It is naive to think that your engineers aren’t getting pinged constantly about new job opportunities. You should act like it.
I have an admittedly love/hate relationship with LinkedIn. It is an infinitely useful tool for building, indexing and maintaining a professional network. It can also be a morass of sales and recruiter spam. I am admittedly part of that problem, having sent hundreds of recruiting emails to interesting candidates. Everyone I have talked with reports the same thing: recruiters are constantly sending them messages on the site.
I won’t lie to you – it bothers me that people are out there constantly tempting my team members to leave. Recruiters can sing any number of siren songs to find the right leverage. Need money now? Boy, do we have a great signing bonus. Looking to improve your total compensation? Let’s chat about our equity vesting schedule. Want an interesting technical challenge? We have a new team spinning up and you can hack to your heart’s delight. The grass is totally greener on this side – just sign here…
So, what can you do with the knowledge that recruiters are banging on the door of all your engineers?
It doesn’t matter. Nothing new is needed. You focus on fundamentals.
Your forever-goal is to create the kind of team that people would hate to leave. The kind of team that people doubt can be replicated elsewhere. The kind of team that always presents unique opportunities to engineers. These goals will be true whether recruiters are pinging your people or if their inbox is completely empty.
Your people will leave you. Your best people will leave you. I am never hurt or offended when I know that people are leaving for a new opportunity that I can’t provide them. I am hurt, and potentially offended, when people leave for reasons that are entirely within my control. Build the team that you would hate to leave and you will be halfway to your goal already.
Photo: Arch Rock on the east side of Anacapa Island within Channel Islands National Park.