Latest / Fractional Frequency / Welcoming Christine Hill: Scaling Technical Teams Through Fractional Recruiting
Transcript
- Full episode Christine Hill: Could not be more excited to kick off tonight's special episode of Fractional Frequency. We are gathered here to help welcome Christine Hill to Strativis. Christine is a dear friend and colleague of mine. I've had the pleasure of working with her in two previous companies. And from the moment we met, I knew she was a super talented technical recruiter. and also just an awesome human being. And so have always kept in touch and admired her work, worked on her for a while to consider joining the practice, and finally she has agreed. So Christine is a month in. We're sitting down, chatting a little bit about reflections so far, her aspirations and vision for her business and practice within Strativist, and just creating some space to get to know her a little bit better. So welcome, Christine. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Welcome, Christine. And I think Jenna's gonna kick us off with our first couple of questions. So I'll pass it over to you. Hi, Christine. We're so happy to have you and just have you tonight on the podcast. So I think what would be so helpful for us and listeners to understand is, walk us through your journey, like what experiences shaped you for who you are as a recruiting leader today. So I have probably a little bit of a different background. I started in the sports industry. I did public relations for the Braves, Hawks, and Thrashers in Atlanta and then the Suns here. And I moved to California and I met someone that worked for an agency. And that's the first time I didn't even know that there was a Agency, right? I had no idea. And so she also worked on me for a little while because I was like, this isn't something I would like to do. And a year later I took the leap and I have loved it. I love recruiting. I would have never guessed, back then if I would have. So I my background started in the agency. I started first as a recruiter and then I went to an account manager. and after six years as an account manager, I missed recruiting. So I went back to recruiting and I moved into the technical recruiting world. And so I have done technical recruiting at various different companies, Wells Fargo, Discover, Charles Schwab, Albertsons, Q2. And so that's really where I've kind of honed my technical recruiting background. And I think because of where I started and then where I've moved through and just working with various different leaders, Aaron included, it's really shaped me on how to lead a team and how to lead a technical recruiting practice. Yeah. So given that you have done in house for quite some time. And as Aaron mentioned before, it took her a while to get you to convert, right, over to fractional. What drew you to fractional work? What made you take the leap? If I'm being a hundred percent honest, Aaron and my husband. That's what we want. We want honesty. Yeah, Erin is by far my most favorite leader I've ever worked for. I've told her that a million times. And I learned so much from her as well. And then I was, I don't know if I should do this. I don't know if I'd be good at doing like both the, you know, kind of a full desk type of thing. And my husband was like, You gotta take a leap. Take the risk. You'll do great. Just take the risk. And so I did. So was your husband saying Strativist is the place that you need to take that next leap? Like what made you choose Strativist? Aaron Aaron, I trust Aaron and we've always had monthly phone dates ever since we started working together. And I would just hear the excitement from her and the things that they were doing and just what they were working towards. And then, you know, talking to Amy, who's real charming, that also was like, Okay, I like the direction. They're excited. They're trying things that maybe they hadn't done before. And so I think in order to reap rewards, you have to be willing to take a risk. Yeah. And I have to say too, I'm gonna jump in quickly here. As I think about the early days of building Strativist, as you launch a business from from ground zero, it's like squeezing water out of a rock. And a lot of people are nervous for you and can it can be uncomfortable to check in and see how someone's doing. And a lot of people didn't, but Christine did. Every single month you never missed a check in. I would get texts from you. How's it going? What are your recent wins? You can do this. And I think beyond just your skills and your expertise adding to the firm, there's something really to be said for that level of friendship and loyalty and and rooting people on, because that's what we're all about on this team. Yeah. Yeah. I was rooting you on. Every time you'd be like, well, I'm about to do this, I'd be like, this is so amazing. Excited. Well, now that you're about a month in, what would you say has been the most rewarding so far? And what do you what what would you say you're most excited about next? I'm really excited about building relationships with people that have maybe fallen out, right? Like That I just haven't kept in touch with through LinkedIn and everything and learning from them as well. I just had my second conversation with someone that's from our Schwab days. And he is doing the exact same thing that we're doing, but he's doing it for a firm. And I just being able to pick their brain and come up with ideas and prepping and research. I love doing that kind of stuff. So finding what are the right companies to target, where should I go? and learning from you guys, learning from Kat. It it's been a long time since I've done anything on that side where I'm selling. And I it's been twenty-five years. So I was a little nervous about getting into it, but everyone's been very welcoming when I've reached out to them and they're like, I know someone you can reach out to now. So that's been really fun for me because you get busy, right? And they've moved on to one place and you've moved on to another. And so you don't always get to keep in touch with them as much. And so it's been fun to just touch base with people again and they tell stories. do you remember this? And that type of thing. I've enjoyed it. Mm-hmm. I love that. I I would have a similar reflection, Christine. It's it's so hard when you're just in the throes of of the corporate world and hooked into a role. Sometimes closes in a little bit and you maintain relationships just at that company and you either forget to nurture the relationships outside Or you want to and you feel like you don't have time. And in our business, you must. It's part of how we nurture and build referral networks and and understand where opportunities are. And I think that's one of the best silver linings of it all is rekindling and and broadening your horizons again. You shared a post on LinkedIn last week and I want to just chat a little bit about it. And you said in the post that recruiting should be about more than just filling open roles. Tell us a little bit about What you mean by that, and just maybe your overall brand as a recruiting, principal recruiter? So for me, I think that it is making an overall impact, trust and communication, having a true partnership. It's not just about filling a body in there, it's about really learning what they need, the type of impact that that. candidate or that person that we hire is going to make overall on the company, what are the pain points? Listening, but also asking those probing questions because you could throw bodies at it all day long and hopefully you might find the right one. But if you really want to find the right candidate, you have to really understand the manager and what they're looking for and what their team is looking for. So it goes far beyond just like check mark, I filled position. I think there's a huge difference between recruiter who's just okay in role and a recruiter who's who's incredible, just miles and miles apart. And I think that's probably one of the headlines is you you care and you take the time to dig a little bit deeper. so I want to spend a little bit of time on some of your successes with previous companies. And so One of the things that stood out in a conversation is we were talking about a company that we didn't have the chance to work together in Albertsons. You helped to cut time to fill by 60 perfor group that you were supporting. Tell us a little bit about that. What actually moved the needle that significantly? So when I joined Albertsons, they had gone from a Overall recruiting team of five people to fifty five people in six months because it was during COVID, everything was going crazy and so they really needed to ramp up and To be honest, I think everybody was just in that sink or swim mode. they're just trying to fill positions versus like how are we gonna maximize our time and our production? And so after, being there for a little bit and thinking about things and looking at what's our recload like, how many positions do we have? It became very obvious that we were just repeating a cycle for the same role over and over and over again. So we may have 20 software engineers, same level, same job, everything is the same. And we would have one person do one interview with the manager and then their team. And then that person may not want to move forwards with them, right? And so my suggestion was let's create almost like an interview loop that had all the managers that had open roles as part of one interview loop, right? Or someone from their team. So if we were doing six rounds, we may have, one, sometimes just one-on-one, sometimes like Two people in a panel. So now everyone's getting a getting an idea. So of what the candidates are. And then at the end, we would have a debrief. We would talk about it. And managers will be like, I think this one would be a great fit for my team. I think this one would be a great team fit for my team. So instead of it being so long and you're losing candidates, because during that time, candidates. They didn't even really have to look for a job, right? Jobs were coming to them is that we made the decision. Let's have multiple people a part of the interview loop that have these open roles and then go from there so that they're not repeating the process. The other thing that I would say is that you just need to make sure that there you have to have a quick interview process, right? Like even if it means they come in for a half a day or whatever the case may be, because again, you're losing candidates faster than you can interview them. genius on a number of different levels. But I have to say, including more people, even at fa face value, you know, sometimes I think leaders will think, well, that'll take more time, or that's maybe not efficient. But there's enough of this that's a human vibe check, if we're all honest with ourselves, that you can miss out on really great talent if the one on one pairing and personality alignment is just not quite there. So that's I think a huge win for for that team. And I'm sure they've still got that that running in the background fueling their hiring, but super cool story. Where would you say? So you've been steeped in technical teams for a long time and and know these customer segments really well. Where do technical leaders tend to overcomplicate or underinvest when it comes to hiring? I think a lot of managers are afraid to make a mistake. So They don't want to make the wrong hiring decision. So they're going to have the person go through eight rounds of interviews and still at the end, they're not sure if they want to make the lead. And my suggestion would always be first, you have to be willing to take that leap. Not every candidate that you hire is going to be the one in a million pink elephant, but more than likely they are going to be fantastic candidates and great additions to your team. But if you're not willing to make that leap and just you got to go with the gut. It's not always greener on the other side. You're also could be waiting six more months to try and find someone because you're waiting for someone that's just a little bit better. I also always gently talk about hey, if the candidate has eight out of the 10 boxes that you're looking for, and maybe they need a little bit more training on those other two boxes, look at it this way. If they have the foundation, they have the personality, they have a really good solid foundation and fit your team, train them up on those other two because you could be sitting there letting them go. And then you're waiting another six months and you still don't find the person that you want to have all 10 boxes. I always ask when I'm talking to a manager, you gave me your top five things. If I found someone that had your top three or four, which one are you willing to be like, I'll train them? No problem. If they kit everything else. And just saying that, I often find that the managers are way more relaxed about You know what, I really like everything else that they come to the table on. We'll just put a little bit of training behind it and we'll have them up and running. Because in six months, you could have already had that guy up and running and you're still looking for somebody. Analysis, paralysis. I just I so agree with this, but also the lack of accountability sometimes that is on managers for their what they need to do in order to make this hire work as well is huge, right? You guys do your work in in the sense of you found the qualities that were needed for for the role, right? But then once the person's there, it's like they also the hiring manager has to do their part to ensure that this person is acclimated and train them. But there's such a lack of accountability, right? That I think oftentimes it's probably due to the pressure and whatnot that is put on them. But I just always think there's a missed opportunity with that transition between hire and onboarding. Onboarding console. Yes. Yes. Yeah, and I agree with you too. I think that is also something that they struggle. They'll the some managers will be like, This is what I need. I don't have time to train anybody. And I always am like, well, we're probably not gonna find someone that checks every single box or we're gonna find something, but they're still gonna need training because you gotta get them up and running in your their new world, right? And and if you're not if you're not doing that, if you're waiting for the next the the grass is greener. You are losing revenue because of a lack of production. Yeah. So you gotta bal outweigh, you know, weigh the balance. Totally. I agree. Quick question back at both of you, Christine, Jenna, Amy. What if if managers make a hire and they do nothing else, what is one thing that they can do in the first thirty days to set that hire up for success? Get them a buddy. Yeah. If they're not gonna do anything else, then they need to put them with somebody that can be they can be their shadow, they can learn from, they're trustworthy, they know that because you lose people. It's like, you know, you go to a restaurant and you have a great, great experience. You maybe tell one person, but you have a terrible experience, you tell like 30 people about how awful it was or whatever. Well, we've gotta be selling. them once they get there. They need to feel welcome. They need to feel like they've got someone they could lean on. You can't just let go because you'll lose people in the first sixty days. They'll go find another job and then they're not gonna be speaking very highly of you. And you need a good reputation for other people to hear. Say talk to them beyond just having a buddy. I would just say that your actual hiring manager talks to you because ultimately that's what you somewhat of like you you said yes to this role under the impression that you would have this manager who you ultimately are learning from as well. And so it's not just haunting you off. I would say just having that true check-in, whatever that schedule may be, but that you are truly making that commitment to talk to them. Yeah. Scheduled one on ones or something. Yeah. I just think that really goes a long way for a a new hire that it's like, I'm not just like a number. I'm part of this and you're you're making the time to talk to me because you want me here. Yeah. I think for me it's making sure that they have the correct introductions to cross functional stakeholders. Because it's your job as a leader to make sure that your team can execute and If there's a lack of knowledge or a lack of introduction to the correct person that can help, it just slows everything down and it makes that person feel uncomfortable having to ask. So, if you can map out the work and think through who they need to be in close contact with to execute and set those meetings up and do a strong introduction, that helps get people acclimatized a lot quicker. Mm-hmm. I agree with that too. Isn't it so beautiful, Amy? Climatized. Ooh, yes. I like that too. All right. I've got to wrap my my section up with one question. We always talk in these conversations with founders and really any guest about measuring success. So, Christine, tell us which metrics tell you a company's hiring engine is working. For me, their time to fill, their acceptance rate and their interview loop and how fast that they can go from, you know. Talking to the recruiter for the first time to making a hiring decision in steps, right? they are not like, this person all of a sudden has five interviews, but another person only had three. they have an actual interview loop process. Yes. Consistency. Yep. Repeatability. All right. Well, I think I'm handing over to Amy to learn a little bit about your building your practice within Strativist. Yeah. So let's get straight into it. What are your aspirations for your practice within Strativist? My goal is to get clients that want a true partner. I wanna build long term relationships cross-functionally too, right? that we could be that one person I do the recruiting and you or Jenna are doing the HR side, right? where we could be one person or one company could do both things. And I wanna be able to impact their business. Yeah. No, that's awesome. And so you offer two ways to partner. as a fractional talent acquisition lead or on specific contingent searches. So how do companies decide if they're gonna pick fractional or if they need a contingent relationship? I think if a company has one or two critical roles that they need filled, that's where they go. They go to kick the contingency route. I think if you're looking for someone that could come in, help do strat a strategy like eliminate eliminate bottlenecks, there's no process in place, that's where you would want a fractional recruiter to come in. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So it's like more deeper work in some regards and and for a little bit more of a time longer time period. Yeah. And what type of companies or hiring moments, if you will, are you most energized to support? So I've been doing a lot of research and I'm looking at startups that have They've received seed funding all the way through series E. Cause most of those, the money that they're bringing in goes towards their product and the people that help develop that product versus having a full-fledged HR team. Yeah. And I think it would be really fun to come in and be that person that could be like, okay, this is what we need to do and actually create that that program for them. Right. And I so I'm looking at FinTech, I'm looking at, you know, SaaS companies and the startup companies. And on the a smaller scale. I'm not looking at getting into the the company that's at forty three billion dollars a year or anything like that. I'm we'll start smaller ones where I can help with the process. Maybe tomorrow. Yeah. But you know what I mean? They already have a whole team. I wanna go in where I'm making a big impact for them and helping them set themselves up for success from the beginning. Yeah. No. I think that's I think that's So true as to where we add the most value is is in those moments of growth, in those moments of change. when they're not necessarily looking to add it to a headcount in their HR team or people team, but they are looking to make significant business changes, then we can help them navigate that. So that's pretty cool. All right. I feel like we've been picking your brain for a this whole conversation of it must feel a bit like an interview. You're going through your career history. Now we're getting all of your philosophies. Let's talk a little bit about you and tell us like what do you do outside of work to feel good about life? I love to spend time with my husband and our animals, but what I do to kind of recharge is I found Pilates in April and I it's become my whole personality. I mean I go six days a week of every cute grip sock that you can imagine. What's your favorite note? I'm only at a one point five. So one point five, but I'm I have to go to two. I just cleared to go to the next level. I like anything on the reformer. I like when we do just testing with people because it's all hard for me. So I just was like What is what is your favorite? I love the planks and then we come up into a pike. And then we do like yes, you look they say do the meanest cat impression. I'm like, I could do a mean cat. Yeah. And they tell me to do it. Yes. Yeah. But it's interesting because I took about ten classes of level one and I was like, okay, I'm ready for one point five. And every class I go to is different. So there's some days I'm like walking funny and I'm like I cannot believe how hard today's class was. You know, I'm like laying on the ground like I don't want to do another, like, you know, crunch. I'm done. But I I thoroughly enjoy it. I'm not a gym person. I don't even want to think about how much money I've spent at gyms and trainers, but I hate it. And Pilates, I love. Like I will literally try and figure out how to work my day around a class. And that's not like me. You're putting me phones. That's what you should do. Yeah, a hundred percent. I love that. Okay, so. What's something people might not expect about you? Okay, I'm gonna let out my dirty laundry. I'm a notorious overpacker. we go to London and I have four suitcases and I wear a third of it. And I try so hard. I got this wild idea. I'm like, I'm gonna talk to Claude and I'm gonna have Claude make me the most unhinged packing list that I could come up with so that maybe I could do it. I kept telling it, add this and add this and add this. And it has not helped at all. But I do use it every time we travel. But yes, I'm a notorious overpacker. It's my makeup bag's like forty pounds, I swear to you. It's like no i I can't help it. I want options. I'm with you. I'm with you. I didn't even Have the genius idea to get Claude involved though, because I bet he would remember things that I would forget. Yes. I literally went through I'm like, I'm gonna have you create me the most unhinged packing list. And I was like, I'm gonna tell you things that I think of in these areas, and then I want you to just go back and just anything and everything. I don't need to be unhinged. It sounds like good preparation to me. Yes. But I'm like, I want you to put things in there that you would never think someone needs to pack. I want that in there. I want those things. Because I went to Italy and I think I took eleven pairs of shoes. I mean, can't help myself. You want to look cute. Yes, yes. Yeah. All of my weight is from my products, from my face to my hair, to my that is my weight. Always. I just need you just never know what you're gonna need, you know? Yeah. I need options. And thankfully my husband is not an overpacker. So usually one of my product bags goes in his because it will be over. It's overloaded. We have one of those manual ones that you hold and it'll tell you how heavy it is. And it's always like he's really 63 pounds. You just get on Amazon, you hook it around the handle of your suitcase, you lift it up and it'll tell you exactly how much it weighs. The resource. But he'll be like, your bag is 63 pounds. I'm like, well, incoming, here comes my beauty products. Incoming, here comes my can't with y'all. If they try to make me check my carry-on, I'm angry. I'm angry. I don't check bags. You don't have to check bags. I can't no not everything comes in the tiny little bottles that they don't that they let you bring. And I'm not You've got to put it in there. Get a little funnel. It's too expensive to be decantering it. I need every last drop. A hundred pr I cut the ends off and scoop it and put it in there. I'm like, I'm not doing that. You get a little squishy thing that can literally make it with a little the little tools. Yeah. But then it's always at the very bottom. But it's it's bad. overpacked and then we'll buy stuff. So on two of our trips we've had to buy a second suitcase. Another suitcase. Yeah, I love how you corrected second because you're like, no, there are no. I usually take two or three. He takes one and we always have to buy another one. We've done it two times. Yeah. Okay. You you're definitely outclassing me when it comes to the overpacking. I thought I was bad. I have another question for options. Options are good. Options are good. I'm with you. First question. This is a two parter. Part one, what is a sun devil? Arizona State Sun Devil. So we literally are like a devil, but we're the sun, I think. Gotcha. That's what it looks It's on fire. Alright, so it's your little it's the mascot for the school, gotcha. Okay, and as a sun devil, what is your favorite ASU memory? Here's the first thing I will tell you. I had a really good time at ASU and I thank God every day that there were not iPhones around to capture any of the terrible decisions that I had made. But I have a current memory because I'm super lucky that my niece is on the Arizona State cheer squad. So we all bought season tickets for football. We're gonna do basketball and we get to go cheer her on and watch her and you know, still take part of it. But it's just it's so fun to watch her. It's just so fun. I love that. That's awesome. What a great new tradition. That's so cool. And so as mentioned, you're in Arizona, right? Yep. So you must love the heat. Hate the heat. Literally hate it. When people will ask me so what do you like, what do you do in the summer? I'm always like, never leave my house, ever. And if I do, it's at dark. When it's cooled down a little bit. It's just so that the sun's not like blazing down on you. We don't even get into our pool until the sun is setting because the heat will come off the travertine and melt my face. It's so bad. Yeah. I mean, it's a hundred and twenty degrees and at two o'clock in the morning it's a hundred and five. What's your house? What do you have it at? Seventy seven, because that's a forty degree difference and you you're cold. Yeah. My parents have a place up north that they go From May through October, and they're in the mountains, and we will literally take our sweatshirts because you could have a 40 or 50 degree swing in temperature in two hours. And then you're up there and you're like, it's like 70. I am so cold, you know, because you're just so used to it being so hot. So funny. It's wild. But you but Jenna, you're in Dallas, so you deal with the humidity often. I'm in Sten, but I yes, yes. I I love it. I know it's a popular opinion, but it definitely took me a year to acclimate, but I enjoy the heat. I love being outside. yeah, it's just I like it. But my husband, it drives him crazy. My dogs that drive like Henry, he's an English golden retriever. Every time he goes outside, I'm like, You're gonna have heat stroke. You're just gonna die. I don't know what to do with you. He's used to like California weather. But I do love it. Everywhere you kind of go is like you have air conditioning, I guess, or you hope to have that. So it's colder and covered parking. Cover yes, a hundred percent. But I agree with you. If you go to a place, you can seem basically so cold that you're like this sun. look at me. I'm wearing a fleece. And I'm sure people will think I'm crazy when they see me, but I get cold so easily now. Like going back to California, I just get so cold and I like need all the layers. So I think you just acclimate to whatever your surroundings are, you know. I tell people when I used to go to see clients in the summer that my high heels would melt into the tar, whatever they call that on them. Yeah. And my eyelashes would stick together because they got so hot, it was like my eyelashes would melt together. being on a glue. You just got a dish melt. So it's good. Yep. Yep. You literally walk and your f shoe was like sticking to the asphalt. Yeah. Boy. Yeah. No. Too hot. Okay. So something that we do at the end of the podcast is like these rapid fire questions, right? So I'm gonna ask something and then you just say whatever it is is like the the immediate thing that comes to mind. So what do you what is one thing that every founder should get right before get right before opening their first critical technical role? They should ask. themselves, what gap is this person going to be filling? What is their actual need versus like we just need an engineer? Like an actual, like come up with the plan and then work backwards. Yeah. No, I agree. That makes complete sense. I think it's oftentimes let's solve this problem with headcount, but what is the really need for that headcount, that bot? So what is one signal that it's time to bring in fractional recruiting leadership? That your best engineers are spending more time interviewing than they are actually creating, coding, and building your product. Yes. Yeah. That's such a good one. Yes. Okay. One habit you've seen in hiring managers who consistently land great talent. They give you real feedback. Because if you just say, Yeah, he's not the right fit, I have nowhere to go from there when I'm still continuing my sourcing. So if they're gonna give me real feedback. I want to know why aren't they the right fit? Maybe it's just one thing I missed, right? But you have to be able to give that the your partner the information that they need to find that right person for you. Awesome. Thank you. Yes. Well, I'm gonna wrap this up, guys. We've had a time. We've gotten to know Christine. does not like the heat. Is a sun devil though. So quite the quandary. And I made it without having a heart attack because I was nervous. You didn't. You did so bad. We can never tell. Christine, how can people connect with you? On LinkedIn, my name is not Christine Hill on my LinkedIn profile. It's actually, you know, the the whatever, the www.linkedin.com slash in slash Christine Mosby. Gotcha. Perfect. All right. That's great. Thanks so much for taking some time to get to know everybody that listens to Fractional Frequency. And we hope you'll be back on it wasn't too painful, so we hope you'll come back and do it again. I definitely will. Yes, I survived. Thank you.