- [Narrator] When you move into a new neighborhood
and begin to explore in search
of your preferred local vendors and service providers,
what influences that decision?
Well, it could be a number of things,
prices, business hours,
or maybe you just really like the staff.
Regardless of what your drivers are,
the bottom line is that it comes down
to what works best for you.
Now on the other side of this exploratory exercise
is the vendor or service provider
that has to figure out the top influencers
that will attract the largest segment
of their addressable market.
In this case, it's all of your neighbors.
But beyond just giving you the experience you want,
they also have to figure out
how to do it better than their competitors
so you'll consistently bring your business
to them instead of taking it elsewhere.
This means you, as the buyer, have the upper hand.
You get to choose where you take your business
based on the outcomes that best align
with whatever it is that moves you.
Furthermore, this can change over time.
So your local vendors and service providers
not only have to work hard to earn your business,
they have to work hard to keep it.
Now, I have a feeling I don't need to explain
how this ties back to entry level talent,
but I'm going to do it anyway.
These candidates are new
to the cybersecurity neighborhood
and they're trying to figure out
where to take their talents.
They also have a number
of different motivators or influencers.
Some care about salary, work hours,
maybe it's remote versus onsite or hybrid work
that moves them or maybe they care
most about the team they'll be working with.
At the end of the day,
it's the same concept, what works best for them,
which company's role, leadership,
and overall total package best aligns
with where they are today
and where they want to go in their career.
As leaders and hiring managers,
we have to figure out the top two or three things
that will give us the best chance
at attracting and retaining the right talent.
And no pressure, but to seal the deal,
we have to somehow be more attractive than other companies.
This means, yep, you guessed it,
the candidate has the upper hand.
They get to choose where they take their talents
based on their roles, companies,
and teams that best align with whatever moves them.
And yes, these motivators change over time.
So for efficiency's sake,
you'll want to leverage influencers
that entice candidates to not only join your team,
but also remain on your team.
So what's the plan?
What do entry level candidates care about?
Well, I'm no psychic, but I'm willing to bet
most entry level candidates you'd want on your team
will be curious about things like training
and continuous learning
and opportunities for growth that exist
both within your team and within the broader organization.
Simply put, career progression.
Now, don't make the mistake
some hiring managers make by seeing this as a negative.
When a candidate asks about growing and progressing,
don't tell yourself, "Well, gosh, they're looking
for ways to leave my team before they even join my team."
Instead, view it as the candidate
doing their due diligence to ensure
they won't be stuck in a role
doing the same things forever
and that they want to grow so they can help the team,
and ultimately the company more and more.
This is an indicator
that you might just be able to hire this candidate,
retain this candidate, and put a growth plan in place
for giving them more responsibility
and promoting them into a more senior role.
Yep, moving them through your internal pipeline.
The idea being that your external candidate pipeline
feeds your internal growth and progression pipeline.
Whether you decide to add a blurb
about career progression in your job description,
discuss it during the interview process
or save it as a bargaining chip,
making candidates aware of the opportunities
that exist gives them a vision,
an exciting view into what's possible.
The right candidates should eat this up
and see it as a differentiator.
And as long as you properly manage
the expectations around their growth plan,
this is a win-win situation for everyone.
So, Tia, how do we get this growth plan thing going?
Again, you and all your awesome questions.
That's exactly where we're headed next.