Sophie Adelman always envisioned herself building a business from scratch, with a supportive team who was driven by their belief in the company’s mission.
What she didn’t foresee was that this dream would come true at a tech startup.
Adelman was always familiar with the startup scene, having attended business school at Stanford. But her path was strictly business. Starting off in investment banking, she then joined the executive search firm Egon Zhender. It was here that Adelman realized how much she enjoyed helping people with their careers. After receiving her MBA, she returned to her native London to work in strategic investments for Lord Jacob Rothschild, of the banking family. Though she appreciated this opportunity to work with someone so influential, Adelman longed to be a part of a team that was actively building something.
Enter Hired, a startup whose mission is to make hiring and getting hired easy and enjoyable. The process is fully contingent, so candidates don’t pay anything to join and companies only pay if they hire through Hired. Candidates are paired with a “talent advocate” who acts as their career coach and whose job is to ensure that the candidate has a good experience. If the candidate is hired, they get a cash bonus plus a box full of goodies like chocolate and champagne.
It sounds too good to actually work, right? But with over 1,800 companies from tiny startups to giant companies making bids in the Hired marketplace, there is veritable proof of its success.
Adelman joined Hired to introduce the company to the U.K. market. Hired’s method, she says, is completely different from the traditional recruitment she was familiar with from Egon Zhender. “You were trying to make a deal happen from both sides, and it always felt a little bit dirty in the middle, like you were trying to force people to take a job.” At Hired, she never feels like she has to sell her services to the client. “I just have to explain how it works and they’re sold. There’s no harm in trying it.”
Another plus of Hired is the scalability of the venture. “I can have four people in London but I can make many hires through the platform, whereas in traditional recruiting the number of hires is constrained by the time you have to meet people.” And the company is growing: It tripled in size over the past year and expects to double in size by the following year. The challenge for Hired, Adelman says, is execution. “We don’t have a challenge getting companies on board, and getting candidates is not a problem. We just have to grow really fast and do it well.”
As a woman with experience in the tech and business industries, Adelman says that she doesn’t see her gender as a barrier in the tech field. “I come from a world of finance and I think there are barriers for women since it’s very male dominated and there’s very little flexibility with hours. Tech is more meritocratic and more flexible—you still work hard, but you can value your life. The tech world values diversity because from diversity comes innovation.”
For companies planning on hiring new talent, Adelman advises them to communicate clearly with their candidates and be up-front and transparent in salary negotiations. For people looking to get hired, Adelman recommends spending time to think about what you want. “Often people get distracted on the path to finding the best position for them. Be honest about what you’re looking for and don’t try to gain the system. Look for opportunities to learn, because at the end of the day it’s learning that’s going to be most valuable.” And, of course, use Hired.
