If You Can Hire Here, You Can Hire Anywhere: The State of SaaS Talent Market in New York City

Last week, we released a report on the state of the talent market with a concentration on New York City’s hiring landscape. We surveyed almost 100 participants across the country one-third of those in NYC —consisting of executive hiring managers and recent executive hires across the B2B SaaS industry. They told us all things hiring trends and how they plan to grow their companies in 2022. 

The survey results demonstrated that the hiring momentum initiated by the Great Resignation and labor shortage in 2021 will only continue throughout this year. And although this has been proven to be both a nationwide and global phenomenon, data from New York-based employees and businesses reported even stronger trends.

Given the extreme concentration of high-caliber talent and attractive employment opportunities, this discrepancy in data comes as no surprise. There’s no shortage of top talent in the city, nor of ambitious businesses, big and small, eager to recruit. One question remains: How can your organization recruit, engage, and grow high-performing people in the most competitive hiring market we’ve ever seen? Our report addressed this top-of-mind concern.

Key findings for New York City

Don’t expect the demand to hire to level off anytime soon—especially at the local level. Our findings show that 64% of businesses in New York City alone said that they plan on hiring even more people this year than they did in 2021. The job seeker’s market is here to stay. 

Our survey data uncovered more insights about hiring trends in the New York area: 

• Recruiting top talent is more competitive than ever. 44% of New York respondents interviewed with over 11 companies before making a choice. This is more pronounced in the city than elsewhere in the country; only 20% of non-NYC respondents reported interviewing for as many roles. 
• Remote work is less of the norm. Although 58% of open roles in New York City are advertised as fully remote, this is significantly less than the percentage of roles that are remote elsewhere in the country (77%). This shows that people in NYC are more eager to return to the office.
• Compensation expectations are on the rise. With one of the highest costs of living in the country, comp expectations are just higher in the city in general. But SaaS executives have reported seeing an increase in comp expectations across the country. 82% of non-NYC respondents agree, but in New York, that number rises to 92%. 

An opportunity for strategic change 

It’s no secret that companies have had to re-strategize their recruitment efforts to be competitive players in this job market. What’s surprising is how businesses with innovative leadership have leveraged these challenges as opportunities. 

Claudia Iannazzo, OpenView Executive Network member and CEO of NY-based security service company Catalisto, shares how recruitment process changes ultimately benefited her business.

“We use recruitment as lead generation now, which isn’t something we used to think about,” says Claudia, “Our recruiter calls a senior person in this field, who might actually be too senior for what we want, and talks to them. We tell them that we need a person that can do A, B, and C, and ask who they recommend. In the process of doing that, we’re actually introducing our company to them.”

But you don’t have to connect recruitment to your marketing funnel to have a powerful impact. 

A hiring process that stands out

Innovation in hiring starts with your people and processes. Adopting ethical hiring practices helps businesses differentiate themselves to candidates. And when it’s more than likely that your favorite New York candidates are being simultaneously scouted by several of your top competitors, winning over prospects becomes more important than ever. 

One way to achieve this is by simplifying the interview process down to only the most essential rounds. Candidates are confronted with more opportunities than ever—being mindful of the hoops you’re asking people to jump through demonstrates that you value their time. Besides, moving quickly decreases the chances of people pursuing other options. 

According to Forrest Leighton, who recently joined PERSUIT, an OpenView portfolio company, as VP Marketing, “You can’t put people through weeks of interviews. The market is just too crazy right now.”

In this competitive market, incorporating transparency and empathy into the recruitment process, in addition to being considerate of a candidate’s time, is paramount. This can be the reason your top prospect decides to close on your offer.

Want to learn more about hiring tactics and growth strategy in the city? Download the State of SaaS Talent Market: New York City.