An essay by John Melonakos
On Outbound Poaching
Sometimes the best potential hires for your startup already have jobs somewhere else. To get them, you need to poach.
Here are some thoughts on outbound poaching:
- In general, don’t poach from customers or partners (though there are exceptions that can be good for everyone involved); competitors can make great targets (unless they stink so bad that you don’t want any of their people)
- There needs to be an element of shock to jolt them out of status quo: with more salary and/or an important role within the startup; they’re not looking for a job, so their attention needs to be grabbed
- Ideally, the vetting process for these candidates would be the same as for everyone else, but it can be tricky to flip the conversation from poaching-mode to job-application-mode; determine in advance what vetting steps to take with the candidate
- Start developing relationships with potential job candidate targets well in advance of pulling the poaching trigger
- Float the idea by the prospect to gauge interest from time-to-time, with something like “We’re going to have to figure out how to bring you on-board here at some point”
- Use the word “flatter” to minimize the downside impact of your poaching attempt, with something like “If it doesn’t work out, hopefully you’ll at least be flattered by our offer and maybe it will work out down the road.”
We’ve had good success with outbound poaching in several situations. It works best when you know the target hire is going to be a great fit for your startup.
Yesterday I wrote about how to deal with Inbound Poaching attempts.
What are your thoughts on outbound poaching?