"Every so often we see employers that try to fill two or three positions for the price of one. That only causes work overload and burnout."
Meet Scott Hirsch, co-founder and CTO at Talent Marketplace. With work experience combining business administration and computer science, his passions lie in enabling business processes through the innovative use of technology.
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We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to Valiant CEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Scott Hirsch: I am Scott Hirsch, co-founder of TalentMarketplace.
In 2017, after witnessing a project fail because of time to hire, I teamed up with 2 college friends, and with less than $10,000, TalentMarketplace was born.
Now, our “lean-recruiting” concept combines AI and just the right amount of human touch to select high-quality, pre-screened candidates to fitting positions, saving 8 weeks of hiring time!
Who has been the most influential person(s) in your life and how did they impact you? How did that lead to where you are today?
Scott Hirsch: As cliché as it may sound, the most influential person in my life is my mom. No matter what I told her I wanted to do, she would always fully support me. She has supported me financially, emotionally, and in every way possible without asking for anything in return. Without her, I would not be where I am today – quite literally.
2020 was a challenging year for all of us, particularly for businesses. How did the pandemic impact your business? Please list some of the problems that you faced, and how you handled them.
Scott Hirsch: The pandemic brought a digital transformation like never seen before. With everyone working from home, remote work platforms and collaboration tools became a must-have. With that, the need for tech talents to meet this digital transformation trend grew – more specifically, tech job openings grew 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels. Furthermore, companies had to shift to completely virtual hiring processes, so as a recruitment platform for tech talent, the impact on my business was actually positive.
The pandemic led to a myriad of cultural side effects, including one that was quite unexpected that is informally known as “The Great Resignation”. Did this widespread trend affect you in any way?
Scott Hirsch: Since our clients are employers and job seekers alike it affected us in a couple of different ways.
The Great Resignation brought more job openings and with that, more opportunities for TalentMarketplace to help companies to fill those roles. But with the digital transformation, it became increasingly difficult to find highly-skilled, technical talent.
So what we end up with is a case of supply and demand, where the power is now in the candidates’ hands – they are asking for higher pay, remote work and better benefits, and companies are willing to give that to them.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4 million Americans quit their jobs in July 2021. How do you feel about this trend? Explain.
Scott Hirsch: The overall mood the pandemic brought, combined with the long quarantine period made workers realize how much of their life they were giving up for a job.
I don’t think the Great Resignation is a bad thing. It means that workers have demands, and they are now looking for jobs that fit their lifestyle.
According to a study by Harvard Business Review, Employees between 30 and 45 years old have had the greatest increase in resignation rates, with an average increase of more than 20% between 2020 and 2021. That can be quite an alarming rate. What advice would you share to increase employee retention?
Scott Hirsch: First of all, employers need to realize that remote work is no longer a benefit – it’s the minimum. On our platform, we once had 60% of candidates retract their applications for a job opening once it was made clear the position was not remote.
Secondly, my advice would be to provide a strong company culture. Company culture is the way employees and employers of a company interact with each other, and most of all, how people feel about working in the company. At TalentMarketplace, we encourage cross-team collaboration between employees and set up social events – both in-person and virtual. We also have regular check-ins with each of our team members to hear about their satisfaction at their job and the company in general.
Finally, employers need to consider the lifestyles of the employees. For example, a person with kids may need accommodations that allow them to spend more time with their children, maybe remote working a few times a week. Another person may see more advantages in adding a fitness allowance to their benefits. That’s why during our annual performance review, we ask employees what they need from us to better accommodate their work-life balance.
According to a Nature Human behavior study, In 2020, 80% of US workers reported feeling that they have too many things to do and not enough time to do them – a phenomenon known as “time poverty”. What is your take on the work-life balance? Explain.
Scott Hirsch: Every so often we see employers that try to fill two or three positions for the price of one. That only causes work overload and burnout.
A happy and well-rested employee is a more productive one. For that reason, at TalentMarketplace we take the necessary steps to avoid burnout in the workplace and make sure our employees have help when they need it.
A more recent survey by Joblist asked about 3,000 respondents if they’re actively thinking about leaving their job. That survey found that 73% of 2,099 respondents who answered this question on their employment plans are considering quitting. How are you preparing for the future to counter this potentially persistent problem?
Scott Hirsch: Honestly, we embraced it, and I think every employer should do the same. The mentality that an employee is going to stay with the same company until retirement is old-fashioned.
People now are working in tours of duty, they want to get the most out of a job as to prepare them for the next one. And there’s nothing wrong with it.
By embracing the tours of duty trend, we help our employees grow and learn from their experience in the company – and by the time they finish their current project, we may have a new challenge waiting for them that will keep them around. If not, we hope they make great use of what they learned, and we start off fresh.
Thank you for all that, our readers are grateful for your insightful comments! Now, if the Great Resignation isn’t your greatest concern, what is the #1 most pressing challenge you’re trying to solve in your business right now?
Scott Hirsch: As a recruitment platform, we are trying to solve other companies’ hiring problems. The tech shortage means employers are at a race to see who gets the qualified talent first. Our platform aims to help companies with that, by providing a pre-screened list of candidates in a fraction of time.
Before we finish things off, we do have one last question. If you had $10 Million Dollars to spend in one day, what would you spend it on?
Scott Hirsch: I am not going to lie and say I wouldn’t spend anything on myself – having my own space would be great.
I would probably donate a big chunk of it to charity, and take some time off to be able to volunteer around the world.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Scott Hirsch for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Scott Hirsch or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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