Matching every aspect of your talent acquisition strategy to meet the market demand for your product/service is the biggest challenge you'll face after raising your Series B funding.
Some VCs say that the B stands for "Build." The secret to actually building a winning and growing team is investing in a scalable and consistent recruiting process. The more reliable the system, the better results you'll see through every hiring burst.
This growth stage requires a recruiting team that can withstand both high-pressure, short-term sprints with many hires and lower-scale, specialized roles. You'll need a sourcing solution that can provide a predictable flow of high quality, well-qualified candidates for open roles so hires are never made out of desperation.
Your internal recruiting team also takes shape during this stage. The size of your internal talent acquisition team is driven by the median number of guaranteed hires throughout the year. Operationally, the ATS you've hopefully implemented guarantees repeatability and consistency as you invest more in performance optimization.
A wider variety of talent sourcing strategies are required to meet increasing demand. That includes the multi-search use of retained executive search and contingency fees paid for several single-hire roles. Your referrals often drop as a percentage of your total hires, but that number should not go below 30%.
New Funding Networks
Your Series B funding is often led by the same investors as your Series A. However, there's usually the addition of several new venture capital funds who focus on companies that exhibit similar potential. It's essential to leverage the networks of these new venture funds because they are usually rich with talented people. These individuals often possess the required growth skills and experience scaling organizations throughout their past portfolio companies.
The Transition from Innovation to Optimization
Seed-funded and A round-funded startups are the definitions of innovation. Growth stage companies with B+ rounds are at the transition point from innovation to optimization. Almost everything in your company, from people to products to processes, needs to be assessed for their ability to scale without losing core capabilities.
Here, employee attrition starts to affect the resourcing of your internal recruiting team because unexpected internal attrition can apply additional stress to your talent acquisition demands.
The adrenaline rush of innovation needs to be supported with scalable, agile processes and transparent measurement. Optimization requires a different skillset, background, approach and philosophy compared to early-stage innovation.
New layers of organizational design and management often impact decision-making speeds. New hires need to bring deep expertise in operational discipline, decision-making with wider repercussions, customer support, financial systems, revenue reliability, and investor reporting.
This is often the stage of growth that can either tear a company apart or solidify its future. Focusing on your recruiting and People Operations is the best move you can make.
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