Creating a Humble and Determined Team for Zendesk
“With DotConnect, I was able to get the right candidates and close very quickly.” Nishanth Babu, Director of Product - Zendesk
“They provide context into the market.”
Nishanth, wanted a team of people who were independent and who could do the right thing for their company and their customers. DotConnect created a close partnership to support Zendesk’s hiring needs. It was so close that Nishanth actually thought the DotConnect team was part of Zendesk’s internal hiring team.
“The main challenge [of hiring] in San Francisco is that it’s a competitive market.” Nishanth manages a team of product managers, so he was looking for people who were exceptionally strong in whatever space they were in, but he also needed people who could be a good culture fit, who had the ability to learn, and who had a strong foundational understanding of what it means to be a product manager. DotConnect helps Nishanth feel confident in Zendesk’s hiring process.
“They know what will work and what won’t work in terms of hiring and negotiating so negotiation becomes really easy. They provide a lot of context in terms of how the market is, and they have a good pulse check around the potential of a candidate, so they provide insights to help us understand if we need to go above and beyond to hire a specific candidate.”
“Working with DotConnect was the most personalized experience.” Jenn Vargas - Group Product Manager - Zendesk
When DotConnect reached out to Jenn, she was running her own Product UX Consultancy, so she was working as an independent contractor. She was starting her search, and she got excited by the role DotConnect suggested because it was an overlap between product and UX roles.
”There’s usually a process. At some places, it’s about the process and you’re just a cog. And some places are about you as a human. Working with DotConnect was like that. They were patient and weren’t completely trying to get the best for Zendesk and their bottom line. They were trying to find the best balance.”
Before DotConnect…
Jenn would go through the general hiring process situation, and she would put her details online and do some searching. Recruiters would come her way, but she never had a real personalized process.
The DotConnect difference…
“The personalized process and the project we were working on was why I made that decision [to join Zendesk]. I didn’t want to be thrown into a generic role and they would find a fit. They knew I’d be good for this project and they knew this would be a match for a particular role and skill set. Most other interviewers were trying to find the problems with me but this process was about trying to find out where I fit.”
“Without DotConnect, I’d probably be at a job I hated.”
