Recruiting

aronow.io

Astronomer

Attentive

Aven

Benchling

Boulevard

Brightline brings virtual behavioral and mental health care to kids and teens, with a focus on also supporting families. They have no waitlists, provide customized plans, and work with families to track progress together.

Brightline

Brigit

Calm

Census

Clever

CloudTrucks

Coder is a remote infrastructure development platform that makes working with code easier than ever. Coder enables everyone from industry rookies to experts to develop code faster than ever before, using templatized starting points and ultra-secure workspaces.

Coder

Cohere

Cointracker

Color

Costanoa Ventures

Decimal

Deel is payroll for modern business. No matter where you're hiring, Deel helps customers run payroll, supporting 150+ countries with hundreds of worldwide experts. Deel helps their customers know that hiring, paying, and managing stayed compliant and easy in their all-in-one platform.

Deel

Deepnote

Deliveroo

Docker

Dune

Duolingo

EightSleep is more than a mattress company - it's a suite of products devoted to sleep fitness. Their goal is to make sure that your sleep is as high-performing as you are, helping you meet and exceed the bar for excellence in your waking life. Athletes and scientists alike love their range of highly customizable sleep tech because it helps them live healthier.

EightSleep

Format One

FullStory

Galileo

Ironclad

Juni

Linear

Marqeta is a modern card issuing platform dedicated to empowering innovators to launch their products to the world. They have over a decade of experience as a trusted, high-tech solution for builders who need simple, scalable payment solutions.

Marqeta

Mastodon

Modern Treasury

Monte Carlo is a Series D data observability company helping its customers accelerate the adoption of data to eliminate downtime. 

Monte Carlo

Multiverse

Notion is for notes, tasks, wikis, and databases. The app blends everyday work apps into one. It serves as an all-in-one workspace for note-taking, task management, and project management. 

Notion

Compensation software that offers 5,000+ companies clarity for every pay decision.

OpenComp

Opendoor

Plato

PostHog

PostHog is an open source analytics platform. Their product is used by product, engineering, and marketing teams to understand user behavior, including product analytics, session recording, user paths, a/b testing, heatmaps, and more. The suite, founded through Y Combinator in 2020, has since been installed by over 10,000 companies.

Pragma Platform

Pulley

Quora

Ramp

Readme

Replit

Retool

Scratchpad

Sequoia

Sift

Snyk

Sourcegraph

Stytch

Talentful

Treasury Prime

VanMoof is a Dutch e-bike company creating stylish, feature-rich city bikes. They're the fastest growing bike company in the world, with an active community in over 50 cities worldwide.

VanMoof

Vantage

Veev

Verkada

WeTransfer

Zippin

Abhik Pramanik

Culture

Kyra ran our first holiday book exchange, and it's been a hit with the team (to the point people mentioned it in our 1:1s). I added some photos from our recent meetups.


Ben added some improvements to our Slack guidelines. Sylvie added a way for us to learn more about each other in our weekly standup. We've been using both for over a month, and the team has been enjoying the changes!


How we use efficient and deliberate communication at Ashby to keep Slack notifications and meetings to a minimum, focus 36h out of a 40h week, and have fun along the way 😀.


How Thoughtful Communication Makes Us Unreasonably Productive

Benjamin Encz

When the Ashby team met for the first time, we took a moment to reflect on and codify the attributes we value most in those we hire, and on the operating principles that guide our work. We'd like to share that with you here.

Ashby’s Operating Principles

Engineering

Product

Halden Pfearsen

*This article was written by [Siadhal Magos](https://www.linkedin.com/in/siadhal/), founder of [metaview.ai](https://www.metaview.ai/) in collaboration with Ashby.*

It’s nearly impossible to summarize all the places we’re seeing AI in use in recruiting and where it might expand – but for now there’s two broad areas where I’m seeing impact already and expecting big changes in the near future.

  

Before I begin I want to emphasize that the judgment you make about candidates will continue to rely on your own ability to assess the information the AI puts at your fingertips. For recruiters, AI will take away everything that distracts you from the development of relationships with candidates. It means more time to have those in-depth conversations that enable you to understand this person better than the next company interviewing them. Those human-to-human conversations will still be a central part of recruiting.

  

I'm one of the co-founders at Metaview. Metaview is making manual notetaking a thing of the past to help make the interview process more efficient, engaging, and fair. I noticed that interview note-taking was a struggle when I was a hiring manager at Uber, and I knew that technology could improve that process. At Metaview, we use AI to make that happen. It’s more complex than simple transcription (which is, itself, a form of AI), as it produces relevant, accurate summaries that pull out the important information from an interview..

  

You can learn more at our website, where we also have excellent resources to help you discover more about how to use AI to run a high quality interview process.


### Interviews and other summarization

  

The first area where we’re already seeing the impact of AI in recruiting is summarization. Condensing and making sense of lots of material is now a thing that people are leaning on AI a lot for. If you feed AI a ton of information, give it the appropriate prompt such that it knows what you're looking for and can sort through the information to find, then the current models are getting very good at returning just the stuff that you need in seconds. (This is, in fact, what Metaview is doing with our AI-generated interview summaries. Our AI summarizes all of the details of a conversation to make it super simple to find the important details you care most about.)

  

> Six months ago, humans were much better at this than AI. But that’s changing rapidly. And an AI can manage a near-infinite amount of material at the same time at very low cost.

  

While ChatGPT and similar options can do this, you can use a specialty AI like Metaview with more success, because it’s been trained on the nuances of interviews. It has foundational information to help it do better and pick out the right things.

  

### Low-lift creation

  

The other area where use of AI is expanding for recruiters is low-lift creation. You'll hear tons of recruiters talking about how they already use ChatGPT to help them create different subject lines for their emails, or to try out different ways of writing messages to candidates. You can also use these tools to improve job postings and advertisements, or to tell you the most important questions for interviewing for a particular role.

  

Right now, those are shortcuts. You’ll probably write something stronger if you spend more time working on a job description or set of interview questions with the hiring manager. But it’s helpful to avoid starting from a complete blank – it's step zero to understanding how to communicate about a role.

  

A couple of ways to get started using AI for low-lift creation:

  

**Writing job descriptions**
We’re still not at a point that you can leave it all to the AI and assume it’s done a good job, but you can use ChatGPT to help you write a less-biased job description by getting you started with a first draft.

  

**Creating new interview questions**
You can input a job description and information about what sort of skill and qualifications you’re looking for, and an AI can help you come up with good questions to ask your candidates in order to uncover that information.

  

**Writing candidate communication**
Especially if you’re already batch-sending sourcing or follow-up messages, AI can assist you in creating new, more varied copy for these messages. It can get you out of a rut if you tend to write these messages in the same way.

  

> When you’re new to AI, there’s a tendency to stop with the first response an AI gives you. Don’t! Be prepared to tweak it a bit. You can get a response back and ask the AI to adjust it, give it additional parameters to try and refine what you want.

  

## How AI augments human decision making

  

AI has massive potential to augment human decision making, which will have a big impact in hiring. In many ways it already has. There’s a spectrum between the completely intuitive and human driven decision making, all the way through to the other end, which is a decision that no human understands or even touched. I don't think hiring is going to go anywhere near that extreme anytime soon. But along that spectrum are a lot of places where AI could assist.

  

In the next two years we’ll see much more of AI as an anomaly check. AI is already flagging situations where decisions seem like an anomaly.

  

For example, if I interview someone, and everyone on the team gives them a 4 in Ashby – a perfect interview score – and we all thought they were amazing, Metaview might then run an analysis of the interview process and realize this person didn't answer any of the questions that we said were the most important. That's going to affect the decision.

  

As a hiring manager, I now have two pieces of information. The first is that everyone that saw this candidate said yes, and the second is that no one who saw this candidate asked the questions they were supposed to. Pre-AI, I never could have known that second data point, and I would've just hired the candidate. Now I know that this candidate had a very different interview process, and therefore I should take a second look. I’ll still own the decision, but I'm making it as a much more informed person because AI has detected some insights for me that otherwise weren't possible.

  

The key word in all of that, and the thing that will most affect decision making, is detection. Right now, people are making hiring decisions with lots of insight and data going undetected because we don't have another way to collect it. AI makes us able to detect more and more information that humans miss, making us more informed and impacting the quality of decisions.

## What AI can’t automate in the recruiting process

  

AI can’t automate relationships. The drivers of relationship-building, like empathy, can’t be falsified. Over time, AI may learn to intuit some of this, but that’s a long way off and it isn’t the same thing as real human connection. I don’t want to have a relationship with a robot, and neither do the majority of candidates.

  

While AI is changing how we do things, I predict that much of that will be creating space for humans to make better connections. The most successful recruiters will be the people who are the best at developing these relationships with candidates in a mutually beneficial way.

  

People can often think that applying AI to recruiting processes is taking some of the humanity away. I think a lot of the time you'll find it's the opposite. AI is better at doing some of the things that we as humans were never really meant to do anyway and enabling the things we’re naturally good at, like making connections with one another. Used properly, AI should help you make your hiring process more natural and human than ever.

*Enjoyed this article? Check out [metaview.ai](https://www.metaview.ai/) and [subscribe to Ashby's blog](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog#newsletter-form) for more recruiting insights.*

Artificial Intelligence is swiftly changing the tech landscape. Founder of Metaview, Siadhal Magos, explains how savvy recruiters can harness this tech to get ahead.

Ashby x Metaview | How Recruiting Professionals Can Stay Ahead of the AI Curve

Shannon Ogborn

*In partnership with Mathison we’re excited to share the addition of a new diversity survey template to Ashby’s library. The template offers a more inclusive framework for collecting demographic data and was developed from Mathison research into over 150 organizations, DEIB experts, and consultation with underrepresented communities.*

Including Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging is becoming a bigger goal for companies across the board. Big or small, in the tech sector or beyond it, including DEIB in organizational and individual goals is more important than ever before. However, for many organizations, taking on large-scale DEIB improvements can feel overwhelming, often with no clear understanding of where to begin.

  

When it comes to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in relation to hiring, the key to understanding how you’re doing is to have strong data insights. Thinking or feeling like you’re making progress in an area is not enough to enact meaningful change. Instead, you need to collect demographic information for as many candidates entering your pipeline as possible. This will open the door to a variety of reports and insights that will ultimately help your organization achieve your DEIB goals.

  

## EEO pitfalls

In the US, many companies have historically used Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) surveys as mandated by the government. These surveys are low lift, typically easy to turn on from your ATS, and require minimal setup and maintenance. That said, the EEO questions and responses are not customizable; companies are stuck with only the questions the government deems legally necessary to include. While utilizing EEO surveys to collect some demographic information is better than nothing at all, there are more inclusive ways to collect that data and to go beyond it.

  

Imagine you’re a candidate applying for a role on a company’s jobs page. You see a question about gender and you are given two options, male and female, neither of which you feel represent you. Odds are that you won’t feel inclined to respond to the survey, and understandably! You want an option that best represents your identity and you’re not seeing it. You may even feel like this company won’t be a good fit for you, and decide not to apply at all.

  

This is where non-EEO diversity surveys come in. Diversity surveys are fully customizable both from a question and answer selection perspective. Utilizing diversity surveys allows your organization to track goals specific to your organization and create a better employer brand around your inclusive hiring practices. You’re missing out on easy places to succeed if you minimize DEIB importance.

  

## Designing something better

Given the limitations of EEO surveys many organizations are starting to build customizable diversity surveys – however determining the right set of questions can be difficult. 

  

To address this we’ve partnered with Mathison who have done the heavy research lifting for you. Mathison identified [13 underrepresented groups](https://www.mathison.io/blog/expanding-the-definition-of-diversity) you should take into account when thinking of creating and defining diversity goals. In their approach, Mathison was dedicated to helping organizations understand that diversity is far more than what you can see visually. They researched over 150 organizations and worked with their product advisory board which consists of global DEI leaders, as well as leaders from the underrepresented communities showcased in their research to assess which underrepresented communities are overlooked in the workplace. They found that in order to effectively increase diversity, they needed to be intentional about reframing the way we all define diversity.

  

In order to increase representation at our organizations, there needs to be intention about reframing the way we define diversity, and therefore, have a better understanding of the communities that are underrepresented in our workforce and in our hiring pipeline.

  

Diversity is complex. There are many different factors you’ll need to consider, and your company may choose to add specific questions that are in compliance with local laws and that align with the areas you hope to improve.

  

## Walking in candidates’ shoes

  

This is an example of an EEO-standard question about gender identity:

![less inclusive gender identity question](/images/less-inclusive-eeoc.jpg)

  

Now here’s an example of a similar question utilizing Mathison’s identified 13 underrepresented groups:

  

![more inclusive gender identity question](/images/more-inclusive-eeoc.jpg)

  
  

Which question includes a wider range of identities? Which one would more candidates feel like they can answer?

  

Candidates often feel more comfortable answering the question where the answer options better reflect all identities.

  

> If you’re an Ashby customer, you will see a diversity survey template in-app that Mathison has provided to gather representation information on the 13 underrepresented groups discussed earlier. You can edit this template to your organization’s needs, or choose to start from scratch. If you are a Mathison customer, these same questions live in the internal surveys area and can be utilized as reference using the diversity survey feature in your ATS. Once you have accomplished setting up, turning on, and properly configuring your diversity survey, you are ready to start thinking about analysis of this data.

  

While it will take time to have a high enough volume of data to truly understand the outcomes in your organization based on the demographic information you are collecting, you can begin to consider what metrics you want to be tracking and which are the most important.

  

## Incorporating better inclusion for better outcomes

There is much more you can do to create a thoughtful, intentional DEIB survey. ([We’ve written more about it here](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog/recruiting/track-and-improve-dei-metrics)!) In addition to these tips, make sure you brief candidates in a paragraph or so before the survey. Make sure the paragraph expresses 1) what degree of privacy to expect, 2) why this is being collected, and 3) why it's so important. But, as with many things, the first step to generating improvement is to get started where you can.

  

Incorporating DEI initiatives into your talent strategy can feel overwhelming, but the sooner you start collecting diversity survey data, the sooner you’ll be able to analyze important outcomes and the closer you are to achieving your goals.

[Subscribe for more actionable insights into DEIB, hiring, and more.](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog#newsletter-form)

Creating a more robust DEIB strategy and becoming a more welcoming place to work is an ever-larger goal for companies worldwide. Though taking on large-scale overhauls to your hiring process can feel overwhelming, it doesn't have to be. Ashby and Mathison have partnered to discuss the best way to measure your hiring pipeline's demographic data. Read on to learn more.

Ashby x Mathison: How to Craft More Inclusive Demographic Data Collection

Jeremy Lyons

This article is here to help you get started with tracking and communicating recruiting metrics, no matter what infrastructure you have in place.

Hiring Excellence | A Recruiting Operations Guide to Establishing And Communicating With Metrics Before You Have Internal Baselines

Bryce Codell

*[You can also find this report here.](https://try.ashbyhq.com/oar/)*

## Benchmarking Offer Acceptance Rate


Top-performing talent acquisition teams are continuously improving and optimizing against their own benchmarks to drive towards top-line business goals. However, if you don’t have specific data yet or you want to see how your organization sits against industry norms, we analyzed over 10 million applications from Ashby customers from 2021 and 2022 to get you started.

  

This analysis is the first of many we will be releasing and focuses on Offer Acceptance Rates (‘OAR’) trends over a two year period.

  

We categorized the data across role types, sources, and time periods and applied our own interpretation regarding Offer Acceptance Rate (‘OAR’) over the past few years. We will continue to update these benchmarks as we gather more inputs and check in with talent experts.


*We calculated the offer acceptance rate based on candidates entering the offer stage and evaluating their final outcome. We take this approach to control for bias related to when teams are more likely to create or not create official offers in the ATS (e.g. some teams tend to create offers only after verbal acceptance), while we additionally control for organization-based rejection reasons to identify what we believe is the most accurate measure of a candidate's decision to accept or reject an offer.*

[Subscribe](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog#newsletter-form) to read upcoming benchmark reports and thought leadership from Ashby.

## Key takeaways

  

Our analysis supports several trends related to Offer Acceptance Rate:

1.  Even as offer volume fluctuates with the market, OAR remains consistent
    
2.  Business roles have ~20 percentage points higher OAR than technical roles, even during layoffs
    
3.  Proportion of hires from inbound applications has increased
    

  

Below we highlight the data we analyzed regarding OAR and posit underlying reasons for the trends. We also share what steps you can take once you understand the data. For example, knowing why technical roles are harder to close than business ones can contribute to a differentiated hiring approach for each role type.

  

### 1. Even as offer volume fluctuates with the market, Offer Acceptance Rates remain consistent.
    
![OAR overall graph](/images/graph-1_oar-consistent-overall.png)
  

Any talent leader who has gone through a few recruiting cycles expects OAR to fluctuate quarterly and yearly, sometimes even monthly, if there are critical market events. However, OAR continues to be relatively stable over time, with slight variations possibly due to a number of factors.

  

Our data confirmed this trend: across Ashby customers, the overall OAR for 2022 was 73%, and the overall OAR for 2023 was the same at 73%. An overall rate over 66% means that more than 2 of every 3 offers were in fact accepted. That’s a comparatively high acceptance rate considering the [less competitive market for job seekers](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog/recruiting/now-what-ta-professionals-guide-finding-yournexthire) than originally anticipated.

  

**Next Steps**

  

A rising OAR in Q1 2023 so far shows that like 2021 and 2022, the beginning of the year will see an increase in the overall rate. When rates spike like this, keep a close eye on the variation across role types, to ensure the blended rate is not masking any aberrations. Communicate predicted seasonal changes in OAR based on benchmarks, and set expectations that for many roles, hiring has not gotten much easier despite the “employer-friendly” market.

  

In addition, dig deep to understand why your OAR may have declined. In speaking to customers we’ve noticed that, while hiring has technically gotten less competitive, many candidates who are currently in a role are more hesitant to interview and join a different company at a time of wide-spread layoffs. Candidates are demanding a lot more information about a business’ performance, so be prepared to answer in-depth questions related to the stability and growth of the organization.

  

### 2. Business roles have ~20 percentage points higher Offer Acceptance Rate than technical roles, even during layoffs
    

  

![OAR in various roles](/images/graph-2_business-roles-higher-than-tech.png)

  

When we filtered offers by technical (engineering, data, product, design) versus business (customer success, sales, talent acquisition, marketing, ops, finance), we found a persistent and significant gap between OAR, with business roles having a ~20% higher OAR than technical ones. The gap is resilient - it has maintained the same over the past several years with no divergence, with engineering being the job category with the lowest OAR over time.

  

Quantifying this gap supports what recruiters have observed informally: that the highly competitive market for technical roles often results in lower rates across the board - email open rates, interviews booked, and offer acceptances to name a few. And this remains true even in this “employer friendly” talent market.

  

**Next Steps**

  

A consistently low OAR for technical roles means those candidates evaluate and approach their roles differently. Conduct as much direct research as you can with candidates who rejected the offer to find out why they did not accept, incorporate those reasons into a powerful [candidate experience survey](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog/recruiting/design-and-run-candidate-experience-surveys), and tailor them per job category type.

  

In addition, do not make assumptions about technical roles being easier to hire for during an employer-favored swing in the market. Instead, look at how you can engage and nurture candidates by being authentic and helpful in your communication.

  
### 3. Proportion of hires from inbound applications has increased
    

![OAR in business roles](/images/source-graph_biz-roles.png)

![OAR in technical roles](/images/source-graph_tech-roles.png)

  

The source of the offer for hired candidates is a critical factor in OAR too, with agency and sourcing efforts reflecting that some of the most competitive candidates are the hardest to sign. OAR for agency and sourced candidates are the lowest across time, company size, and role type.

  

The fraction of agency-sourced candidates hired in particular decreased from Q4 2021 versus Q4 2022. With more candidates entering the market to apply to an overall smaller number of available jobs, the number of direct applications rose while agency hires trended down and sourced jobs have remained more or less flat. This trend holds across both business and technical roles. Our data shows that sourcing and agency resources predominantly go towards technical roles, while for business hires, we saw a higher percentage of hires come from direct applications.

  

Other insights from our data regarding sources:

-   Job boards are decreasing for technical roles. This most likely corresponds with the expectation that during this market, there’s less engagement from employers with Indeed, Linkedin Premium, and other paid job boards
    
-   Referrals appear to be trending down, which makes sense during an environment where talent are increasingly less willing to switch jobs
    
-   Internal hiring appears to be slightly increasing, but we want to gather more data to finalize an interpretation of this (especially as it’s common practice to not thoroughly track internal hires in an ATS). It is noteworthy that business roles appear to make more internal hires compared to technical roles
    

  

A note about the data: for role category, we analyzed the total hires by the candidate source. By looking at the quarter to quarter changes, you can see how the composition of hires by their source changes.

  

**Next Steps**

  

A rise in direct applications means there will be more load on the talent acquisition team to manage candidates’ expectations and deliver on an exceptional candidate experience at scale. Make the effort to personalize templates for offers, rejections, and withdrawals to ensure the communication stays authentic and compassionate. Going the extra mile to refer a rejected candidate to another opportunity is excellent for long term reputational trust-building.

  

Lastly, assessing your hiring trends and re-assessing your overall sourcing strategy is always a dynamic necessity. This could mean examining the efficacy of your referral program, considering an investment in an internal hires program, or any number of source-specific considerations.

  

## Wrap up

As we gather more data on hiring in 2023, we look forward to analyzing if these trends stay consistent, and what surprises become norms.

  

Things we'll be watching in 2023:

-   OAR gap between technical and business roles - will it narrow in this market?
    
-   Time to offer
    
-   Time to hire, and the candidate experience
    
-   Interviews per hire
    
-   Applications per job, especially when the posting is first listed
    
-   Passthrough rates by role category
    
-   Qualified candidate trends
    
-   … and other benchmarks you want us to analyze!
    

[You can find this report here.](https://try.ashbyhq.com/oar/) 
  

[Subscribe](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog#newsletter-form) to read upcoming benchmark reports and thought leadership from Ashby.

We analyzed Offer Acceptance Rate (‘OAR’) patterns over the past 2 years -- this is what we found

2023 Trends Report | Offer Acceptance Rates

This article discusses the considerations, principles, and questions you should ask when developing an Internal Mobility Program, focusing on how to approach the program from the Recruiting Operations perspective.

Recruiting Operations | Internal Mobility

Nobody accepts a job or hires a person with the expectation that, in a few months, they’ll be let go. But layoffs happen, especially in the current tech environment, and the people impacted by them often didn’t see it coming. Layoffs have a [genuine psychological impact](https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2023/02/07/layoffs-are-harming-the-mental-health-of-workers-making-them-feel-vulnerable-and-disposable/?sh=67b99560667e), and can lead to increased anxiety, depression, and stress. And the talent and recruiting teams who helped their companies grow through hiring booms are often impacted the most.

  

I've been in recruiting since 2014, and I've seen extremely talented people experience layoffs. Ashby works closely with the talent world, and we’ve been lucky enough to meet so many amazing, talented people in the TA space. In addition to a number of more ‘concrete initiatives’ (more to come on this), we wanted to find ways to help the community we love. We’re sure you’re already doing everything you can to move towards your next role, but we put together this article to help validate all you’re doing, and spark ideas for more ways to help those who’ve been laid off to blaze a trail forward.

## The Layoff Landscape

  

Working in tech and startups often creates a bubble, and we’re fast to forget that our space isn’t representative of the wider hiring world. Overall unemployment is at a low in the US [3.4% as of January 2023](https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf). In spite of that, tech is experiencing a layoff spree that’s lasted several months, with potential reasons varying from economic downturn to pandemic over-hiring.

  

While general tech cuts have hovered in the 10%-12% range, recruiter jobs have had an outsized impact, with [cuts in the 50% range](https://www.wsj.com/articles/silicon-valleys-talent-spotters-are-now-looking-for-jobs-11669725577). Recruiting jobs saw higher than average [cuts during COVID-19](https://www.protocol.com/coronavirus-cuts-recruiting-and-recruiters), too. Marginalized groups, [already disproportionately affected by layoffs](https://www.forbes.com/sites/janicegassam/2023/02/19/black-workers-are-the-hardest-hit-by-tech-layoffs/?sh=6a007d25313e), experience a double whammy in recruiting.

  

All of these figures can be dehumanizing, making it so easy to forget that behind each number is a real person who has lost their job. If you’ve been laid off, or have seen people you know being laid off, know that this uptick is very real, and it isn’t your fault you’ve been impacted.

  

## Now What?

I want to validate that you’re probably already doing all you can. Nobody enjoys getting laid off, and if finding a new job is slow going, it’s probably not because you aren’t doing enough. I wanted to create this list of suggestions to keep your gears turning, and to reassure you that you’re doing the right things.

  

So you’ve been laid off. Now what should you do?

### Polish your LinkedIn

**Consider turning on LinkedIn’s “Open to work” banner for your profile.** I know there’s some debate here - some recruiters find the banner a helpful shortcut when sourcing, others think that it’s a meaningless addition. Setting the banner publicly can also attract spammy outreach sequences. As a middle ground, you could set the banner to be visible to recruiters only. Ultimately, you should choose what you feel most comfortable with.

  

**Make an announcement that you’re looking for something new.** If you feel comfortable, write a post announcing that you’ve been laid off and are open to new opportunities. In this post highlight some of the wins and projects you impacted in your last couple of roles and what you’re looking for next. A big part of making a successful ask is telling your network exactly ‘how’ they can help you. If you feel comfortable, encouraging your close former colleagues, bosses, and friends to comment and reshare is powerful too.

  

**Ask and offer recommendations.** Ashby has launched the #YourNextHire initiative in hopes of lifting up and making more highly visible talented individuals impacted by layoffs. Unfortunately, many of those who were impacted have been overshadowed by headlines and statistics. We want to change that by encouraging people to write LinkedIn recommendations for their former colleagues, share the recommendation on an individual post using the hashtag #YourNextHire and tag their colleagues. Ashby will then reshare for further visibility. Not only will this help better showcase impacted individuals, but it will also brighten their day to see the value they have brought to their work through the recommendations.

### Shake the networking tree

**Don’t be shy about tapping into your network!** If you’re nervous, use that LinkedIn announcement to open up conversations – odds are good that people who commented want to help.

  

**Be clear about your asks.** I love helping people in my network, but it’s much easier if I know exactly what they want up front. Otherwise we waste time beating around the bush with no clear indication of what they need from me.

  

**Be extra appreciative.** If it’s been a while, re-familiarize yourself with a person or group’s social media to find things to check in about. Offer some reciprocity - a recommendation for a recommendation is a great place for two colleagues to start. If you can initiate contact with help or a listened ear to show that you care about the other person, that’s even better.

### Dust off your resume

**Keep up a brag sheet.** List out everything you were proud of accomplishing at your last job, along with KPI outcomes. Maybe these fit on the page, maybe they’re things to mention in an interview, but it’s great to have a quick reference list of successes. (It also feels good to see it all in front of you!)

  

**Highlight the wins.** Use as many tangible metrics as possible to show your performance. The more up-to-date and specific the proof of success, the more impactful and memorable the resume.

### Make new connections

**Tap into the sources you’d want to source from.** Established networks are gold, but adding new ones helps you connect with fresh people. I like to think of my dream role, and then imagine where I’d look if I was the one sourcing for it. Those are the places you want to try.

  

I’ve added a list of great resources to try further down.

## Helping Your Community

Maybe you weren’t laid off, or you already have a new role, but you still want to support the talent community. (That’s how I feel, too!) Here’s some ways you can help:

1.  Offer a resume review - Especially when you’re in the talent space, you know what makes a great resume. But when it’s your own you can get bogged down or overthink it. Use your skills to offer a review!
    
2.  Give a listening ear - Networking is necessary, but so is the feeling of being seen and appreciated in your space. Even if you don’t know of a good role to recommend, offer your emotional support.
    
3.  Join the #YourNextHire campaign - Write recommendations for your former colleagues. It offers information for them to pull from when they get back out there, and shows people you worked closely with how highly valued they are; plus, it’s on display for potential future recruiters.
    

## More Resources To Find #YourNextHire

  

Team Ashby and I feel a strong desire to help the talent community as we get through the widespread layoffs. We want to lift up the deserving talent community, especially after all they have been through in the last few years. We’re kicking off #YourNextHire, and I’m inviting all of you to get involved.

  

Here’s how:

1.  Write someone you know a LinkedIn recommendation
    
2.  Screenshot your words
    
3.  Share that screenshot with the hashtag #YourNextHire
    
4.  Tag the people you reviewed to keep the support going
    

  

This is one method to support each other in a meaningful way, and we hope you’ll join us.

  

If you’re looking for your next hire, I’ve compiled a list of hiring resources that might help:

-   [Tech Layoffs Loom, but These Industries Are Still Hiring](https://money.com/job-market-layoffs-industries-hiring/)
    
-   [63 Companies Hiring in 2023](https://www.inhersight.com/blog/finding-a-job/companies-hiring-amid-layoffs)
    
-   [Now Hiring](https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/now-hiring-where-are-the-jobs-right-now-economy-rcna68783)
    
-   [Level's Still Hiring List](https://www.levels.fyi/still-hiring/)
    
-   [These companies — from Chipotle to United Airlines — are still hiring](https://www.businessinsider.com/list-of-companies-that-are-still-hiring-now-open-jobs-2023-1)

-   [Brianna's Job Board -- a labor of love curated to highlight interesting and impactful opportunities](https://briannadoe.pallet.com/jobs)

    
-   [Layoffs.fyi](https://layoffs.fyi/)

While US unemployment is down, the tech space has still seen months of widespread layoffs - and the TA community has been hit harder than most. If you've been impacted, here's some help stepping towards #YourNextHire.

Now What? A TA Professional’s Guide to Finding #YourNextHire


All RecOps roles call for, at a minimum, an advanced knowledge of Microsoft Excel and/or Google Sheets. With 450+ functions, it can be hard to know where to start and which ones to learn.

To help, here is a list of formulas we recommend you know:

### VLOOKUP / XLOOKUP / HLOOKUP

 - The staple has always been VLOOKUP to find information across a
   vertical column and check it with search criteria. XLOOKUP eliminates
   some of the restrictions of VLOOKUP and offers greater flexibility.

- Used heavily in spreadsheets to find information.
    

### TRUE/FALSE
    
-  These often appear when checking lists or in other formulas to determine exact match or a relational match.
    
-   Used heavily to checklists
    

### IF especially IFERROR and IFNA
    

-   The IF family is especially effective if you checklists. Using IFERROR or IFNA are helpful when trying to have information stand out.
    
-   Used heavily in checking lists
    

### COUNT especially COUNTIF and COUNTA
    

-   Like the name suggests, it counts values. When building tables without using Pivot Tables, using these can be helpful.
    

### QUERY
    

-   Allows you to extract and manipulate data from a table or range of cells based on specific criteria.
    
-   Very useful when dealing with a massive table and multiple inputs.
    

### ARRAYFORMULA
    

-   Allows you to apply a formula to an entire range of cells at once, without having to manually copy and paste the formula into each cell.
    

### IMPORTRANGE
    

-   Allows you to important information from another workbook (Excel) or sheet (Google Sheets).
    
-   Extremely useful if you need to filter and manipulate data from a master spreadsheet that many people use at the same time.
    

### INDEX
    

-   Allows you to retrieve a value or a range of values from a specific location within a table or range of cells. Often used in combination with other functions like MATCH or IF, to search for specific data within a table or range and retrieve the corresponding values.
    
-   When trying to calculate team data, this function is fantastic.
    

### MATCH
    

-   Allows you to search for a specific value in a range of cells, and return the relative position of that value within the range.
    
-   Can be helpful in various tasks, such as looking up data in a table or validating user inputs.
    

-   Advanced-level formulas to be comfortable with are:
    

### QUERY(IMPORTRANGE())
    

-   Allows you to import data from another workbook or sheet spreadsheet and then filter and manipulate that data using SQL-like queries.
    
-   Fantastic if you want to pull in information from a master spreadsheet but only want a few columns.
    

### INDEX(MATCH())
    

-   Allows you to search for specific data within a table or range and retrieve the corresponding values.
    
-   Powerful alternative to V or XLOOKUP for searching for specific data within a table or range, and retrieving the corresponding values. It can be beneficial in large datasets where manual searching can be time-consuming and error-prone.

With 450+ functions between multiple spreadsheet tools, it can be hard for RecOps professionals know where to start and which ones to learn. To help, we've created a list of formulas we recommend you know.

The 11 Most Important Formulas to Know for RecOps and Data

We’ve compiled the following list of resources you'll be able to use to grow your data knowledge or find information for your stakeholders:

**Books:**

-   [How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information by Alberto Cairo](https://www.amazon.com/How-Charts-Lie-Getting-Information-ebook/dp/B07P88R6DW/ref=sr_1_1?gclid=Cj0KCQiAx6ugBhCcARIsAGNmMbhbiL1PZoFy44-pHr9emY_tYfDQVgL8t_8r63py_DsWCEYn0AhKPZ4aAglAEALw_wcB&hvadid=338881486269&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030959&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17589077887488862357&hvtargid=kwd-671762044713&hydadcr=3173_10390882&keywords=how+charts+lie&qid=1678495588&sr=8-1)
    
-   [Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic](https://www.amazon.com/Storytelling-with-Data-audiobook/dp/B079H3ZJJZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=36DKWYQXZT18S&keywords=Storytelling+with+Data%3A+A+Data+Visualization+Guide+for+Business+Professionals+by+Cole+Nussbaumer+Knaflic&qid=1678495614&sprefix=storytelling+with+data+a+data+visualization+guide+for+business+professionals+by+cole+nussbaumer+knaflic%2Caps%2C144&sr=8-1)
    
-   [Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative and Visuals by Brent Dykes](https://www.amazon.com/Effective-Data-Storytelling-Narrative-Visuals/dp/1119615712/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35ERU5XZ1OAU5&keywords=Effective+Data+Storytelling%3A+How+to+Drive+Change+with+Data%2C+Narrative+and+Visuals+by+Brent+Dykes&qid=1678495634&s=audible&sprefix=effective+data+storytelling+how+to+drive+change+with+data%2C+narrative+and+visuals+by+brent+dykes%2Caudible%2C137&sr=1-1)
    

**Websites:**

-   [Level.fyi](http://level.fyi/)
    
-   [Comprehensive.io](https://www.comprehensive.io/)
    
-   [Salary.com](https://www.salary.com/)
    
-   [30 Best Salary Sites to Know Your Worth in 2023](https://www.tealhq.com/post/best-salary-information-websites)
    

**Excel/Google Sheets Learning:**

-   Ben Collins -  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@benlcollins)  /  [Website](https://www.benlcollins.com/)
    
-   Prolific Oaktree -  [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@ProlificOaktree)  /  [Website](https://www.prolificoaktree.com/home/)
    
-   [Sheets Help - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@SheetsHelp)
    

**Metrics to Track:**

-   [GitLab’s Talent Acquisition Performance Indicators](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/hiring/performance_indicators/)

**Reporting:**

-   [Ashby Offer Acceptance Rate Trend Report](https://www.ashbyhq.com/blog/recruiting/2023-trends-report-offer-acceptance-rates)

Looking to become a better data analyst? We’ve compiled some resources to grow your data knowledge and find information for your stakeholders.

Ashby's RecOps Data Resource Round-Up

A job description often calls for years of experience in a particular role. But, frequently, I’ve found that those role titles don’t have as much to do with the skills needed for the job as they sound. This often bars excellent candidates from the pipeline. Luckily, it’s a problem with a fix.

When you calibrate with hiring managers, focus on the true minimum requirements. What does a role actually entail? What “requirements” are really just nice to have? What are the competencies required to do the job well? Looking for the same minimum requirements across the board helps keep the whole process more equitable, and it gives sourcers more freedom. 

Of course, you won’t move a profile forward if they don't meet the minimum requirements. But when you’ve thought critically about the true minimum requirements, you can find someone who’s met those bars in non-traditional ways. 

If you want someone with a year of software engineering experience, maybe that could be updated to say “or technical experience or coding.” This will broaden the requirement to include folks from less traditional backgrounds. They could nail the interview, they could be the best performer on the team, but unless you think critically about what the requirements are, you are counting that person out before they can even be considered.

This type of calibration includes more people, invites more diversity of backgrounds, and helps you create a team capable of true innovation.


Are you relying on years of experience, or something deeper?

What Are Your True Minimum Requirements?

An excellent outreach strategy requires a screen-in mindset.

A screen-out mindset is where you look at a candidate profile with the framing: *“What about this person does not meet my criteria?”*

A screen-in mindset is where you look at a candidate profile with the framing: *“What about this person would match or add value to the gaps that we have right now?”*

Instead of trying to eliminate people who fall short of the ideal profile, I'm trying to find reasons people would qualify. Screening-in helps a lot with diversity and really increases that diversity pipeline. Part of why I do that is because I’m never looking for the “perfect” candidate.

> I once hired an engineer who had been an analyst for several years. He had no formal software engineering background. But I noticed that he’d done engineering coursework in college, along with a few other traits that really fit the role.
> 
> He performed the best on the interviews of any candidate I ever put through. Had I been looking for the perfect person, I would've missed out on the best fit.

Screening-in helps recruiters challenge our own biases without lowering the bar for excellence. It gets rid of arbitrary barriers, like specific role titles, or only hiring for specific companies, while focusing on the skills needed to actually do the job.

Starting from a place of screening-in can change your entire outreach mindset. If you want a better top-of-funnel, start there.


An excellent outreach strategy requires a screen-in mindset.

Screen-In vs Screen-Out Mindsets – There Is A Right Answer

Laura Li

Looking to break out of the LinkedIn bubble? Ashby’s consulting team has put together this list of sourcing locations you might not have thought of.

1.  Skill-relevant Slack communities

2.  MeetUp communities
    
3.  Github, Dribble, and other coding websites
> **Break-In Talent** If you’re open to hobbyists, you come across gems of talent that aren’t full-time engineers, but would like to be.

4.  School websites
 
5.  “First 50” groups
> **Kicking Off With a Team** If you’re hiring for an early-stage startup, there are many people who want to get in on the ground floor - first 50 groups will help you find them.
    

6.  Programs for under-represented populations
> **Great Groups** Identity-specific schools, clubs, bootcamps, and classes are a great way to source great talent from specific populations.

7.  Hackathons
    
8.  Quora
    
9.  Gyms and fitness studios
> **Go Where The Talent Is** If you have a role that requires heavy physical work an ad at a gym might do some “heavy lifting.”

10.  eSports tournaments
    
11.  Relevant subreddits
    
12.  “Jams”
> **Coding and More** While “code jams” were once the purview of just engineers, “jams” have expanded into all kinds of roles and areas of expertise.

13.  Message boards and interest groups for role-related certifications
    
14.  ResearchGate
> **True Experts** Need to hire for a scientific or research-focused role? ResearchGate is often called “Facebook for academics.”

15.  Skill, job, or interest-related Facebook groups
    
16.  College cafes for new grad roles
> **More Than Career Fairs** You’ll find students about to enter the job market in many campus-adjacent areas. An old fashioned posting on a coffee shop tackboard is a great start. So is checking to see if the campus has a career center that shares open job listings.

17.  Facebook career pages in the local market
    
18.  Specific interest meetups
> **Think Beyond Role-Focused Meetups** What does your ideal candidate do for fun? You might find excellent engineers at a robotics club or great content marketers at a writing workshop.

19.  Industry or skill-related panels and speaking events
    
20.  Running an ad in an interest-specific newsletter

We've put together this list of sourcing locations you might not have thought of - and we're updating it regularly!

Recruiting

Ashby x Metaview | How Recruiting Professionals Can Stay Ahead of the AI Curve

Ashby x Mathison: How to Craft More Inclusive Demographic Data Collection

Hiring Excellence | A Recruiting Operations Guide to Establishing And Communicating With Metrics Before You Have Internal Baselines

2023 Trends Report | Offer Acceptance Rates

Recruiting Operations | Internal Mobility

Now What? A TA Professional’s Guide to Finding #YourNextHire

Snippets

The 11 Most Important Formulas to Know for RecOps and Data

Ashby's RecOps Data Resource Round-Up

What Are Your True Minimum Requirements?

Screen-In vs Screen-Out Mindsets – There Is A Right Answer

Ashby’s “Less Obvious” Sourcing List

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Resources

Company

Developers

Recruiting

Ashby x Metaview | How Recruiting Professionals Can Stay Ahead of the AI Curve

Ashby x Mathison: How to Craft More Inclusive Demographic Data Collection

Hiring Excellence | A Recruiting Operations Guide to Establishing And Communicating With Metrics Before You Have Internal Baselines

2023 Trends Report | Offer Acceptance Rates

Recruiting Operations | Internal Mobility

Now What? A TA Professional’s Guide to Finding #YourNextHire

Snippets

The 11 Most Important Formulas to Know for RecOps and Data

Ashby's RecOps Data Resource Round-Up

What Are Your True Minimum Requirements?

Screen-In vs Screen-Out Mindsets – There Is A Right Answer

Ashby’s “Less Obvious” Sourcing List

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