May 2022 – SingleSprout

A new way to compete for talent – Video

Posted on May 31, 2022 by admin

This week our cofounders shared advice with our clients on how to get more candidates interested in their company in this very competitive market. We got such a great response to this, that we decided to share this with our entire network – please feel free to read their advice below:

Given the competition in the market (nearly all engineering roles increased in salary last quarter), we are looking at ways to increase engagement from qualified candidates. One such way companies gain an advantage is by using video in recruiting marketing. Through the insights of our Client Advisory Board and our own data, companies that use video for recruiting marketing are increasing conversion rates by as much as 25% at the top of the funnel / first interview.

Your company’s personality and culture shine in the video. Additionally, in one of our latest polls to placed candidates, the #1 reason candidates join their company is team/culture.

Ask: We propose creating at least 1 video (1-2 minutes) on why your company is an exciting home for prospective candidates to join (ie: problem, solution, scale, culture, impact, investors, founder’s background). Please then share it with us, so we can share it with qualified candidates to increase interest and conversion.

Some video software that we recommend include:

VideoAsk
Scenery (collaborative video editor)
- Example recruiting video here (Pinterest’s head of corp dev made remotely)
Loom
- Example here of a job description pitch and here of a candidate product demo
Youtube (put a link in the JD)
- Example here
The Muse
- Example here of leadership and culture.
How it works videos

All the best,

Natan and David

SingleSprout is 9 years old!

Posted on May 31, 2022May 31, 2022 by admin

Our team can not wait to celebrate at our offsite in a couple of months. But for now, we wanted to share 9 fun facts about SingleSprout, to celebrate our 9 year anniversary.

Over the last 9 years, we have been able to help 1000+ engineers find a new role, and grow their careers.
We have grown to 45 employees, and we currently have 5 open roles including Director of Engineering.
It took about 2 years to make our first 100 placements, but for the first time (Q1 ’22), we were able to make over 100 placements in less than 90 days.
We started with hiring for just software engineering positions, but now we support a range of engineering, data, and product positions (IC-Management level) as well as legal (VP, GC, CLO) talent.
Our logo: the triangle represents our clients, candidates, and employees and how SingleSprout brings everyone together.
Our team has been 100% remote since 2020 and we have employees in 14 different states!
During the last 9 years, our software engineering team has created internal products including Lilly, Daisy, Clover, and Nectar (all with a plant 🌱 theme).
Out of 1,000+ polled candidates that we’ve placed, of those that responded, more than 75% are still working at the company we placed them at.
Lastly, our founders David and Natan met when they were 9 years old!

We know this is going to be a special year, and we are excited to see how we can continue to support both candidates and growing companies

Q1 2022 Engineering Compensation Report

Posted on May 9, 2022May 9, 2022 by admin

Last quarter, was SingleSprouts busiest quarter to date. Our team was able to place over 100 engineers and lawyers at growing startups. Because of this plethora of data, we decided to start running our compensation report on a quarterly basis.

To find our comp report, please use the following link (here).

Here are a few extra facts, about the recent hiring market.

The hiring market is greatly affected by world events. In March, with the uncertainty of the stock market, mortgage rates, Ukraine, etc we saw both candidates and candidates change their behavior.

We saw candidates act a bit more risk-averse and a majority of them were seeking high cash offers (with less emphasis on stock). Previous motivators like the companies mission, projects, growth opportunities, and other huge motivators dropped in significance, compared to cash compensation.
At the same time, we saw a handful of our companies giving much more conservative offers, which were not matching candidates’ demands.
As a result, our offer accept rate dropped slightly in early March. Towards the end of the month we saw our companies recognized the new client demands, and as such made some quick changes. The biggest change we saw was a significant increase in signing bonuses during late March, to compensate for changes in the market. (Average signing bonus was 10-25% of base salary).

A huge piece of news in the tech hiring market this quarter was Amazon sudden announcement, that they have more than doubled the max pay rate for their engineering teams. This huge increase in salary has brought them in line with other competitors in the talent market including Google, Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft. It has not only put pressure on other large companies to re-think their comp plans but this change may make it somewhat harder for startups to compete in the talent market.

Another large change we have seen was a sudden increase in salary for engineers with 10+ years of experience.

Background: We had 2 candidates in the same week get great offers from our companies above what they told us they were seeking (both got offers in low $200,000 in base salary, with plenty of equity). Even though our candidates had told us that said companies were their top choice, both of these two candidates accepted offers outside of us for more than $250,000 in base.
Our findings: We have found that engineers that receive an offer of +$15,000 per year in base salary are +80% likely to accept the highest offer (even if the company was not their top choice). Despite what candidates tell us, cash is still the greatest motivator.

SingleSprout and G-Code Event

Posted on May 3, 2022 by admin

SingleSprout recently had the pleasure of partnering with G{Code} House in a virtual Zoom event to provide 1:1 mentorship and guidance for their alumni currently navigating their job search and a new career in tech.

G{Code} is an innovative, place-based initiative that connects women and non-binary people of color to educational and employment opportunities in the technology sector. The initiative combines aﬀordable co-living, technology instruction, industry placements, and post-secondary education. They aim to tackle the STEM gender gap, income inequality, and the affordable housing crisis by recruiting Boston residents, specifically women and non-binary people of color, including those who are close to aging out of homeless shelters by offering them a place to live while pursuing a STEM education and ultimately providing participants with stable careers that will allow them to gain access to economic mobility.

Interested in learning more? Check out their programming here.

Referral program

Do you know of any Engineers, Product Managers, Designers, or Attorneys?

At the end of each year, we donate a portion of our proceeds from successful candidate referrals to the following forward-thinking, social good organizations: