How Pocus hired exceptional engineers on Paraform after their Series A
Pocus is the first Product-Led Sales platform that turns product data into revenue. Founded in 2021, they have a team of about 30 people and over $23M in funding. Some of their customers include Webflow, ClickUp, Monday.com, Canva, Asana, and more.
Recently, Pocus hired a Software Engineer to help develop their core platform. They have an extremely high bar for hiring – if there’s even a glimmer of doubt, Pocus’ hiring managers move on to the next candidate!
Here’s how Paraform was able to help.
How was your experience using Paraform?
"We started using Paraform last October when we got serious about growing the team. Overall it’s been great!"
Aniruddha, Head of Engineering at Pocus, found the platform to be easy to use and it fit their needs well. Previously him and the team had to do a lot of heavy lifting to source candidates – Pocus doesn’t have an in-house recruiter.
"Sourcing is a hard job. We’ve found some really good candidates through Paraform. Without an in-house recruiter, we wanted to try out every tool we could. Paraform was a low-stakes investment and quickly grew our funnel."
Pocus’ hiring manager mentioned that even with lots of recruiting help in his previous roles, it’s a challenging and complicated process. Like most people in his position he uses a variety of agencies and recruiting tools. So able to manage your data across those tools and help simplify the process was a huge plus - our integrations make that happen smoothly.
Why did you decide not to hire an in-house recruiter yet?
"The biggest factor is cost. We’re not always hiring, so we don’t want to hire someone just for them to have no work in 6 months. Finding someone more flexible is key."
Paraform’s marketplace dynamics allow startups to instantly flex up and flex down their recruiting efforts. Just record a quick intake call with a few of your top recruiters and you’ve scaled your sourcing process.
Paraform is a cost competitive solution that brings you the right results.
"Even if we had an in-house recruiter, because it adds to the pipeline, I assume Paraform will continue to be a valuable tool."
What are your best practices?
Pocus has a high bar for adding new team members and is dedicated to saying “Yes” to a candidate only if they’re a great fit.
“Even if we miss out on some good candidates, we are super ruthless in hiring. We’re not desperate, so we err on the side of saying no. We’re looking for seriously good engineers that want to work at a company our size. If we sense someone isn’t down for that risk, they get filtered out.”
It’s not personal, it’s just smart. Making sure you and a potential candidate are on the same page about the realities of the situation leads to fewer false starts. Aniruddha focuses on hiring serious candidates – ones who are both experienced and willing to take on the startup challenge. This what else he looks for in candidates:
“I mainly focus on experience, but in terms of traits: are they increasing the scope of work on their journey? Are they self-critical? Good candidates reflect on things they could have done differently. Not-so-good candidates hide mistakes, blame other functions, or just aren’t aware of their own opportunities for improvement”
Paraform helps Pocus translate their requirements into filters that recruiters can apply. Intro calls and other features efficiently signal what your company values in candidates. Whether that’s a certain work experience, personal trait, or proof of high career trajectory.
What’s your favorite feature?
The platform’s Activity Tab and Candidate View are slick tools for busy hiring managers.
"It’s really useful that it shows the stage of the process that candidates are at. The Activity Tab allows me to get a sense of what’s coming. And interacting with recruiters through that page is a main use case for me."
When you’re working with agencies, your pipeline can get cloudy. When you use Paraform, you have insight into where candidates are. This allows you to keep your team in the loop, follow up with recruiters at the right time, and not worry about a surprise interview.
The Candidate View feature is also a favorite. It lets you pull up all of an interviewee’s information in one spot, so you can get up to speed and apply your judgement.
“When I’m chatting with people, I open up Paraform so I have all my candidate information in one spot. Their LinkedIn, cover letter, resume, all that. That’s been really helpful!
Pocus is looking for “seriously good engineers” and was able to find great candidates through Paraform. Joe was previously employee #10 at Mixpanel, engineer #3 at Substack, and also worked at Google and Seaplane before joining Pocus.
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Speak with our team to learn more about how Paraform can help you fill your difficult positions