One of the great things about our job is that we get to talk to exciting people from a wide variety of industries. This is the case with Jennifer LerouxChief Recruitment Officer at Cleyropeditor of the first European DataHub, a unified, secure and sovereign data platform.
Check out his insightful interview, whether you're a recruiter, a candidate in the data field or just curious!
Hello Jennifer! First of all, can you tell us why you joined Cleyrop?
Hello ! Concerning my background, I have been working in the recruitment field for 10 years. I have always worked in the IT environment. I decided to join Cleyrop for three main reasons:
First of all, I was very attracted to the company's project. There are great ambitions and a real impact behind it. It's not just another business, and it's very gratifying to be able to participate in this collective.
Secondly, I like the fact that everything is buildable at Cleyrop. There is a lot to build, and this offers the opportunity to create, process, test and implement many ideas. It's very rewarding and challenging!
Third, I am passionate about the data environment. It is a sector in full revolution, which is constantly being challenged. Being able to know and master this ever-changing field is very exciting. Today, my goal is to build our recruitment team.
Precisely, you are facing a strong recruitment actu?
I am currently recruiting two people to strengthen my team. We are opening between 60 and 70 positions this year.
We are mainly looking for profiles in data engineering and infrastructure: Developers for our platform (backend developers, frontend, fullstack, PO, PM, QA, scrum master ...), data experts (data engineer, data scientist ...) and Ops professions (devops, solution architect ...).
These business recruitments will obviously have an impact on the support functions, so we are looking for CSM, sales, market, finance and ... HR profiles!
👉 To discover Cleyrop and its open positions, it's this way.
I noticed that you use Teamtailor for your recruitments. What do you think about it?
Indeed, we have moved from the endless Excel to Teamtailor. This tool is really very practical and clearly appreciated by the candidates. It works very well and that works in our favor.
The great thing is that Teamtailor is easy to use. Honestly, you don't need any specific training to get the hang of it and use it effectively.
For hiring managers who are not used to recruiting, which we obviously need to support, the tool is also very easy to use. Teamtailor allows us to access our data very easily, which enables us to improve our quality and capacity for recruitment (time to hire, candidate NPS, visibility, etc.).
Do you use other tools for your outbound candidate strategies?
Yes, indeed, our goal is to have a fairly broad strategy that encompasses events, outbound and nurturing. As far as candidate hunting is concerned, the idea is also to get closer to job communities via Slack. We also take part in job events that allow us to talk directly with interested parties.
Then we have relays that allow us to get inbound leads. For example, I'm currently working with 50inTech, because we have an important gender issue at Cleyrop, which we really care about.
We use other tools that automate hunting, such as HireSweet, Waalaxy and other similar solutions.
What about co-option at Cleyrop?
Yes, we have indeed set up a co-option system that works well for us. The idea is to have a healthy co-optation ratio. Co-option is a very practical way for us recruiters, let's not lie!
However, it is important to be vigilant about the co-optation rate to avoid creating twin companies. Diversity is the key, we seek to integrate people from different worlds and companies, in order to bring a fresh perspective and new expertise.
Co-optation can also encourage the creation of internal communities and facilitate work with people we already know. On the other hand, it can lead to favored and closed work groups, more reassuring to work with people we know and therefore generate frustrations, especially with our remote model.
Our goal is to have a healthy percentage of co-optation, between 20 and 30% of total hires.
Your ambition is to recruit 60 to 70 new people. Can you tell us a little more about this?
In concrete terms, to reach our goals and ensure that our platform is used by major players in both the private and public sectors, we need to strengthen our internal team. To develop the platform, but also to rely on skills in sales, marketing, etc. Our product roadmap is ambitious, our sales cycles are complex, that's why we really need new talents to make us progress and reach our goals.
At Cleyrop, you talk a lot about "sovereignty". Can you tell us a little more about this?
Today, when an organization, private or public, wants to manage the entire value chain of its data from A to Z, it must assemble numerous technologies or use American platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure or Palantir. Although these players are efficient and should not be demonized, the protection of the data entrusted to them raises questions. For these companies are subject to extraterritorial laws, such as the Cloud Act, which are contrary to the RGPD and allow the American authorities to access their customers' data.
Cleyrop's objective is to offer a trusted French and European alternative that gives public and private organizations control over their data.
What is Cleyrop's "special touch" to attract candidates?
I would say that, on the one hand, our project is very meaningful and has a real impact, which resonates with the candidates. Secondly, there is a sincere desire on the part of the team to be individually involved in this mission, beyond the simple professional aspect. The flexibility offered by remote work is also a valued asset, as it empowers employees and provides a pleasant environment for them to grow.
The opportunity to develop skills, particularly in the field of data, is also a strong point. By joining Cleyrop, candidates know that they will learn a lot about today's key issues.
When it comes to the candidate experience, my goal is to provide the best possible experience. This means following up carefully throughout the recruiting process, being responsive, transparent and providing guidance when needed. This takes time and energy, but it is essential in my job. The candidates are very grateful and it allows us to establish a real exchange. The accompaniment of the candidates, the coordination and the reactivity are key aspects for us.
Can you tell us about the recruitment process you built?
Indeed, the idea was to get away from interviews based solely on feeling, which are completely biased. Of course, we are still human and feeling always has a part to play, but we have tried to set up structured interviews. We have defined our recruitment roadmap for 2023, which allows us to move forward step by step according to our needs.
It all starts with the kickoff, where we define the need, the scorecard and the hard/soft skills required (maximum five per category). It is also important to determine the stakeholders of the process, in order to avoid repetition for the candidate and to structure our interviews. I also accompany hiring managers to help them conduct effective interviews.
In general, our process has a maximum of 4 to 5 steps, but this varies depending on the job and the level of seniority required.
The first step is an interview with the Talent Acquisition Manager to present Cleyrop and check if the soft skills match. Then there is a use case, a technical test or a personality test, depending on the position. The debriefing with an operational person follows to discuss the technical aspects. Finally, an N+1 and, possibly, one of the founders can intervene at the end of the process.
The goal is also to involve hiring managers in recruitment and to increase their skills in this function, because recruitment should not be the exclusive responsibility of the recruiter.
I saw that you were looking for 2 TAMs. As one of the first TAMs at Cleyrop, how do you see their role?
I don't want to specialize these TAMs on a particular trade, and this for several reasons. Personally, I have never liked to specialize in a particular job, but I do like to specialize in a particular sector/environment, as I find it can be time-consuming. At Cleyrop, we have a wide variety of professions, which is very enriching for a recruiter.
We need to be agile. Even if our roadmap has been defined in terms of recruitment, the external context (business, product) can evolve and lead us to need more hands in certain areas, such as developers. It is therefore important for our TAMs to be able to recruit for all professions, in order to adapt quickly to our evolutions.
Many thanks for your time, Jennifer!
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