We think that ThoughtWorks isn’t your average company, so don’t expect to find average people working here. As a recruiting Talent Scout, it’s your job to help us find the cream of the crop. So, imagine an innovative in-house recruiting team inside one of the most well respected technology consultancies in the world. Add a work environment that’s designed to make people happy. Take away that typical recruiting stuff like call quotas, suits and competing against the person sitting next to you. Factor in all the caffeinated beverages you can manage. Welcome to the recruiting team at ThoughtWorks.
We’ve had an office in Manchester for a while now, but we think 2012 is our year. Some amazing clients are serviced from here, it’s the heart of our burgeoning retail practice and we’ve recently moved our global web team to this office. Added to this, some of our most seasoned ThoughtWorkers are based out of the North, so you’ll be in safe hands. We’re confident that this region has some amazing talent, and we’d like you to help us find it. Unlike many of our competitors we’ve in-sourced most of our recruiting, so we rarely use agencies and it’s up to the recruiting team to find the top talent. We’re always looking to improve our hiring; this is your chance to bring all of your innovative ideas to the table. We’ve historically run our Manchester recruiting out of London, but now we need to focus and grow. You’ll be responsible for building our talent acquisition strategy for the North, as well as being a hands-on recruiter across a variety of deeply technical roles from graduates through to arm-wavy Principal Consultant types.
You’ll get to do the following:
Sourcing:
Advising around the uptake of social networking within our recruiting function and helping ThoughtWorks to capitalize on these tools
Representing ThoughtWorks at events and building community. While this role is office based, you will be comfortable building a pop-up marketing stand and finding ways to have interesting conversations with potential ThoughtWorkers at conferences, and then creating and executing a strategy to follow up with them
Managing relationships and links with Universities to support both graduate recruitment and also other innovative mentoring, internship and sponsorship schemes
Helping to create compelling marketing material that attracts potential ThoughtWorkers and develops our brand
Making sure that we are creating an inclusive sourcing strategy that takes extraordinary steps to approach people from diverse backgrounds
Selection:
Reviewing resumes and reading cover letters/applications
Being an ambassador for ThoughtWorks. Very often you’ll be the first person that someone talks to from us, so you need to be great at understanding their motivators and matching them with the benefits of working here
Selling ThoughtWorks to potential ThoughtWorkers; either through a telephone interview or a face to face meeting, you are responsible for getting people excited about ThoughtWorks and making sure that they understand our values and organisation
Creating amazing experiences. You will make sure that potential ThoughtWorkers are meeting the right interviewers and we’re looking after them at every stage of the process. You ensure that candidates are treated as individuals
Articulating the risks and benefits of a hire. From the first time you speak with a potential ThoughtWorker, you are assessing their strengths and weaknesses so that we can make lower-risk hiring decisions. You’ll need to get comfortable advising the MD/Market Principal about hiring decisions, as you’ll play the role of hiring manager as well as recruiter
Feedback to potential ThoughtWorkers. More often than not, the people who apply directly to us don’t get hired. You’re responsible for making sure that they feel more positive about ThoughtWorks after they have interviewed with us than before
You’ll have the following experience and skills:
Have worked in an innovative, quality-focused and fast-paced recruiting environment, either in-house or in an agency environment
Strong understanding of recruiting technology innovation, social networking and its impact on recruiting and online/offline communities
Demonstrable ability to build and maintain strong people networks, ideally with some events and community management experience
Great rapport building and interviewing skills
Track record of innovation. While you will be comfortable advertising roles on job boards and short-listing the response, you are also interested in the psychology of attracting potential ThoughtWorkers to us and passionate about finding new ways to do this
Passionate about recruiting, about people and about making recruitment a strategic differentiator to your employer
Excited that ThoughtWorks is a values-driven organization that seeks to make a difference in the world, rather than just accepting the status quo
You’ll have the following competencies:
Tenacious: Terrier-like in terms of speaking with people. Unafraid to pick up the phone and call. Understands that ThoughtWorks is not right for everyone, but networks with people to seek out others who may be right for us. Treats finding people as an adventure game. Fails fast and is resilient to failure.
Creative: Unafraid to try new things. Adaptable in terms of methods. Innovative in terms of approach.
Team Work. Intuitively collaborative and able to work with all kinds of people. Spots when others need help. Willing to step in and do what is needed as necessary. Low ego. Doesn’t have to be right. Helps create a team environment that is about constant improvement.
Customer-service. Goes the extra mile to make a candidate experience the best it can be. Understands we provide a service to the business. Puts candidate experience before self-interest. Flexible.
Always selling ThoughtWorks. Gets “experience over process”. Willing to bend the rules.
We like to do things differently here, so we’re seeking a creative approach to recruiting. If you are interested in taking on an opportunity that will see you challenging your own pre-conceptions of how recruiting is done, then we should talk. Be forewarned: we're very selective. Our hiring process includes aptitude assessments and challenging interviews. We're going to question your energy level, your knowledge, your problem solving ability, and your people skills. Ready?
