How to hire for a unique role

Recruiting for new job titles within the tech industry




By 2027, it is expected that there will be more than 5 million jobs in information technology added globally. The interesting thing? The majority of these roles haven’t been thought up yet.


Within the innovative nature of the tech sector, new roles are created daily. But, how do you hire for new or niche roles? Especially for ones that, as a recruiter, you’ve never had to source for before?


This happened to me recently when we needed to find a Conversion Rate Optimization Specialist for our growing Left Travel team. The emergence of this role was driven by the increasing access to pertinent data, a trend that has also fueled the significant rise of interest in Data Science.


While the position’s job description had some similarities to other roles I had filled in the past, the title was new. There were also KPI’s and deliverables tied to the role that were unique and very specific to ecommerce.


This article explains how, through my career experience, I followed the steps to recruit for this niche role.



During my time as a Recruitment Consultant, I had the opportunity to partner with organizations throughout British Columbia across a variety of sectors, from software development to mining to engineering, etc. Having this wide breadth of clientele gave me the chance to work with and recruit for a range of highly varied roles.


In addition, I was able to see the nuances of roles with the same titles between companies, as well as between industries. For example, an Operations Manager at ‘Tech Company A’ versus ‘Tech Company B’, or a CFO of an Accounting firm versus a Manufacturer, might have differing responsibilities and daily tasks.


With these large variations in role expectations across sectors, it was imperative to work with existing teams to better understand their needs. This practice increased my recruitment success and retention rate and eased the process for myself in finding the right person for the right role.



How it works


My approach when dealing with a role I’m unfamiliar with is to first understand the work performed by the team this person will be a part of. To do so, I sit down with each of the current team members and break down the job description to get a clearer picture of the role. My goal in speaking with the team is to determine a few key things:


  • What value does this position bring to the team and, in turn, to the company?
    Understanding this will give me the chance to work backwards from that point of value.
  • What skill gaps does this position fill?
    Understanding this helps me during the screening phase, as I can assign greater weight to certain skills that are critical. This is important because every candidate who comes through the recruiting process brings a different mix of strengths.
  • How will this person be interacting with other team members?
    I ask this in order to better understand how the dynamics of the team will work once I have introduced this new team member.
  • What does success in this role look like?
    This question helps to get the team thinking of what their ideal candidate would look like. Carefully identifying the outcomes of what will make someone in this role successful will often lead managers to realize what is truly important to them.


The conversations with team members, and answers to the questions above, provide a more comprehensive understanding of the role, far better than could be achieved by simply reading the job description. They also opened up a dialog that can sometimes lead to the team realizing there are additional or changed requirements needed to apply to the job description.


Once we’ve had a thorough conversation, I’m able to begin piecing together a better understanding of what I need to be looking for when I begin recruiting.


This process of discovery is vitally important because, without properly understanding the job in its entirety, all your subsequent screening and headhunting efforts could be misguided.


Once I have formed my understanding of the new role, I proceed to develop my recruitment campaign as I would with any other role I have hired for before.



About Brandon Langlois


Brandon is the Talent Acquisition Specialist with extensive experience developing and recruiting for hard-to-fill technical roles. His prior experience working with an international service provider enabled him to build successful and cohesive teams. Now working at Left, a technology innovations company with offices in Canada, Bangladesh, the United States, and Switzerland, Brandon’s strong recruitment and leadership development skills led the company to undergo hypergrowth in 2018. His ability to find the right culture fit for the organization has made it possible for Left to achieve a 97% voluntary retention rate.


About Left


Left is a B-Corp certified, Canadian multinational media and technology company committed to using technology for positive social impact. One of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, Left has grown into a global team of over 120.Left Travel, a brand of Left, has been using big data, A.I., and predictive analysis to convert high search intent traffic into quality bookings for hotels and short-term stays since 2010. With its mobile mesh networking project powered by blockchain and tokenization, RightMesh, Left is addressing the global challenge of connectivity — particularly in regions where the digital divide is greatest. Headquartered in the Vancouver-based suburb of Maple Ridge, BC, Left has offices, subsidiaries, and employees in Bangladesh, Switzerland, and the United States.



Stay in Touch


To stay up to date with Left, please join our social channels:


by management@fullframemarketing.com

Legendary Lefty: Joe


 

Welcome to ‘Legendary Lefty’ — a series of interviews that reveals the personal stories of our amazing team members.

Today, I had the pleasure of chatting with Joe Deobald, our Entrepreneur in Residence. I learned how his career path started with a lawn mowing business, how he obtained Django (Left’s “Director of Greetings” or “D.O.G.”), and how his entrepreneurial spirit led him to Left.

Amber: Where are you originally from and when did you come to BC?

Joe: I’m originally from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. A natural born ‘farm boy’. My family and I moved out here when I was about 11 for elementary school; we bounced around a lot when I was young. I went to highschool at Princess Margaret Secondary School and during grades 11 and 12 I was at KPU [Kwantlen Polytechnic University]. After graduation I went to BCIT and SFU.

Amber: So you took university classes during high school at Kwantlen University?

Joe: Kwantlen had advanced courses that a select few students could take, as long as you had good grades. I was one of those few people, so I took computer programing and fine arts.

Amber: That is an interesting combination! What drew you to fine arts and computer programing?

Joe: Yes [laughing]! A unique skill set I guess. I think very analytically, but I am also very creative. I wanted to develop those two assets. In highschool, and I guess in elementary school too, all my hand-in reports were always over the top. Teachers would keep my work, everything from humanities reports to physics diagrams, as an example of what could be done [laughing].

Amber: What was your first business and how old were you? I’m picturing an elaborate lemonade stand.

Joe: I started my first business when I was 13 in lawn maintenance. I would go around the neighbourhood with my push mower, cutting grass. After a bit of success, I expanded to about a five block radius. When I had enough money, I bought a weedwacker and upgraded to an electric lawnmower so it was a bit easier and I could do more with less. I had about 20–25 yards I took care of each week. Lemonade didn’t have the returns I was looking for.

Amber: So instead of saving up for baseball cards or candy, you saved up for a weedwacker and a mower…

Joe: Yes [laughs]! I needed to make the job easier on myself!

Amber: So, after university what did your career path look like?

Joe: I started a company called SilverWayve with a buddy of mine from college… it just didn’t pan out. After that I moved to Eyestorm Media which was basically a freelancing gig where I built my own personal brand. Following that, I got a full-time job working at CityMax. I was hired as a junior designer and worked my way up to being the Creative Director. That is where I first met John (Co founder of Left).

When CityMax started to go downhill, I decided enough was enough; I was an entrepreneur at heart, and I needed to start my own practice. I founded a branding marketing agency called Full Frame Marketing Inc.

Amber: And how did you first start working with Left?

Joe: John had left CityMax just before I did to start-up a new venture with Chris Jensen called Left of the Dot Media. It had a horrible logo [laughs].

John reached out and asked me to help them on some projects. I came on and started working from their office which was close to my home in Pitt Meadows. The first project I worked on was importers.com. After that, we started working on some cool brands like massage.com, villas.com and christmas.com.

I started taking on more and more clients with Full Frame, and Left became one of the biggest of those. As Left grew, I started getting too much work to do myself, so I started hiring people. I found some designers who I could nurture, and I brought them on to grow the business. With a team, I could focus on strengthening relationships with clients and forming new partnerships, which was always a part of my business model.

Amber: So you started by having Left as one of your clients. How did it transform into them acquiring your new marketing company ICO Agency earlier this year?

Joe: Over the years, I helped start multiple businesses, such as ShareShed, Guiides.com, Orange Envelope, Grayns and ICO Agency, all of which led me to Left.

Left was working on the RightMesh project, and my company, ICO Agency, had taken on the marketing. The work we were doing for RightMesh led John and Chris to clearly see the potential of the team I had built. The three of us sat down, in this boardroom actually, and we decided to have Left acquire ICO Agency in order to lock up the talent of the team for Left. Although it had felt like I was a part of the team for many years, that was the moment when I became an official Lefty, and my title became Entrepreneur in Residence.

My role is to “build the thing that builds the thing”. I get to do all the cool stuff that entrepreneurs get to do — establishing processes, bringing people onboard, helping people where they need to be helped, developing the culture, and scaling certain areas in the business. My next big project is preparing us for growth as we are going to become too big for our current space. I am currently looking into options of our next move.

Amber: That is quite the journey! What is it that you like most about being an entrepreneur?

Joe: I have always liked the challenge of it. The challenge of taking an idea and running with it. Growing up, my parents were always supportive of my ideas, but we lacked business connections, and even internet, to bring them to life. Over time, I got frustrated seeing the ideas I had thought up created by other people. So, at an early age, I decided to take initiative and run with the ideas myself. Even though sometimes the ideas didn’t work, I needed to try. I needed to know why it wouldn’t work before giving up on an idea. You learn more from your mistakes that way. That is what life is, it is all about failure and learning from it. So that is what I like about being an entrepreneur.

Amber: On that note, which of Left’s 10 core values do you identify the most with? I can kind of guess after hearing your last statement.

Joe: “Failure is an option” is one of the core values that I most identify with. Because if you don’t fail, you never learn. Failure makes you humble, and it makes you realize that you are never going to be perfect. You are going to fall, sometimes really hard, but you’ll be able to pull yourself up and hopefully you will have a network of support to help dust you off. Having those relationships in your life that support you really helps.

Amber: On a slightly random note, you are in charge of Django, Left’s resident “D.O.G.” (Director of Greetings). How long have you had him, and how did you become his proud owner?

Joe: I have had Django for four and a half years. We got him when he was about four months old from Alberta. He was a rescue pup. They found him with his brother and his sisters in a back alley, in a box, and they were eating rocks. We found him online, and I was like, ‘kay this dog is pretty dang cute’, and I reached out to the foster family. We flew him out, and I picked him up at the airport at about quarter after midnight. He came down the ramp in a crate, his ears down, and he looked pretty sad, still shocked from the flight. We got him home and took him out to the parkade and we became instantly connected. It was pretty cool feeling. His original name was Ricky, and so I had to change that. The movie Django had just come out and I thought it was fitting for his journey. Although he was Django chained for a few months while he was trained.

He grew up as a Lefty. We’ve always had a dog friendly office, and he grew up here. This is his family, this is his home, he knows who belongs here and who is a visitor — and you can tell by the greetings he gives. He is an awesome dog. Great personality, lots of energy and loves being part of bleacher talks, meetings and even new Lefty interviews.

Amber: I think so, too. Before I let you go, do you have any final thoughts you would like to share about Left?

Joe: I think that Left has changed the way we do business and how we connect with people. Not just external, but internally as well. This is felt by everyone who has become a part of Left, from our Lefties, to the people who come through our doors for a visit, to those we meet at events. I really love working here, and I am looking forward to what will come next.

Stay in Touch

To stay up to date with Left, please join our social channels:

by management@fullframemarketing.com

Eager to Start a Career in PR, Media Management & Social Media?

THIS POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED; HOWEVER, WE DO VALUE GREAT TALENT AND CONTINUE TO ACCEPT OUTSTANDING APPLICATIONS.
So we think this opportunity is a little different so bare with me while I build up to it and skip a lot of the hyperbole about us being “an exciting Internet startup, with excellent potential, blah, blah, blah.”
Hands up if you’ve ever heard of Cameron Herold of 1-800-GOT-JUNK and BackPacket COO fame? Cameron has mastered the art of pitching companies to getting a massive amount of coverage when he does. His disciples have followed his principles and have achieved great media success. Cameron’s PR Strategy can be distilled as:

  1. Know your angle.
  2. Know your target.
  3. Pick up the phone.

(A good summary of his approach can be found here: http://bit.ly/oekU5y)
Anyhow, to make what could be a very long story, short … We need someone to come up with angles, research targets, and pick up the phone as we launch one of the top internet brands in the world. And that last statement is not hyperbole.
So what is that brand, and who are we? Let me answer that second question first and build up to the great reveal, that “MOVE THAT BUS!” moment if you will.
We are a Maple Ridge, BC-based startup that builds real web businesses on million dollar domain names. These web brands include: Villa.com, HomeDecor.com, Massage.com, and countless others. You can read a bit about us on our website at www.LeftOfTheDot.com.
We are very much a startup. We launched over 2 years ago, but moved into some nice digs here in Maple Ridge. For those reading this from downtown Vancouver…  Yes, an internet startup from Maple Ridge! We have 7 in our offices here and another 10 or so overseas. We have darts, a foosball table, beer o’clock every Friday afternoon (and some other days too, like today… hey it was 33 degrees out there!). We have an office dog on most days.
And yes, we work really hard because we believe in what we are doing, and if we don’t, somebody else will come and steal our lunch. Everyone also recognizes that we are a startup, meaning that we are frugal while bootstrapping and filled with all kinds of uncertainty.
But the opportunity, oh the opportunity…. (If you’ve read this far, then you must be somewhat intrigued, so indulge me a little bit further while I describe you or what we envision you to be).
Your Personality:
> You must be a risk taker who has a passion for entrepreneurism
> You must love to talk to strangers. The media and bloggers won’t bite and you will have to want to pitch them on the phone.
> You must want to work in Maple Ridge and won’t bitch and moan about the commute if you are coming from downtown (read: a great opportunity for someone out this way)
> You must be a self starter and able to manage yourself and your projects
> You could be fresh out of school, or been around the block a few times. . . either way, you are enthusiastic and driven to make things work
> You must be willing to multi-task, while still getting your projects done. We have lots of shiny objects and while we may be distracted and pulling you in different directions continually, you can still focus. And remember, it is ever so important that you… SQUIRREL!!
> You should be someone who gets carried away simply by building something really cool, only to emerge in a couple of years and say, “Wow! Look what we’ve built together”
> You must want to work in a startup
> You must believe in the mantra of “work hard, play hard.”
> You should like to write, blog, tweet, and poke [do they still do that?]
> You must be eager to get started in PR and media relations. Ideally, you want to use us as a springboard for bigger and brighter things in a few years, and then realize that we’ve grown together and we are now that bigger and brighter thing you imagined when you applied.
Essential Skills
> A degree in journalism, communications, English, Art History, History of the Roman Empire, Geography, Psychology, … Ok, basically you need to have some initials behind your name or equivalent experience. We need you smart. Street smarts is a form of smart
> An understanding of social media
> Creative in concepts and ideas. You are a risk taker.
> Very strong English skills (while you are pitching via the phone, you would hate to land a spot on Ellen DeGeneres only to lose it because you can’t string a sentence together when you send a follow-up email).
Useful Things
> Pre-existing media contacts
> Knowledge/curiosity of Web businesses, Domain Names, and Internet Marketing
> Knowledge (and willingness) that sometimes it requires we work around the clock — not because someone is poking you with a sharp stick, but because you want to.
> Knowledge that you don’t know everything and that we don’t know everything, but if we put our heads together, we can probably figure it out.
About the Job
So I guess this finally where we tell you about our latest project. Consider it a reward for reading this far down the page.
Within the next week or two we will be launching an early version of Christmas.com. This is one of the top, un-built assets on the web. And we are building it as we speak (well the developers are over there doing the coding, I’m sitting here writing a mini novella called, “How to Hire an Eager PR Star in 2 Weeks or Less”, to be self published.)
In a way, we are kind of still in stealth about Christmas.com, but by putting this job posting out there, that kind of bursts that bubble. My hope is that by stringing this out, only those who really want to launch a career in PR and Media Relations will have read this posting to the bottom.
What you will do over the next 4 months includes:
> Pitch, Pitch, and Pitch Christmas.com… We are live for this holiday and we need the coverage
> Manage the social media for that brand. We will have some pretty cool social media things that we will be doing with the site, so we need to have you as our genuine voice on that site (and yes, you have to be genuine)
> Grab some low hanging fruit and manage the other social media for our other brands. We will have 16 brands live by the end of this year, and each has unique stories and brands that need telling.
> Oh … and you can also do corporate communications for us too at a company level while we try to secure our next round of financing.
> After Christmas, you can sleep, and get ready for 2013 while shouting from the rooftops about our other cool properties.
Compensation Next Steps
With my mini novella now complete, here is what you need to do if you’ve read this far and you want to learn more about us and the job at hand.
> Send us a cover letter and provide a resume (or link to an online resume) that tells us why you are right for this position.
> While your salary will be competitive and based on your experience, we believe that as we build this out together, we can all share in the upside and increase compensation as revenues increase. However, to make sure that we don’t waste each other’s time, please include your salary expectations  and available start date (which is hopefully soon).
> Oh and regarding salary, if you are on EI and FutureWorks eligible, then this may be a good fit. We also can’t ask or discriminate based on age, but there is a great program called Get Youth Working that we have used in the past to help offset our costs. We are a startup after all.
Send your resume to:  careers [at] leftofthedot.com
Thanks in advance for considering us, and while we thank all those who apply, only those who are being considered may be contacted.
 
 

by management@fullframemarketing.com

Any Web Software Developers Available in Maple Ridge?

THIS POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED; HOWEVER, WE DO VALUE GREAT TALENT AND CONTINUE TO ACCEPT OUTSTANDING APPLICATIONS.
Wanted:  Talented and enthusiastic website developers who want to help build the next generation of the Internet
At Left of the Dot Media, we’re an emerging company that is building and marketing a new domain monetization program for high-quality, million-dollar domain names. This is achieved by leasing out sub-domains and websites direct to end users (e.g. Tuscany.Villa.com) and building real businesses for the primary domain name. To help us grow and meet demand for our services, we need some passionate and driven website developers and web application specialists to help grow our new platform and our business.
Our office is waaaay out here in Maple Ridge. The way we see things…  Maple Ridge is a growing, vibrant community filled with talented technologists who are sick and tired of wasting 500+ hours on the West Coast Express every year. And if you are like the company’s founders, who are Maple Ridge locals, you would like to use those the time you would have spent commuting on perfecting a work/life balance, or on building some really cool websites that have the potential to transform the Internet at its very core. If you are from Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Coquitlam, Surrey, Langley, etc… you owe it to yourself to explore the opportunity.
So if this sounds intriguing and want to try and build something spectacular, then keep on reading.

About you…

Personality:

  • You must be a risk taker who has a passion for entrepreneurism
  • You must love to code and execute on a project
  • You must be a self starter and able to manage yourself and your projects
  • You could be fresh out of school, or been around the block a few times… either way, you are enthusiastic and driven to make things work
  • You should be someone who gets carried away simply by building something really cool, only to emerge in a couple of years and say, “Wow! Look what we’ve built together”
  • You must want to work in a startup
  • You must believe in the mantra of “work hard, play hard.”
  • You are not satisfied with “It’s OK I guess”, but understand that sometimes you just got to “Fish or cut bait”
  • You must be able to laugh at yourself and roll with the punches

Essential Skills

  • 3 to 8 years of website or website application development
  • Degree in Computer Science or equivalent technology program, plus practical experience
  • Good understanding of PHP and modern application development
  • Able to make WordPress sing and dance by programming custom templates, widgets, and data bases
  • Great at building mashups and connecting APIs together with scripts and magic
  • JavaScript + jQuery; Ajax
  • XHTML, CSS
  • MySQL
  • Strong familiarity in Object Oriented Programming / Software Engineering
  • Agile Development methods
  • Able to work collaboratively with other programmers whether at the next desk or around the world
  • Understanding of best practices for web-based architecture, design, and SEO friendly code

Useful Things

  • Knowledge of GitHub and Yii Frameworks
  • Knoweldge of WordPress
  • Knowledge/curiosity of DNS and Web Architecture
  • Knowledge/curiosity of Domain Names and Internet Marketing
  • Knowledge/curiosity of Website Design (not essential as this is usually done by a professional)
  • Knowledge (and willingness) that sometimes it requires we work around the clock -- not because someone is poking you with a sharp stick, but because you want to.
  • Knowledge that you don’t know everything and that we don’t know everything, but if we put our heads together, we can probably figure it out.

About the Job

  • Coding in PHP on the back end of our website monetization platform
  • Implementing/building widgets used across our growing network of websites
  • Jack/Jill of all trades when it comes to coding and technology
  • Help build really cool stuff that you will be proud to show off to your friends and family

Compensation & Next Steps

  • While your salary will be competitive and based on your experience, we believe that as we build this out together, we can all share in the upside and increase compensation as revenues increase
  • If you are on EI and FutureWorks eligible, then this may be a perfect fit
  • If you are interested in charting out into the unknown, then please send us a recent resume (online link is fine) along with your salary expectations to careers@leftofthedot.com
  • Thanks in advance for considering us, and while we thank all those who apply, only those who are being considered may be contacted.

Learn more about us at www.LeftOfTheDot.com

by management@fullframemarketing.com