"When the President of the United States personally asks you to a job, you do it."
From setting up Mozilla's hiring processes when they were only 20 employees strong, to working with top Capital Hill brass with the United States Digital Service, Dan Portillo has done it all. Currently serving as Talent Partner with Greylock, Dan agreed to swing by Entelo HQ and chat on our podcast about the challenges he's experienced along the way. Check out this quick teaser info and stream the full episode below.
Building Out Hiring Processes
Starting in his early recruiting days at Mozilla, and carried on in his advisory role amongst Greylock's portfolio companies, Dan has set up recruiting teams and processes time and time again. He explains how he goes about looking for generational talent--that is, people who can grow into their roles and end up leading the company, and how he trains his talent teams to assess for this trait in candidates.
The Recruiting Promise
Recruiting is more than a function, a task, or a job. Dan believes it's a promise. You explain to candidates what their lives will be like, what their experience will be day in and day out, and how that plays in to their bigger career goals. As a result, he claims he does a huge amount of anti-recruitment-- talking candidates out of accepting a role if he's not certain the job is actually a proper fit for them. When expectations are misaligned, and a candidate has a hope for a job that isn't the real case, it is a recipe for discontent. Dan works hard to learn what motivates individuals so he can point them towards an opportunity that makes the most sense for them.
The Agency Transition
Dan loves hiring for his internal recruiter roles out of agencies, but there's a massive shift in their hiring mentality that must take place. He wastes no time telling these individuals that they now have a fundamentally different job, as they have to live with bad decisions in a way that agency recruiters do not. As he explains, their recruiting task is not longer filling roles, but building a company.
In addition to the above, Dan explains how President Obama personally asked him to join the USDS and help them build our their talent team and talent processes. Dan is a gripping speaker who draws upon a wealth of information. Check out the full episode below, and don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a beat!