What is a Growth Hacker? Is it a technology or a group of hackers who get into your system and block your company’s growth? Well, the term was first used in 2010 to represent those individuals and their start up companies who had taken unconventional roads for their marketing campaign and achieved instant success and growth. Some such examples are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, AirBnB, Dropbox, etc. But what’s so special about these Growth Hackers and how can your organization be a part of that elite group? Let’s find out!
SECRET INGREDIENT:
The biggest question in front of a Growth Hacker is: how to build a strong marketing strategy without money? They know one thing: growth first, budget second. The conventional methods of advertising on TV and other popular platforms are far from their reach as they’re quite expensive. So they focus on other factors such as A/B tests, viral factor, SEO management, email deliverability, etc which are already popular. But their creative mindset is what takes them off the hook. If your ad can connect with people, they’ll ask others to watch it and that’s how your product is launched in a network of potential users. So resources are the same or even less but it’s your problem identification quality and approach to the solution that matters.
KNOW YOUR NEED:
Each company is as different as its employees. There might be many other companies working in the same field as yours, but you can’t compare the two. Your
-current growth rate
-employee base
-clients
-future prospects
-resources
-current market status
are all the different factors that determine your need. If you hire a growth hacker that aims to open up international market for your company in a time when you’re not able to hold on to your own local customer base, it’s not a good idea at all! You need to first stabilize your current growth rate and only then you can go for the next step.
Moreover, a lot depends upon whether your company has a brand name or you’re just a start up. Start ups have all the directions open for them and trying something beyond the obvious is a good option for them. Even if it doesn’t work, you can still count for the other options. But in case of a brand, one wrong step and your image is all down to the dust.
Before hiring a Growth Hacker, make sure you have done everything you can and there are no more practical changes possible. Otherwise, the hired person will be eligible for a short run because if the current problem is solved soon, new challenges will have new preferred recruits. Remember, the Growth Hacker doesn’t have a magic wand. He will be pulling the same threads that you already have in your hands. All you need to do is look for the right combination and coordination of events.
HIRING NEW MINDS:
When you’re hiring creative minds, you need to be creative as well in your search. A simple microscope won’t work but you’ll have to opt for Hawk’s eyes to claim your target. There are many job portals such as Monster.com, Indeed.com, careerbuilder.com, Linkup.com, etc but they are not sufficient for your requirements. You can keep searching on these websites but start looking for alternate options as well such as:
Twitter – Twitter might not be the first place where an HR consultant will look for business meeting, but it’s the most trending place and Growth Hackers are the new trend. So you can search for all the tweets regarding Growth Hackers and add the new leads to your list.
LinkedIn – LinkedIn is obviously the hub of all professionals around the world. It’s not a job portal but still the right place for you. People add their resumes to LinkedIn and if you find one lead at LinkedIn, you can find more from his connections. It’s obvious that if a person is working as an Engineer, he’ll have many more in his circle. Same goes with Growth Hackers.
Growthhackers.com – Growthhackers.com is all about what you’re looking for. You can follow your leads on Twitter and get them into a conversation.
Start Up Conferences – Apart from these stations, Growth Hacker is a term that has evolved from start ups. So what’s better than to visit such start ups. There are many weekly or monthly conferences going on where everybody from the start up community is present. So go and attend such conferences and you’ll definitely crack a very good deal.
Referrals – When you’re searching for such a popular post, no doubt you can find many such working in your fellow companies. So ask their owners for their leads because they’d also have researched the same way as you did. They obviously would have hired the best one, but as I already mentioned, each company is different and the one that suits you best might still be in the waiting list!
FILTER THE GOLD:
Now that you have shortlisted some candidates for the post, the final screening is in your hands. Interviewing a candidate for such a significant and creative job can be very difficult.
– Go back to the basics and focus on your need. Filter out the resumes for the particular requirement or at least give them a preference over others.
– Run a scan of each candidate’s professional history. There are many interesting facts that are absent on the resume but can only be found in their previous cabins.
– Keep your focus on the possible future challenges. Never hire for a short run because otherwise you’ll soon be travelling the same road with new requirements and it’s a waste of both time and money.
– Set your expectations very clear to the candidates. Whether it’s about your expected growth rate to be achieved in the next one year or the extended work timings of the candidate, make sure there are no misunderstandings.
Let me put the situation like this. You can travel by bus, train or take a flight when all three are destined for the same. You never know which route he is taking. You might meet him sitting in a local bus in shorts and sleepers or you might have to head to the privileged class of the aeroplane. There’s no sure shot here. So all you have to do is just keep trying!
