In this article, our co-founders Käthe-Riin Tull and Reet Kaurit take a look back at TalentHub’s journey in 2022 and reflect on some of the biggest learnings from the year. We discuss our ideal customer profile and how it has evolved over time, our goal-setting and how we’ve improved our recruitment solutions, and our vision for TalentHub’s future. We also share our proudest milestones and achievements, the core values that shape our culture, and the ideal company profile for us to partner with.
Let’s get into it!
Looking back, what were some of your biggest learnings in 2022?
Overall, 2022 was a challenging year for everyone, including the recruitment industry. We’re fortunate not to have had to make any sacrifices for our team or the quality of our service. Of course, start-ups were freezing their hiring activities. Even large tech companies were making redundancies. Yet, relying on others’ misfortunes isn’t a sustainable way to hire talent. Great talent is always on the market – you just need the right opportunity and offer to attract them.
We’ve also improved our goal-setting, delivering on promises, and providing tailored recruitment solutions to our partners.
What would make 2023 a successful year for TalentHub? Are there specific metrics that stand out more than others?
A successful year means achieving all our goals. We want to take in more partners this year and help more candidates find their dream job.
We have a turnover goal and will achieve this by getting 40 new partners. Also, we want to almost double our team size by hiring 10 new members, from recruitment partners to employer branding specialists.
Recently, we launched our employer branding service, and our goal is to grow it exponentially this year. You can’t do long-term recruitment without employer branding, and it will play a key role in helping our existing partners attract more quality talent.
This year, we’ll create more content to support founders and leaders. Some topics we’ll cover include diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices, hiring outside your network, growing your team remotely, and more.
This year, we’re also expanding our content formats by creating more face-to-face events and training sessions. Our goal is to share our knowledge. We’re keeping an eye on new trends to bring new solutions to the market.
What is your long-term vision for TalentHub?
TalentHub aspires to be a trendsetter in HR and recruitment. First and foremost, we want to be growth partners to our clients and test new solutions. Hiring is not as simple as recruiting one candidate from one place to another. You can only succeed by having a long-term strategy. We’re here to help you with that.
Eventually, we want to become a hub of solutions on an international level. Whether you need help with sourcing, employer branding, interview trainings, full-cycle recruitment, etc., TalentHub is the right place to come. We’re becoming more international by the day. Last year, about half of our hires were outside of Estonia.
We also want to promote diversity and inclusion within our team and be a role model for other companies in this regard.
Finally, increasing the quality of recruitment in the market has always been a part of our mission. We don’t want to be service providers who complete tasks, but rather strategic growth partners.
What were some milestones/achievements you’ve been most proud of so far?
We’re not afraid to try new things. For instance, we trialed a 4-day work week last year. We constantly experiment with different team structures. In 2021, we also had a remote week with the whole team in Spain. We strive to be a forward-thinking organization, and that’s what we have done so far.
Furthermore, we’re proud of the growth our partners have achieved. We’re fortunate to work with impressive local and global partners, and we see that we’re increasingly trusted to recruit for more C-level roles.
Another positive thing has been the feedback about our content, blog, and podcast. It takes a lot of effort to create valuable content nowadays, and it’s great to see what we do provides value to people.
All this has led to the growth of our brand as well. When we started three years ago, no one knew about us. Now, whenever we launch a recruitment campaign, we have a consistent stream of quality candidates wanting to work at TalentHub.
What are TalentHub’s core values? How do they shape your culture?
Transparency – we’re open and honest with ourselves, our partners, and our candidates. For instance, we operate a transparent salary system within the team. We share our data with our partners and make informed decisions based on that.
Collaboration – there’s no competition between our team members. We always work as a team, and most projects have at least two recruitment partners working on them. We also pride ourselves on having a great relationship with our partners.
Can-do attitude – a characteristic of our team is the open-mindedness to find a solution to any problem.
Working smart – we use frameworks to set goals and always track data. It allows for easier decision-making and ensures everyone in the team works efficiently.
Trust – we don’t micromanage. We give freedom and autonomy to our employees.
We’re on a mission – we work together towards a common goal to skyrocket our partners’ teams and build the next generation of unicorns.
Who would you say is the ideal company profile for TalentHub to partner with?
Our ideal customer profile has changed over the past year. Previously, we were taking in recruitment projects from any company. Over time, however, we’ve realized we can provide the most value to venture-backed start-ups. These early-stage companies have usually received a funding round, and need to move quickly and scale their team with top-level talent. That’s where we come in, providing a full-cycle recruitment service.
We’re also open to working with companies aiming to bring innovation and refreshment into their hiring process. For these companies, we provide sessions on various topics, ranging from employer branding to talent sourcing to interview trainings.
What led to a decision to expand your services with employer branding?
There’s a clear need in the market for employer branding. We work with start-ups with world-class products and teams, but they need assistance to sell themselves as an employer. Following 2022, the hiring market will inevitably bounce back. If you’re planning to grow your team this year, you must start thinking about your employer branding strategy early.
What’s your advice to new founders just beginning to build their team? What are some of the common mistakes to avoid?
You have to let your audience know that you’re hiring. Your job as an entrepreneur is to sell your company as an employer. Talk about your mission and the work culture you’re aspiring to build. If this doesn’t come naturally to you, don’t be afraid to ask for outside help from experts or even recruit a co-founder willing to do those things.
Think big from the start. It pays off to start focusing early on things such as how to position yourself globally as an employer, how to build a diverse and inclusive work environment, and how to hire remote talent. Many companies don’t think about these things early enough, and it will come back to haunt them in the long run.
What do you see as the most significant trends in recruitment in 2023?
2023 is the year of employer branding. You can’t sustainably attract quality talent anymore without having a consistent brand. While previously you could have gotten away with creating one small recruitment campaign, then now you have to take a more holistic approach.
Another trend is creating a candidate community. Building relationships with candidates is more important than ever. Tools such as ChatGPT have made it easy to write reach-out letters, meaning you can send them to thousands of candidates. Considering this, you must figure out how to stand out in the crowded market where sending AI-generated letters is the norm.
Who is your dream guest for the TalentHub podcast?
Everyone who has visited us has been our dream guest. But one day, we want to have Sheryl Sandberg and Elon Musk visit our podcast!