Adam Bolton - Meet in the middle, talk given on 06/02/2020 to the "Let's Talk Talent" meetup group in Cardiff.

1. How to meet in the middle!
*expect a lot of GIFs
Adam Bolton - Currencycloud, 06th Feb 2020
Stakeholder Management*

2. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
Who am I?
Adam Bolton
I’m a dad, husband,
gym going, football
loving, occasional
beer drinking, lover
of sweets and
chocolate. Oh, and
a Tech Recruiter!

3. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
What’s my background?
Tech Recruitment since 2005, went internal in around 2013/4. Have helped
companies such as Nutmeg, MarketInvoice, Farmdrop, The Plum Guide and
now the Internal Tech Recruiter for Currencycloud.

4. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
What’s a stakeholder then?
Anyone who has a vested interest in a hiring project; this can be a CTO,
Engineering Manager, Lead Engineer, Head of HR. Anyone who needs a (good)
bum on a seat in a timely manner.

5. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
Ok, so how do we manage them?
Generally a stakeholder wants information (if they try to micromanage you….RUN!)
about the hiring projects that you are helping them with.
Over the next few slides I’ll discuss a few of the ways you can help them to help
you...

6. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
Use Slack
● Use Slack to communicate (create channels for hiring etc); if your company
doesn’t have it, get it! Anyone remember MSN Messenger? It’s literally like
a business version of that!

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Heavy ATS usage
● ATS = Applicant Tracking System (it’s a bit better than Excel / Sheets or Trello!)
● A centralised place for all feedback to be recorded; don’t rely on slack or email,
get it in one place and get all interviewers to agree to an SLA with you (I aim for
4 hours) to get feedback
● A good ATS will also help to fight against hiring Bias
● Use it like a bible!

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Regular Catch Ups
● Set a recurring weekly event where you invite every stakeholder to meet with
you and run over what you are working on.
● It might feel like you’re doing the
same thing over and over, but it
helps to align both you and the
hiring manager(s)
● Show them what you are working on
● Ask if there is anything you can
help with

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Tracking docs
● Use collaborative sheets (gSuite ftw!) and keep them updated often. Break it
down in to tabs so that different people can see their department
● Overview sheet with the status of all roles, who is being interviewed and what
stage they are at

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Make their lives easier
● Diary invites for interviews to contain the content that they are to discuss
● Prompt feedback
● Interview debrief (thumbs up or down)
● Interview training
● Who is allowed to interview (any excuse for a spreadsheet!)

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Ask Q’s, and answer Qs’
● If you need to know anything never ever be afraid to ask. The more Qs you ask
the hiring manager, the more chance that you will find the right people and
alleviate stress that they are feeling. Be open to their feedback, too!
● The #1 question that I ask after a negative interview is “Could we have caught it
sooner?”

12. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
Some of the things I have done in the past are to promote Lunch & Learns (both
tech and non tech) to get people on side.
Come up with ideas to further your reach (meetups, conferences, social media)
HELP!

13. Confidential © Currencycloud, 2018
Adam Bolton
adam.bolton@currencycloud.com
On Twitter @adam_ _ bolton (2 x underscores)
On Linkedin /in/adambolton
Questions???