12 minute read
TO HIRE OR NOT TO HIRE? TEAM BUILDING IN A TIME OF CRISIS
BY PAUL BRELOFF
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Do you recall what the world felt like when March 2020 started? That was just a few weeks ago, though it feels like a few lifetimes have passed since. Globally, we’ve been thrust into a new world.
As the CEO of a recruitment company, Shortlist, one of the questions I’m getting asked most frequently is, “What should I do about my hiring plans?”
Whether companies were planning to hire for a growth spurt or even just adding one or two key positions, this is a critical question without easy answers as they are now hiring in a crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As I’ve spoken to business leaders in the last few days, I’m struck by how personal these choices can be. Our near -term decisions stand to deeply impact the people who are the lifeblood of our companies –both those we’ve already hired and those we had plans to hire in the coming weeks or months. We need to look out for our people at the same time as we look out for our companies; we want to continue investing in growth while being cautious about what’s to come. How to balance?
Try as I might to turn this into a simple analytical framework or one-sizefits-all approach to hiring in a crisis, it’s
more complex than that. Instead, I’d like to share some of the questions we’re asking ourselves and suggesting our partners consider.
As you consider your next steps, I’d suggest you weigh the following three questions related to hiring in a crisis:
1. Company Impact: Will your company be impacted, how deeply, and for how long? No doubt, the global economic slowdown is real and many companies will face challenging times. However, there’s a big difference right now between a company that might see an upswing in business (e.g., a hand sanitizer company, a telemedicine business, Peloton) and a company that may be permanently damaged (e.g., an airline), with a vast
continuum of possibilities in between.
Each company’s leadership should try to understand what the COV ID-19 pandemic will mean for them, and how long it might last. Don’t jump to worst -case scenario thinking, and think in specifics, not generalities. Your business is not the stock market; just because markets are down doesn’t mean your business will be for long. Some of the most stringent social distancing and shutdown measures may pass in under 2 months, and we all know that the world will want to get back to normal as soon as possible. We’re even optimistic that for some businesses, the acceleration of experiments like #WFH and video calls could present new opportunities.
At the same time, it is a good time to take a sober look at what the known risks mean for your business and your cash runway. Do you believe the worst will be over in the next 1-2 months? If so, perhaps the best answer for hiring in a crisis is to stay the course, considering delayed start dates for new hires if that’s helpful or possible. Or do you believe you are facing a more long-term or existential threat to your business model? To state the obvious, the more seriously you’re impacted, the more seriously you should consider a hiring freeze for at least some positions, if not more drastic cost-cutting measures.
2. Role Particulars: How does the new hire serve the present vs. create the future?
Not all new hires should be considered equally. There are several dimensions along which you might consider differential approaches to hiring in a crisis. For example, are you hiring this person to address short-term production or client needs? Or are you hiring this person to build a stronger future? If you’re hiring people to serve short-term customers, and those short-term customers may not be coming through your doors right now, then you ought to consider pausing. However, if you’re hiring someone to build a product or lay a foundation for future growth, this may be a great time to get them on board and get to work.
I’ll share an example from our business. We’re part search firm, part recruitment tech platform. We anticipate that in the short term, the recruiting activity will slow down, and it remains to be seen how long this will last. So, while we had planned to hire several new recruitment professionals to serve clients, we’ll likely pause those searches, acknowledging there may not be sufficient short-term work to keep them fully occupied.
On the flip side, we are in the process of hiring a senior technology leader to support our product roadmap. We’re proceeding with this hire full-steam ahead, thinking this is a great time to get a jump on product features and data science so we can emerge stronger than ever on the other side. 3. Costs of Starting Over: How hard will it be to start over later?
Last but not least, it’s worth considering where you stand in your process. If you haven’t written the job description yet, there are fewer costs to pausing. On the other hand, if you’re interviewing finalist candidates and on the verge of an offer, the costs of starting from scratch are very real.
Don’t adopt a sunk cost mentality, but it’s also important to remember that finding great people is a challenge even in the best of times. If you’re finding candidates you like, there’s no guarantee that they or equivalent talents will be ready to join when you’re next ready to hire. In these situations, you might consider making the offer but working with your candidate to delay the start date. While caution is appropriate, we ought to also ensure we have the team in place to get back to business when this passes.
Another thing: while we do what’s right for our business, let’s also continue to have empathy for the job seekers out there. Just as this is a frightening time for the macro-economy and many of our businesses, many individuals are facing uncertain job prospects and professional futures. Let’s extend the same kind of empathy and transparency we’d want if the tables were turned. Take the time to communicate clearly with candidates who have applied. Share any relevant changes to hiring plans. Do what you can to offer advice or feedback. Respond to emails, and when in doubt, pick up the phone. Granted, we all have our problems, but times like these also present opportunities to come together to be the best versions of ourselves.
These are complicated times and topics, and we’re having textured conversations with our clients spanning many unique circumstances. And things are changing nearly daily for all of us, particularly in our core markets of India and Kenya. We come to this with more questions than answers about hiring in a crisis. How are all of you approaching this? What’s working for your unique circumstances? We hope to share more ideas on how to make #WFH work for you, how to hire and onboard virtually, how to preserve and build a culture in a time of uncertainty, and more… And of course, I’d love to hear from you, and please do let us know if I can help.
I hope these will help you think through your plans, too. And of course, I’d love to hear from you –email me at paul@ shortlist.net. I can’t promise answers, but I can promise an open mind, transparency, and the best video chat our home WiFi can deliver.
Paul Paul is the Co-founder of Shortlist, which helps companies in emerging markets source and screen high-performing talent. He loves teams building great startups + startups building great teams.
How Eugene Mbugua’s Relentless Pursuits Creates Award-Winning TV Shows
BY INVERSK TEAM
With a vision to create wealth and empower his local community, Eugene Mbugua has always believed it can only be done through steady growth and stability.
While the focus can’t solely be on income when it comes to business, Mbugua admits that there must be a balance between income and impact on society. He believes that the key drivers to his businesses, is his team of 30 and tens of his clients, they must all share in the success of the company.
At 29, he is a man who wears many hats, he is a content creator, writer, producer, director, the MD of Documentary and Reality TV (formerly known as Young Rich Tv), the Managing Director of Nairobi’s Number 7 club and a farmer.
At a tender age of 23, in 2014, he was featured on Business Daily’s Top 40 under 40 and went further in 2017 to be recognized as the Top 30 Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa by Forbes Magazine. A year later, he was one of the two Kenyans to make it to the cover of Forbes Africa for Top 30 under 30.
His production company (Documentary and Reality Tv) is credited for producing top shows for major media houses in Kenya; Young Rich, Get in the Kitchen, Our Perfect Wedding, Foods of Kenya, Being Bahati and most recently Concert Nyumbani as well as the Sol Family, a reality show by the musical band Sauti Sol which is exclusively airing every Sunday on Maisha Magic plus since on the 2nd of August 2020.
To Mbugua, “patience has been very instrumental” for his success, he says, adding that “a lot of people get into business thinking there’s a formula to success and in most cases, there is not.”
Creative, innovative, ambitious and bold risk-taker are just some of the qualities that define him. When it comes to risk-taking, he is as bold as any entrepreneur in Silicon Valley.
In his early pursuits, he lost money in many ventures such as travel consultancy that failed, he never lost hope. He loves to tell a story of how he and one of his friends started a production company to train students on film with basically no equipment, premises or manpower. However, they managed to pull it off after a
period of rejection to run the show for three years.
“'There is no secret in making it as an entrepreneur.” He told Inversk’s Kimani Patrick in an interview. “It is the good old attributes of hard work, ambition, and networking and the relentless pursuit of singular goals. I have inculcated hard work into my work routine. I am also always seeking to partner with people in fields where I am not very able and try to always be honest. Being honest in business ultimately gives you the score of reliability, which is a key character of the most successful entrepreneurs. Also, you will go far if you form the right business partnerships with people who can lend help in areas where you are not as talented.”
If you’re building a business and think that “something will happen in a year it will probably take three. Nobody tells you that it’s all about managing expectations. I learned how to negotiate better, and about giving value in my work. Sometimes you only get one shot, and when you are poor you never waste any opportunity because it might be the only one you get for a long time. So from early on, I ingrained self-discipline as part of my character. I showed up on time and gave my best. I do that do date. Of course, some situations may be out of my control but I am a stickler for time.”
While not new to success, Mbugua keeps adding feathers to his already decorated cap. On July 19 2020, he made history with Concert Nyumbani, a show that aired across 11 Kenyan TV stations as well as in all major social media platforms consecutively. This made it Kenya’s biggest entertainment show ever hosted.
His journey is also one for the ages and a classic grass to grace story, arising from an idea got while trekking to work due to lack of bus fare to become one of the most celebrated production companies in Kenya.
In 2009, in his usual go-getter attitude, Mbugua was a part-time student at the United States International University (USIU) and at the same time a tutor at Makini School. It was during this period Young Rich was the idea was hatched.
The actualization of an idea is mostly never easy as not many people tend to believe in it and Mbugua’s was no different. He had to pitch the idea to many media houses before it was finally picked up by K24 in 2013, after two years of trying.
Doors opened for him and he became Kenya’s youngest producer at 22, making close to KSh 1 Million a month and ultimately becoming one of the youngest millionaires in Kenya. Better still, he graduated with a degree in Television and Print Media from USIU the next day after his first show aired. The show would go on to run for nine seasons and 100+ episodes.
For someone who had to grow in poverty and worked as a boom holder for a year after high school, this is no mean feat, it’s inspiring on so many levels.
Mbugua narrated to Inversk how he would lack while residing in Roysambu during his school days. “I remember I used to have no curtains, I used to cover my windows with newspapers.” He says.
Even when he did not have a lot of money, he was still able to utilize the entrepreneur in him and started a movie shop and a videogame arcade to supplement his income. It underlines how far Mbugua had come until his first show Young Rich aired.
Our man did not stop there, two years later in 2015, he produced another major show called “Get In The Kitchen” where men who can’t cook got training from experienced chefs to surprise their family and friends, airing over 140 episodes in both K24 and KTN.
Under his impressive collection is the Our Perfect Wedding show that airs on Maisha Magic, which went on to win the Best Reality Show at Kalasha Awards
