Where do you recruit CS talent

Back in the day precovid, i saw a lot of jobs recruited at CS meetups. Although, this was the Bay Area and these meetups were typically 200-300 people.

most people i know getting jobs today are cold recruited, promoted from within, or responded to an angellist or linkedin job board

So glad to hear that companies are willing to take chances on those of us who come from outside of the traditional CS field.  I'm an educator who is looking to transition.  It can be very intimidating to try to prove that I have what it takes to be a successful CSM.  I look forward to learning more from all of you in the GGR community!

I agree with Jay in that you can - if you're into it - find software companies selling to the hospitality industry, But, I wouldn't feel like you need to be tied to that industry overall. I would suggest you look up some CSM basics on Google and YouTube and follow channels on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is one of the best ways to have a sense of what's going on in the CSM field because so many people post there daily - talking about challenges and exciting stories. I'm always glad to connect personally as well, TJ. Feel free to reach out via a personal message. Happy to help...

Welcome. It's an exciting world, and I would be pumped if I were you to jump from the hospitality world to the B2B or B2C "business" world! (Not that hospitality isn't business)

Hey @TJ McReynolds first of all welcome! Glad you found GGR.

the cool thing about software as a service companies is that many of them are specific to different industries ams niches. For example, i used to work for a company that provided an HR platform to the hospitality industry (high turnover, service beau eases like restaurants and retail).

You possess knowledge of that industry which makes you a perfect fit  to be a customer success manager for a company who  is trying to sell to other folks like you in hospitality.

Beyond that, when you learn the basics of customer success, eg renewals, adoption, stakeholder management, engagement playbooks, etc , those skills are transferable to other industries you may be interested in exploiting.

from there, customer success people can grow in place, or even move into different roles in the SaaS world. Like product management, sales, sales engineering, marketing, etc. the possibilities are virtually endless.

good luck with your journey, and glad you found CS and GGR. This community will be very helpful to you as you explore opportunities in this field.

jay

Taking a leap here, as I joined this community based off of a recommendation. I have been in customer service my entire life, and am incredibly passionate about hospitality and creating relationships. This passion has led me down a road in restaurants, but I find myself interested in hearing more about the CSM world. 

What suggestions and/or recommendations would you all have for someone looking to seek a CSM position? For those of you who came from different industries, how do I set myself up to succeed? Where do I start? 

Looking forward to a conversation!

Yes, Emily! The best CS folks are people who communicate well with fellow people. Humility, ability to listen, creativity, thoughtfulness, accountability, and foresight can come from any background. The technicals of the product can be taught, the intangible skills are what's needed from the jump. Glad your hiring manager was able to see that in you. Congratulations!

A few more ideas:

• Slack:
  • Women in Customer Success Channel
  • Revenue Collective (if not a member, happy to post for you @Jay Nathan)
  • Customer Success Leadership Network
• Job Boards
  • Gainsight: https://www.gainsight.com/customer-success-career-hub/
  • SmartKarrot https://www.smartkarrot.com/resources/customersuccessjobs/
  • SuccessCoaching: https://successcoaching.co/companies-hiring-customer-success-managers
  • Remote Desk: https://www.usfca.edu/management/graduate-programs/full-time-mba/career-accelerator-platform/customer-success-management
  • National Black Customer Success Professionals: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12273962/
  • Nick Mheta's LinkedIn Recap
  • Women of CS Community: https://women-of-customer-success.circle.so/home
  • Angellist
  • BreakoutCS: https://community.breakoutcs.com/c/jobboard
• Universities
  • UCSF CS Program https://www.usfca.edu/management/graduate-programs/full-time-mba/career-accelerator-platform/customer-success-management
• In-person CS Meetups pre-Covid were some of our strongest success stories
• LinkedIn Referrals from Connections
• Recruiters/VC Shops

I love hearing that people are hiring people for CS who previously held other types of roles and recognizing transferable skills!  I was recently hired for a CS position and I have a background in Physical Therapy.  There are lots of other PTs out there that would be great in CS!  I was hired after  networking and had an internal referral.

We are hiring as well, an associate role for now, and will be more in the next few months. So I would appreciate any referrals from this community.

What I wanted to add is that hiring from a diverse pool of candidate is important for us. We have found the Odyssey Scholars Program run by the university of Chicago to support first-generation and lower-income students for full-time summer internship. 

I have heard of Year Up, and Rosecrans Ventures as great resources for candidates of color.

@Brian Hansen thank you so much! I will definitely refer any former colleagues to you that are interested in breaking into CS.

This is great! It's exciting to see managers accept transferrable skills. Congratulations to you, Susan. If you have any former colleagues that might be interested in CS roles, we're hiring too...!

@Nathan Petersen thanks for taking a chance on me! There is something to he said about recognizing transferrable skills.  This community has been a great place to meet others and network.

Well, our last two hires in CSS were network connections made here in the GGR community that our team referred. They both came from the Hospitality and Care industry (hotels and major event planning). like Brian, they might lack a little "CS" experience but are diving in headfirst and really taking ownership of their continued education!

So I wouldn't be shy to expand the list of likely suspects to a broader category and look outside of the CS pool for interested parties.

Hey, Jay - primarily LinkedIn but will also cross-post on local job boards at universities and tech incubators (Depending on level needed).  One of our most recent hires was a flight attendant who had been furloughed and she is absolutely crushing it.  While she didn't have true "CS" experience, she is very well versed in delivering a great experience and handling conflict, etc.  I hear you though, it is a tough market!

We are huge fans of finding talent on AngelList especially if you are a startup company!

Jay,

Apart from mentioned sources, my company sources through candidates through referrals, events (conferences, meetups), contract-to-hire schemes and sizeable chunk, recuriting through college.
We are updating jobs to be remote, to attract wider talent pool. Post covid, effective method seems to be through referrals.
Curious to know what methods is working out at your company.