2022 KP People Report

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2022 KP People Report

Recruiting Trends

Highlights

Top insights in this section are:

Despite the number of companies going through layoffs, many companies across all stages are still selectively hiring. Companies with 500+ employees saw the largest increase with their candidate pipeline, while companies with <200 employees, are having to work harder to build out their pipeline. This suggests that candidates are prioritizing stability over risk.

Remote recruiting is the new norm but parts of the exec interview process have shifted to in-person. We’ve seen an in-person component to the interview process (onsite interviews, presentation, offer) for executives even if the company is 100% remote or remote first.

Exec searches are taking longer to close. Candidates are getting more savvy and doing their own due diligence on the company.

Recruiting in the Current Environment

The market still remains competitive for companies <500 employees. Companies surveyed that have 500+ companies have reported that candidates are more realistic given current market conditions. Many companies are seeing no change or increase in candidate pipeline. Engineering and Product remain the hardest roles to fill. GTM functions followed by Recruiting have been easier to fill with the current environment.

In a survey to 1,000+ technical talent from the

Kleiner Perkins Fellows Program⁠

, top 3 factors for evaluating potential career opportunities are culture / mission, company trajectory, scope of role.

⁠

Notes:

[1] The 1,000+ employees that were surveyed are part of the Kleiner Perkins Fellows network. They currently work for a portfolio company, have experience working at a portfolio company, or have gone on to found their own startup.

Remote Recruiting is the Norm

The majority of companies surveyed have been actively recruiting and many employees were virtually onboarded. We are continuing to see candidates going through virtual interviews vs in-person interviews.

🧩 Fundamentals: In this virtual environment, it is important to pay extra attention to candidate experience. It can be hard to develop rapport over Zoom. We have heard of companies scheduling a virtual session (lunch/coffee) that is more “get to know” vs assessing as part of the “onsite” interview loop. For executive hires, we have seen an increase in the candidate meeting the CEO and exec team in person. Often times, exec level offers are extended in person as well.

Recruiting Resources

Majority of companies have reduced headcount. 64% of companies have reduced headcount but are still selectively hiring, and 12% of companies have reduced headcount and have frozen hiring. Companies surveyed have reported cutting / reducing recruiting resources mostly around recruiter headcount and agencies both on the exec and contingency side.

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*Companies with 1-25 employees have not made any changes.

Candidate Pipeline

Companies with 500+ employees saw the largest increase in candidates engaging in their interview process. Majority of early stage startups (1-25 employees), saw no change in their candidate pipeline.

⁠

Comp Expectations

We have seen an increase in the number of non-EPD candidates being more realistically aligned with current market conditions.

Market for EPD talent remains extremely competitive. Although 16% saw a shift towards more realistic comp expectations.

Candidate Close Rate

Acceptance Rate Benchmarks:

Technical talent: 60%-65% (good) | 75%-80% (great)

Non-technical talent: 75%-80% (good) | 85%-90% (great)

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Reduced Budget for Recruiting Resources

Over 60% of companies have reduced their budget for recruiting resources. The areas where we see later stage companies make cuts are: external recruiting agency support (bringing the recruiting talent in-house), reducing recruiting tool resources, and having more full life cycle recruiters.

Has your budget for recruiting resources (headcount, tools, training, etc) come down given this market?

OVERALL AVG

1-25

⁠

Highlights

Recruiting in the Current Environment

Remote Recruiting is the Norm

Reduced Budget for Recruiting Resources

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