3 minute read
Good People Know Good People
Sneaker Intelligence Unit is the name of an online challenge initiated by the fashion search engine Lyst to recruit the biggest sneakerheads. Potential applicants had to answer some tricky insider questions before they were allowed to submit an actual application. Kevin Sharkey, the Director of Talent Acquisition, met with style in progress to discuss modern recruitment and HR strategies. Text: Martina Müllner-Seybold. Photos: Lyst Kevin Sharkey, the Director of Talent Acquisition at fashion search engine Lyst, knows that Gen Z employees want to be baited differently.
With its Sneaker Intelligence Unit recruiting process, Lyst leads by example. If you strive to hire the most outstanding talent, you have to be outstanding yourself. How did this idea come about?
The sneaker industry is a dynamic, fast growing area of opportunity for Lyst, and for the fashion industry as a whole. To unlock the future of sneaker shopping, we knew we had to connect with the community that understands it best. So we created the Sneaker Intelligence Unit as a fun, authentic way to engage with the powerful sneakerhead audience.
Gen Z employees are hard to get and hard to retain. What are the most important benefits one has to offer young employees?
We find that Gen Z employees rank health and wellbeing highly in their priorities. We provide free healthy food and snacks for all staff to eat at breakfast, lunch, or anytime of the day. We also provide two free yoga sessions per week within working hours. Gen Z are, of course, quite fashion conscious, so we also provide a generous annual clothing allowance to buy fashion through Lyst.
Combining tech and fashion may seem awesome to us, but fashion may not be the first choice for IT experts. How do you recruit your tech staff? What makes Lyst attractive to them?
The product that Lyst builds is unique in the marketplace. Evolving the product requires innovation and solving complex problems, often through experimentation. Technical staff, particularly engineers, are highly motivated by discovering interesting problems to solve through innovative means. Lyst provides a good environment for them to do this.
What skill set are you looking for in new talent?
This varies depending on the particular discipline that we are hiring for, however we have some core values that we ideally expect candidates to align with. These include, humility, putting our customer at the centre of everything and having an impact focus.
Now that’s a workplace! Lyst’s office space in London boasts a beautiful view of Tower Bridge.
A global platform, a global market - has the search for talent become global too? And how do you manage it?
Yes, we have a global reach for talent and often market map for ‘in demand’ skill sets in countries outside the UK or Europe. We are somewhat restricted by Visa quota but we have operational capability within our HR team to manage candidates through the sponsorship process.
Where do you find new employees? Do you use traditional advertising, external recruitment experts, or scour social media platforms? The latter is, after all, their “native habitat”.
We use a lot of different channels to attract candidates and our in house talent acquisition team do this very well. If I was to pick a favourite I’d say referrals. Good people know good people and there is a lot of evidence to support the fact that referrals tend to be better co-workers, are more productive, have better tenure and are more likely to get promoted!
