Billions With Zero Knowledge

The number one job of any leader is talent development.  Recruiting, retaining, equipping and developing the talent in your team is the not only the most critical part of creating a successful company it is also the hardest.

Raising financing takes time. Dealing with customers, partners and earning revenue takes time. Working on product and getting any of the millions of tasks done that need to be accomplished to be able to afford to employ anyone takes time.  Once an organization has accomplished all these tasks and has enough money, or business to justify hiring it is often hard to switch gears on your plans and go slow enough to allow you the time to do hiring well.

Hiring is the item that most companies don’t plan for or make enough time for.  It takes a lot of time to do well, and there are always areas to make changes or new talent that needs to be developed to fit the businesses changing needs.   Scouting, developing and nurturing top talent is something that is a full time job of the the entire senior management team. 

Just like sports coaches are constantly working on finding the right mix for a winning team, there are constant tweaks and changes that need to occur and a huge payoff for finding the fit that allows a great winning team to begin to form.

Despite the payoff it is surprising that many times hiring gets pushed back as a priority, often being delegated completely to 3rd parties or outsourced entirely by using offshore contractors to build core intellectual property.  

Management personally spending time in recruiting top talent is the best investment any leader can make.  Hiring top players, who have the intelligence, passion and are a cultural team fit in the right positions is the single biggest leverage a management team has in building a successful company.

In addition to taking the time to record a video for one of our job postings (others are coming soon) I’m spending a lot of time personally scouring the worlds campuses, local technology firms and the Internet for top talent.  A huge percentage of Zero-Knowledge’s staff moved to Montreal to work with us because we recruited across Canada, globally from Silicon Valley to Europe and throughout the world.  When looking for talent, I spend a huge amount of time searching for top people regardless of where I have to look to find them.

Top talent loves to work with other top talent.   For Internet web software companies in Montreal there is an incredible number of great people working in the video game & graphics industry, creative agencies, corporate marketing departments and throughout the world on University campuses that are interested in great Montreal opportunities if you reach out to them.

Often time great people are being unrecognized in their current jobs, or have a life long passion for working for a small startup company, or on a product that can make the world a better place.   The only way to find this out is to meet a huge number of people and see if your dreams match with theirs.  Top talent is never looking for jobs.  Jobs need to hunt out top talent.  That takes time, and requires every tool in the shed.

Internet video is a tool that offers great promise to help in recruiting online. It allows for the hiring team, and company to put their message out there and start a conversation with candidates.  It is just another tool though.  The companies top leadership needs to love recruiting the best people and be willing to invest the time to reach out in every way possible to meet potential candidates. 

The company needs to make recruiting top talent a top priority. It takes putting some of your companies best sales people out there spreading the word about why your company is the place for top talent to come work. It takes hiring with your heart on your sleeve with passion.

Here is a little video I shot recently while driving to UC Berkeley on a recruiting trip.   Just some random thoughts on recruiting while I was driving.

If you are a Web Developer/Integrator (Javascript/HTML/XML) , Flash developer, Graphic Artist, Illustrator/Comic book artist, Python Developer or Web Application Architect available for consulting or full time positions then please introduce yourself. 

An interest in or experience with Internet startups, online multi-player games, game development, online web communities, social media or so called ‘Web 2.0′ tools and technologies is a great plus.  Akoha is recruiting for a few positions right now, but we are hiring throughout the summer and into the fall in these areas and are interested in meeting talented people.

On Fri 23 Mar 2007.