The Future of Hiring, Part 2 - Transcend Newsletter VIII 👥
Lessons learned from our hiring deep dive, the best Inclusion Fellowship and helping you become a Pioneer
Hello friends of Transcend!
This week we are wrapping up the first iteration of our Transcend Fellowship, so keep an eye out for the next one coming in the Fall; we’ll be announcing it in our newsletter.
We wanted to hear from you how we can improve the newsletter: thank you to all who participated (Kah Yee Chiang took the giftcard)!
If you still want to give us your thoughts, we’d love to know how you feel about it! It only takes 4 minutes, and it’d mean a lot to us.
If you enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to friends that might enjoy it too! And know we are one email away, anytime. Find more about our work on Transcend Network.
This week we are going to close out our focus on the future of hiring: we’ve learned a lot since we started this month-long deep dive into the hiring space, and here’s what we’ve learned:
Lesson Learned #1 - The human match-maker is still the king
When talking to early-stage companies, we heard that the process of human match-making (a role often played by connectors and investors) works pretty well for them overall: this person is able to assess and connect parties based on values, skills and fit. The issue arises with scale, as no tool has been able to replicate this process successfully.
We see two approaches to addressing this issue: those who want to augment the power of those human match-makers (e.g. Via by Ondeck, SharpestMinds) and those who want to replicate those actions at scale through technology (Torre, Starkraft, Underdog, Skillist).
Lesson Learned #2 - Addressing both sides of the hiring table
Solutions to hiring tend to fail when they only serve one of the two sides of the table (employers or candidates). I think of Handshake as one such example: it’s a very convenient solution for universities (who can now access millions of jobs seamlessly), but it really doesn’t create great value for students of some universities who don’t need access to a job board, but rather better matching - my bet would be those universities won’t be sustainable partners as the outcomes will not live up to the expectations.
Lesson Learned #3 - Aligning incentives (bootcamps vs universities)
Hiring for entry-level positions differs greatly based on the role - one main differentiator between universities and vocational schools (coding bootcamps, vocational schools) is their ability to align their incentives with those of the students - bootcamps can offer to fund the education upfront because of their confidence that they'll find the right employer for their candidates (making Income-Sharing Agreements possible). Universities, however, only seem to be willing to do this to some extent: their business model doesn’t urge them to prioritize this match-making, and are less efficient at this than smaller players. This will be an important factor moving forward.
Lesson Learned #4 - New approaches to hiring
We’ve expanded our categories for hiring approaches to 5, and have discovered some really innovative approaches to hiring. Here they are:
1) Sector focus (own hiring based on sector-specific considerations - niche newsletters and job boards)
2) Kill-the-CV approach (skills-based hiring at scale that substitutes the traditional methods - Torre, Tretar, Underdog)
3) Market transparency (better connecting the two sides in hiring - LinkedIn Jobs, Handshake, Via, NewCraft)
4) Coaching (high involvement in the hiring process through coaching and resources, often selective - HireClub)
5) Value-Based Hiring (still very early, but focused on identifying what makes a great human fit - KeyValues)
What do you think? If you have thoughts on this classification and lessons learned, feel free to leave a comment in the newsletter!
Other news and exciting projects
Bravado, a professional and learning community for sales, just raised $12 million to continue changing the industry. We are convinced this type of online communities will spread to all professions and fundamentally transform the offline lives of those sectors.
Personalized learning can close the achievement gap, but it can also increase the existing inequalities: an excessive focus on tailoring to the students’ skill level could discourage collaboration and overly different syllabi if there isn’t enough flexibility built into the model.
Reach Capital has published its new investment thesis, adding Career Pathways and Learning Enablers as new investment areas to their existing focus on education and lifelong learning.
Want to empower your city to become an entrepreneurship hub? The XX by WeFunder is looking to grow its global network of Venture Partners: get $20K to start a local club that helps founders get their ideas off the ground, and you'll get to spend a week in San Francisco (all expenses paid).
Pioneer is the leading contest for people around the world making their ideas become real: submit yours and you can win $7000, a round-trip ticket to Silicon Valley and access to world-class mentorship. Read more about their participants here.
Have a crazy idea you want to share with the world? Shoot as a message and we’ll refer you + provide support through the tournament.
Julian Erbil - “Hi! I graduated from UCSB last summer, worked in venture banking for a year, and now have a fellow-like Partner role at a growing seed-stage VC fund, among 4 other pursuits including starting my own ecommerce business. I have a crazy bad Twitter ratio because I follow all things VC/startup at https://twitter.com/julianerbil”
Wanna say hi? Tell us about yourself and we’ll introduce you in the next issue!
Inclusive Excellence Fellowship
Background
The Inclusive Excellence Fellowship is a 3-month part-time and remote program for undergrad and grad students who are looking to transform the culture of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) in their schools.
The fellows will work on their individual projects in their schools, while receiving guidance and mentorship from expert collaborators that are leaders in the DEI space. The fellows will also access facilitated speaker series on emerging topics in the field.
How is it shaping the future of learning and work?
As we move towards Value-Based Hiring (see the first section on the future of hiring), opportunities like the Inclusive Excellence Fellowship add new ways of connecting employers and candidates through mentorship and opportunities.
Call to Action (from Felicia Reich, IEF Lead)
The Inclusive Excellence Fellowship is recruiting for their Fall 2019 cohort, starting on September 1st.
Who we're looking for
Driven student change-makers looking to create systems-wide impact around a culture of belonging at their school
Values-oriented students willing to exchange project feedback from and to fellow cohort members in a community setting
If this sounds like someone you know, please feel free to share within your network! I'd love to get to know the stellar students you surround yourself with.
Apply here.
Featured Opportunity
GradeSlam, a global leader in personalized learning, is hiring for multiple roles in Montreal and Los Angeles: Customer Success Associate, Partnership Associate, and Administrative Coordinator.
GradeSlam offers virtual access to tutors and essay reviewers in over 200 schools, reaching over 150,000 students.
Let us know if you are interested in learning more about the role, and we can introduce you to the GradeSlam team!
Jobs in our Network
Graide Network - Marketing Manager
Aula - Multiple Roles (Remote, US & UK)
Santa Fe Institute - Online Education Coordinator
Christensen Institute - Research Fellow, Education Practice
BetaBoom - Venture Associate
codeSpark - Full-Stack Developer
d.school K12 Lab - Education Futurist Fellow
Contracting opportunities with Transcend Network
We are always looking to match individuals in our network with opportunities, particularly if you have a background in a) learning/curriculum development, b) community management/social media or c) product management
Let us know which skills and sectors you have experience in, as well as your interest, by dropping us an email here.
Want to submit open positions for your organization? Let us know here
Thanks for reading another issue of the newsletter! Stay tuned and check out our website for more info!
For any feedback, requests or suggested content/listings, take just one minute to fill out this form.
Alberto (alberto@transcend-network.com) & Michael (michael@transcend-network.com)