Welcome to the Hitchhiker’s Guide to Recruiting. I’m Marc Dobkin, and I’m joined here by my colleague, Cory Kazmierski. I’m a hiker and backpacker, and Cory recently lived a nomadic lifestyle while traveling the country. This is our monthly series where Cory and I guide you through exploring the landscape of job and employee search terrains.
I’m actually on location here in Sun Valley, Idaho. I’m at a cabin. We’re vacationing up here, visiting my in laws while they’re at the Sun Valley Music Festival this week. So obviously at a gorgeous location and kind of thinking about hikes that I can do here with my family. And, you know, requirements that I’m looking for specifically in hikes.
Typically, when I’m looking for hikes, I refer to, like a hikers guide, similar to this one. This one isn’t for this particular area. But, I refer to a guide like this or to all trails, where I can sort of look at, for example, this particular author has his favorite hikes here. Best wildflower hikes. Best solitude hikes. Best fall hikes, that’s exactly what I’m looking for. And I usually dive a little bit deeper into that. Obviously, I’ve got the kids up here with me. So I’m looking for relatively easy hikes, while I’m up here. So, you know, distance, elevation. Elevation gain is super important to me.
So I’m looking for, you know, what’s the difficulty of a hike? Is it easy? Is it moderate? Is it strenuous? So with the kids, I’m looking at, short distance, very little elevation gain, you know, difficulty rating of easy. You know, sometimes it depends on whether I’m looking for mountain views or looking for lakes or a hike along a river.
Those kind of requirements are typically how I nailed down what I’m looking for in hikes. And I know Cory, you and I were kind of discussing before we jumped on this, you know, zoom call here today, about hikes in the area, and the requirements that I’m looking for. And I also know that you have a couple of candidates as a matter of fact, that are weighing a couple of offers at the moment.
So we started to think about how that can relate to my specific requirements when looking for a hike. So yeah, why don’t you take it away and talk about how weighing an offer or multiple offers might relate to my requirements for looking for a hike.
Yeah, for sure. No, I appreciate it, Marc. Yeah, definitely jealous of the background there. It’s a lot better than this gloomy Chicago weather we have here. So I’m definitely jealous. I wish I could be there with you. Well, yeah, no, great question. You know, hopefully our videos, are, you know in the series earlier, have helped people get to the point where maybe they are juggling multiple offers. Or, you know, maybe weighing, do they want to stay in their current role? Or, you know, accept a new position.
So, I think the biggest thing is, you know, kind of going back to some of our earlier series, but planning ahead again. Like, I think it’s important to kind of lay out in your job search, like, what you really are targeting in a next role and what’s going to be most important to you.
Like, is it the company culture? Company size? Is it just strictly compensation? Some people are- you don’t want to make a move just to make more money and there’s nothing wrong with that. But, you know, when you are weighing your two offers that maybe you have, or maybe you’re weighing your current situation compared to something new, like, what is going to really make you happy?
And I think you have to really sit down and talk to yourself internally, but talk to others around you, and get a sense of what is going to really help me make this decision? And there are, like I said, a lot of ways to go about that. Some people are looking for that more startup environment where maybe you are one of the first 20 people.
And there’s certainly a lot of people that, that excites and a lot of pluses of that. But there’s a lot of negatives as well. And it’s something that you have to weigh. You know, sometimes you might take a little bit of a salary hit, but hey, maybe you have stock options that could be worth 10 times the salary in a couple of years. And hey, is it worth it to take that initial salary bump to get some of the future perks that are available. So all important things that you have to weigh in- in on.
Kind of like, your hikes and, what your environment is like, whether you’re doing it solo, whether your kids are with you and you need a more easy, moderate type of hike. You know, all things that candidates should be, kind of weighing their odds on, you know, when getting an offer.
You brought up a few good points there, especially relating to family and or being- making this decision solo. Obviously there’s going to be differences between, Hey, if you’re unmarried and you’re single, how is it going to impact you and your future and your career?
Or if you have a family, like me on a hike, you’re going to want to talk to your wife, right? Or your partner, whoever that might be. And, weigh the decision on how that’s going to impact your family, your kids, your partner, right? Absolutely. So incredibly important. I was just thinking about a few roles that I’ve recently been working on where there are specifics. And I was thinking about some candidates I spoke with recently as well.
Some other important things to factor in is the 401k. I’ve recently spoken with a lot of candidates who have been through the process with multiple companies and there’s a lot of variations between company matches. Typically on average, I think it’s somewhere around 4%, 4 or 5% company match. Yeah, that sounds right.
Even a lot higher recently, which really surprised me. So that might be something that a candidate might want to weigh. I’m also working on a number of sales roles as well. So candidates might want to weigh what the other benefits are. Is there a company car that’s provided? Or what kind of like reimbursement do you get for traveling, for mileage, for gas, whatever it is. So, you might want to factor in those particular things, just depending on the type of industry or position that you’re working in. There are going to be those small factors that are going to be important to you. Yeah, absolutely.
And those little tweaks really do mean a lot more to some people over the other. And that’s something that I think companies and hiring managers need to keep in mind of how are we positioning ourselves in the market to be able to make the strongest offer? Yeah, you might offer a salary that’s 10 to 20,000 higher than some of your competition, but, hey, is your competition offering a better 401k match, cheaper benefits, more paid time off, better maternity/paternity leave? Like all of those things are things that candidates factor into a decision.
So it’s something that I think hiring managers and companies in general need to really look at and be able to evaluate what a total package looks like. Rather than just, “Hey, well, we’re offering the biggest base possible.” Or, “Hey, our bonus program, our 401k plan, benefits are incredible, but our base salary is going to be a little bit lower because of that.
Well, that base does matter to a lot of people. So you know, not just important for candidates, but hiring managers and companies in general will look at. Absolutely. Yeah. And for other people, the salary isn’t everything, you know. Folks in sort of later stages of their career, salary is not important.
You know, maybe it’s a work life balance. What kind of opportunities do people have to have a flexible work schedule, for example. Or, you know, what kind of medical benefits are important to folks? You know, maybe somebody’s got a family member that’s under their benefits plan and perhaps has a disability.
So a specific provider might be important to that particular candidate and being able to stay with their same provider on a new benefits plan could be important, so. Absolutely. Even just passion projects in general, like as people, I think, progress through their career, I think they’re more liable to take a project that is really ingrained with their passions and their personalities, things like that, and care less about the money. So it’s a great point. Yeah, good. Well, hey, fantastic advice here today, Cory. Glad we got to chat about this subject.
So, as we wrap up another episode of the hitchhiker’s guide to recruiting, keep in mind that the lessons from the trail can guide you to success. Stay curious, stay adaptable, and remember that every step counts.
