Recruitment & Hiring: OpenView People Team Doubles for 2012!

OpenView Labs‘ team of recruiters will be doubling in the new year and it couldn’t have come at a better time. As OpenView Venture Partners continues to invest in more and more expansion stage technology startups (almost 20 now in our portfolio!) the People Team realized that the work wasn’t ever going to slow down.

Portfolio companies who have worked with us in the past continue to ask our People Team for assistance in various recruitment initiatives. This repeat business is the sincerest compliment and form of flattery as it genuinely lets us know how much value we are adding to their organizations. The repeat business isn’t expected to come to a halt until the company is fairly self-sufficient, at which point an exit could also very well be in the works.

Then there’s the new business end as well; recent investments eager to use their newly acquired funds to build out their teams and take themselves to the next level. With repeat and new business coming at us from several angles, my colleague, Jessica Ray, and I have been accepting requests for recruitment assistance relentlessly. While we’re happy to help, our belief is that in order to truly dedicate oneself and provide the right amount of attention to fully deliver on a search, a recruiter shouldn’t be handling more than 3-4 searches at a given time.

In recent months, we’ve each been juggling 6-8 searches simultaneously. Yes, that’s double the expected workload, but Jess and I took the challenge head-on and have brought some top hires on board to various portfolio companies. We’ve stretched our limits and while it’s been hectic, we haven’t minded too much. The experience has taught us a lesson in super-efficiency, allowed us to develop even closer relationships with our portfolio and to be honest, it’s just been a lot of fun as well. The portfolio has always been OpenView’s top priority and we’re pleased to have had the opportunity to demonstrate just that.

In between product management and sales operations searches for numerous hiring managers across the country, knowing that all this madness will continue, Jess and I scoured the greater Boston area for amazing recruiters to join our never-ending quest for top talent. Please join us in welcoming Katy Smigowski and Lindsey Gurian, OpenView’s newest Recruiting Analysts. We’re thrilled to have them come on board in January and dig deep in what should be a requisition-heavy 2012!