“By 2013 more than half of the top 50 companies were talent-based, including three of the four biggest: Apple, Microsoft, and Google. (The other was ExxonMobil.) Only 10 owed their position on the list to the ownership of resources. Over the past 50 years the U.S. economy has shifted decisively from financing the exploitation of natural resources to making the most of human talent.” says Roger Martin, University of Toronto professor, in “The Rise (and Likely Fall) of the Talent Economy” in the October 2014 issue of the Harvard Business Review.
In an entrepreneur survey that Mayfield conducted in 2015, helping attract and retain talent emerged as one of the top ways an investor could add value. The importance of recruiting is evident from these findings. The approach can no longer be one of simply matching candidates to opportunities through resumes. Today’s talent resource leader must seamlessly position the long-term value of an opportunity in the arc of a candidate’s career, employ sophisticated processes, and be data-driven. In fact, a new field of tech-enabled recruiting, HRTech, has emerged; it includes next-generation software platforms such as our portfolio company, SmartRecruiters, which are pushing the envelope in this field. Talent acquisition today requires a new kind of skill set – thought leadership on best practices, effective communication, a grasp of modern software, and most importantly, a focus on lasting outcomes, not just placements.
With that in mind, I am excited to welcome the newest addition to the Mayfield Team, Tejas Maniar, as Vice President of Talent. Tejas brings a decade of experience in people strategy and executive recruiting, along with deep analytics skills gained at Google, Korn Ferry, Heidrick & Struggles, Gallup, and Accenture. At Google, he oversaw a team that created a new way to hire software engineers through hidden code challenges, ran marketing campaigns to hire candidates through social media and digital advertising, and had ultimate responsibility for Google’s employment brand. He also led a special projects team at Google responsible for the most senior leadership hiring projects. Tejas brings a deep background in executive recruiting, having personally led C-Suite and VP searches at public, private equity, and venture-backed companies during his time at Korn Ferry and Heidrick & Struggles. Finally, Tejas is well versed in how to select and work effectively with recruiting firms. Hiring the right executive requires hiring the right search partner, and Tejas has hired search firms, negotiated contracts, and fundamentally understands how to run an effective executive search process.
With Tejas on board, we are looking forward to offering our entrepreneurs a modern and sustainable approach to attracting and retaining talent.
