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The need for an organization to articulate who they are and differentiate in a highly competitive talent market can be both relatable and frustrating to many of us. As HR leaders and the ones who attract future technical talent, it’s no longer enough to just say we’re different than other organizations; everything we do, everyone we hire, everything we say: it all must show that the ethos of who our people are translates into a well-received message by those who we’re trying to attract.
A cornerstone of building the right hiring approach is how we work internally with teams across the business. The core of our hiring strategy and success is rooted in a strong, connected partnership between the Talent Acquisition and HR Business Partner teams (HRBPs).
Here are some of the successful ways we partner:
Understand the need, share critical information, and lead with data
Beyond forecasting hiring needs based on budget, we know business strategies evolve throughout the year. HRBPs are tightly connected to the business so when changes require a pivot in talent strategy, they immediately partner with Talent Acquisition to proactively address the need – such as changes in forecasted positions, or new skills needed to achieve digitalization goals. This includes predictive turnover trends, engagement data and compensation market data to ensure competitiveness. Weekly team huddles focus on hiring and turnover KPIs.
Co-develop a strong brand, while prioritizing cultural fit
We have a lot to be proud of: Record Growth. 7th largest bank in Canada. A leading fintech. “Top Bank in Canada” as awarded by Forbes. Certified “Great Place to Work”. Fintech innovation award. Agile. A modern tech stack, as the First Canadian Cloud-native online bank. Not hampered by legacy systems.
How do we share who we are to attract the best tech talent – while staying true to our humble roots? How do we cultivate our culture to attract those who will enhance our collaborative, humble and inclusive values, in a tight talent pool of in-demand candidates?
• The HRBP/Talent Acquisition Team co-create our tech-specific Employee Value Proposition (EVP), and integrate aspects into each key moment in the recruiting and onboarding process, balancing communicating our accomplishments in an authentic way
• During the selection process, we screen for values alignment – and don’t compromise, even if it affects time to hire
• A generous referral policy, reinforcing to employees the need for candidate alignment to our values
Tackling internal and external barriers with agility
As a digital bank operating in Agile, it is imperative our technology team is also supported with agility. This means diagnosing recruitment problems and solving them quickly. Armed with hiring KPIs and insights from Talent Acquisition specialists, HRBPs are uniquely positioned to remove barriers. This could include competitive compensation; hiring manager alignment; resource issues and even adapting job functions/postings to become more appealing to tech talent.
By bringing the team together early on to address business problems, we have a better chance of fixing them, or “failing small and learning fast”, the true definition of Agile.
Continuous learning & obsessively monitoring the market
With the fluidity of the labour market, economy, and rapid digital advances such as AI, a commitment to continuous learning is critical. Staying updated on industry trends, candidate expectations, market compensation and competitors for talent is a MUST. It includes distilling market themes from information gained from passive and active candidate discussions, market publications, e-newsletters and collated industry research gathered by our internal communications team.
This requires each side carving out time per week to seek new information and share back during “Tech Hiring Huddles”, such as recruiting in the metaverse.
Embracing IDEAs -- Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Anti-Racism
It is essential that we not only hire individuals from a range of backgrounds, but also commit to creating long-term, trusted partnerships with underrepresented and underserved community groups, externally. These partnerships are chosen by EQ Bank employees of lived experience, and they are empowered to secure these partnerships by their own vote, not by running requests past the executive team. We believe our employees when they tell us what their communities need!
We have a dedicated team member whose primary role is to thoughtfully upend the way companies seek diverse candidates, and we place enormous importance on that work. The ‘Nothing about us without us’ lodestar means that our Employee Resource Groups, including the Women in Tech ERG members, are committed to promoting tech-focused women internally and externally. We are also donating to - and making partnerships with - youth-of-colour tech/coding non-profits as part of our commitment to that work.
These concrete actions help us build a more inclusive and representative workforce while contributing to the larger goal of increasing diversity in the tech industry and showcasing women currently working in tech. This highlights our mentorship commitment: “If you can see it, you can be it!”
Recently, our HRBP and Talent Acquisition teams partnered on a diverse slate hiring strategy, and a diverse panel. This required true partnership to influence stakeholders and create an effective sourcing and interviewing strategy to increase diversity and inclusion.
In summary – strong partnering leads to success
The strong partnership between the HRBPs and Talent Acquisition enables a successful talent attraction strategy, as it allows for crisp understanding of specific needs and solutions for the business.
This tight communication flow ensures the recruitment process is aligned with the company’s overall strategy and the message is well received in the market. The culture and approach teams take to communicate and get creative also play a vital role in the success of our employee value proposition.
Being a bold challenger means never settling into a status quo way of operating. At EQ Bank, we are still finding our sweet spot as a fintech and that quest fuels us to explore more, try new things, and challenge our people and ourselves to take worthwhile risks that create meaningful change.
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