit to streamline assignment distribution, tracking, and evaluation.
Takeaway 3
Make Compensation a Standard for Candidate Projects 💰
At Help Scout, Leah’s team ensures that candidates are compensated for substantial work completed during the hiring process, such as take-home projects or presentations. This practice sends a strong message that the company values candidates’ time and effort, fostering goodwill and setting the company apart in a competitive hiring landscape.
Why It Matters:
Unpaid candidate projects can deter talent and reflect poorly on your organization. Compensating candidates not only demonstrates respect but also aligns with principles of fairness and equity, enhancing your employer brand and creating a positive candidate experience.
Quick Tips:
- Set Clear Guidelines: Define what qualifies as substantial work (e.g., projects requiring several hours of preparation) to determine when compensation is appropriate.
- Communicate Early: Inform candidates upfront about compensation for specific steps in the hiring process to build trust.
- Enhance Differentiation: Use compensation as a way to stand out in your industry, showing candidates that your organization values their contributions.
What Hiring Excellence Means to Leah
For Leah, hiring excellence is about creating a seamless process that candidates enjoy while ensuring her team makes impactful hires. It’s not about "culture fit" but "culture add" — finding candidates who bring something new and valuable to the organization.
Leah's Recruiting Hot Take
“If you’re asking candidates to do any kind of project or submit work, and you’re not paying them for their time, you’re doing it wrong.” Leah elaborated that this practice not only shows a lack of respect for candidates but also damages the employer brand. In today’s competitive market, expecting unpaid labor sends the wrong message about your company’s values. Leah advocates for creating hiring processes that are equitable and rewarding for candidates, reinforcing the importance of fairness and mutual respect in every step of recruitment.
Timestamps
(00:00) Introduction
(03:04) Challenges faced by recruiters in a shifting hiring market
(06:44) Implementing hiring summaries and their structure
(08:49) The benefits of hiring summaries for remote and in-office teams
(11:54) Using data to identify bottlenecks in hiring timelines
(12:54) Streamlining engineering hiring processes with tools
(14:05) Automating hiring summaries with Ashby dashboards
(15:21) Expanding recruiter roles during intentional hiring slowdowns
(21:46) Collecting candidate feedback to refine recruiting practices
(22:36) Advice on achieving hiring excellence
(25:37) The importance of compensating candidates for their time
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