Key insights

• Culture and Inclusivity in the Workplace

  • 🗣️ Inclusive culture through intentional decision-making, ongoing dialogue, and challenging stereotypes.
  • 🎨 Diversity and inclusion at all levels, including new hire onboarding, employee resource groups, assessments, and color stories.

• Inclusive Hiring and Diversity

  • 🌈 The importance of inclusive hiring, challenges, and the impact of small changes in promoting diversity and inclusion.
  • 🤝 Challenging stereotypes and fostering open conversations around technical and non-technical roles.

• Remote Hiring Challenges and Strategies

  • 🌐 Remote hiring benefits and the need for a supportive culture to make it successful.
  • 📈 Emphasizing impact descriptions, experimenting with team composition, and diversifying applicants through impact descriptions.

• Startup Hiring Strategies

  • 🎯 Understanding candidate motivation, utilizing behavioral interviewing, and adapting to remote work dynamics in hiring.

• Early Startup Phase

  • 🌱 Focus on problem-solving, achieving product market fit, and transitioning from individual contribution to CEO role.
  • 👥 Emphasis on proactive recruiting, reaching out to networks, and nurturing relationships for successful hiring.
  • 💡 Highlighting the importance of unique value proposition and culture to differentiate in the talent market.

• Founding a Company

  • 💼 The journey from leaving Google to founding a company, the importance of working with the right people, and understanding the changing landscape of talent and HR.
  • 🚀 Building the product centered on defining the problem, being user-driven, and delivering value.

• Holly's Journey

  • ✈️ Holly's non-tech background and initial pursuits led her to Google where she learned valuable lessons that she applies as a founder today.

Q&A

• What does the founder emphasize about creating an inclusive culture?

  The founder emphasizes that creating an inclusive culture requires ongoing dialogue, challenging stereotypes, and fostering open and honest conversations about diversity and inclusion. This culture is promoted at all levels, from onboarding to employee resource groups.

• How does the company promote diversity and inclusion in hiring?

  The company emphasizes inclusive hiring, cultural inclusivity, and making small changes to promote diversity. It also focuses on diversity and inclusion at all levels, incorporates assessments and color stories, and celebrates diversity.

• What are the benefits and challenges of remote hiring?

  Remote hiring has benefits such as tapping into rare opportunities, but requires building a supportive culture. Impact descriptions over traditional job postings attracted top talent and diversified applicants.

• What are the important aspects of hiring for startups?

  Hiring for startups requires understanding candidate motivation, utilizing behavioral interviewing, and adapting to remote work dynamics.

• What were the early startup phase priorities?

  The early stage focused on problem-solving, achieving product market fit, proactive recruiting, nurturing relationships, and emphasizing a unique value proposition and culture to differentiate in the talent market.

• What were the key factors in founding Lever?

  The journey from Google to founding Lever involved the non-linear path, working with the right people, understanding the changing talent landscape, and building a product centered on defining the problem, being user-driven, and delivering value.

• What is Holly's background and how did she end up founding a company?

  Holly grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, initially pursued social justice and design, and later worked at Google, where she gained valuable leadership and strategy skills. She applied these insights to become a founder and CEO.

• 00:00 Holly did not initially see herself becoming a CEO or founder, coming from a non-tech background. She initially pursued design and consultancy but ended up at Google, learning valuable lessons and skills that she applies to being a founder today.
• 07:26 The journey from Google to founding a company, the importance of working with the right people, and addressing the changing landscape of talent and HR were key factors in founding Lever. Building the product centered on defining the problem, being user-driven, and delivering value.
• 14:40 The early startup phase involved figuring out the problem to solve, achieving product market fit, and building traction. Proactive recruiting, reaching out to networks, and nurturing relationships led to success in hiring. Startups should focus on their unique value proposition and culture to differentiate themselves in the competitive talent market.
• 22:04 Hiring for startups requires understanding candidate motivation, utilizing behavioral interviewing, and adapting to remote work dynamics.
• 29:06 Remote hiring has clear benefits such as tapping into rare opportunities, but it requires building a culture that supports remote work. The company focused on hiring and building a strong culture together, experimented with team composition, and emphasized impact descriptions over traditional job postings. Impact descriptions not only attracted top talent but also diversified applicants, welcoming non-traditional backgrounds.
• 36:11 The importance of inclusive hiring, challenges in making hiring more inclusive, the need for cultural inclusivity, and how small changes can make a big impact in promoting diversity and inclusion.
• 43:09 The founder discusses the importance of inclusivity and culture in the workplace, highlighting the need for open dialogue and challenging stereotypes around technical and non-technical roles.
• 50:23 The company focuses on diversity and inclusion at all levels, including new hire onboarding and employee resource groups. They also incorporate assessments and color stories to encourage open discussions about differences. The culture promotes celebrating diversity and creating a common language. The speaker emphasizes the importance of building a great team and hiring for strong culture.