What Shopify can teach us about unorthodox talent strategy

Engaging, retaining and attracting talent is still a top issue for organisations. According to KPMG reports, 77% of leaders nominated it as their biggest challenge in 2023, compared to 69% in last year’s survey.

It’s time for a new mindset. Employers need a modern marketing-led approach to talent. 

One business that’s shaking up its talent strategy is Shopify. Business Insider recently reported on Shopify’s plan to overhaul its recruiting strategy. They mentioned the need to raise the bar and employ unorthodox methods.

Despite the negative tone of the article, much of what they’re planning makes complete sense and isn’t all that unorthodox in our books.

What we like about Shopify’s forward-thinking approach:

Strategic and creative talent sourcing

Part of the overhaul is to ‘exhaustively seek out world-class talent’. Amen to that. Of course, employers must actively source talent. We often find more than 75% of the recommended talent outside of job boards. Post and pray was never the right approach.

Shopify has suggested its talent team employ ‘stealth spear-fishing in unique and untapped areas’. Perhaps a dramatic description of proactive sourcing but when you think about it, they’re saying: know your audience and where to find them online and go there. Part of this is about the power of social recruitment and going beyond job boards.

Measurement and evaluation

Shopify plans to ‘lean on data’ to see how these new approaches work (smart), although there may be some room for improvement in what is measured. Attrition and new hires’ performance reviews are valuable data, however, we’d argue speed of recruiter outreach is a surface-level metric and that there are more important things to measure when it comes to your talent strategy.

Strengths-based focus

Shopify chooses to classify employees as either managers or crafters. This isn’t about labelling employees. It’s really just adopting transparency around job roles. Not everyone wants to be a manager; some people like to create. This is a smart, strength-based approach that will see leaders understand and acknowledge what employees want by actively listening to their needs and seeing their strengths. Keeping your existing employees happy will not only boost retention but will shape a more positive employee experience, which is attractive to potential employees.

Lead by example and through experience 

Part of Shopify’s new approach is ‘fewer people managers’ and more people with deep technical knowledge, i.e. cavalry officers need to be able to ride horses. This describes the need for managers to understand what they expect others to understand in order to provide adequate support. Be an employer that offers value by sharing experience and knowledge that enables employees to learn and grow within the business.

Raise the bar

‘Good enough is not enough’. Absolutely! In our team we have a saying: ‘If it’s not a HELL YES, it’s a no.’

Getting talent attraction (and beyond that, engagement and retention) right is too important to ‘settle’. There’s nothing unorthodox about being crystal clear on the talent persona you’re looking for and seeking out the right talent for your team.

Final thoughts

Does your talent strategy need an overhaul? Is it time to revisit the old hiring rule book?

It’s time to build a culture of talent attraction. 

This begins with a new mindset about how employers and talent connect.

A culture of attraction sees talent as consumers and jobs as products. Once we agree on this, we can see that recruitment is marketing. To attract the best people, you have to go after them.

Maybe this new approach is unorthodox given where you’ve come from, but it is the only way forward in the era of talent.

A strategic approach to sourcing talent.
A creative approach to marketing jobs as products.
A research-led approach to promoting your employer brand.
Smart hiring metrics.
Raising the bar.

Thanks, Shopify. Here’s to shaking things up.

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