Dr. Aleksandr Yampolskiy, Co-Founder and CEO of SecurityScorecard, is a globally recognized cybersecurity innovator, leader and expert.
Most leaders approach hiring as if the company holds all the cards. That’s a mistake.
An interview is a two-way evaluation. The company is deciding whether to hire someone. The candidate is deciding whether to bet years of their career on you. Top candidates have choices, which means leaders need to give them compelling reasons to choose you.
First, build a company where people can work with colleagues they respect and enjoy being around. You’ll spend too much time together for that not to matter.
You also want an elevator going up. A great team can execute well and still struggle in the wrong market. Timing, demand and differentiation can amplify people’s work, or limit impact.
Once those fundamentals are there, compensation and title matter, but they don’t differentiate a great employer. How you operate does. The companies that win great talent make that difference visible.
Here are seven ways leaders can build and demonstrate a company worth choosing.
1. Remove drag and make speed visible.
Great companies move quickly without creating unnecessary chaos. Think about driving on the German Autobahn. Cars move fast, but speed depends on discipline, predicting behavior and clear expectations.
Companies work similarly. Leaders should make speed part of the operating culture. Be clear about who owns decisions. Give people enough context and authority to act without waiting for permission at every turn.
Ensure your hiring process reflects the company. Candidates notice how fast you get back to them and whether recruiting is organized. If you tell candidates you move fast but take weeks to schedule the next interview, they’ll believe their experience.
2. Show people that smart risks are welcome.
Innovation requires taking chances. What matters is what happens when a reasonable bet fails.
Strong companies give employees room to take calculated risks and learn quickly. They maintain a high bar without punishing every miss. Leaders create this environment through their response to failure. If leaders distinguish between thoughtful and careless risks, people can move boldly without lowering the bar.
Be willing to talk about that with candidates. Tell them about something your team tried that didn’t work. Explain what you learned.
3. Make AI an accelerant for your people.
Almost every company now says it uses AI. That tells candidates very little. The better question is: Why? Candidates should keep asking until they reach a business outcome.
For leadership, this means having a clear answer to two questions: How does AI make your customers more successful? And how does it make your people better at their jobs?
Great candidates want to know whether AI will expand what they can accomplish or simply become another mandate from leadership. Show them where you’re investing, how employees are using the technology and what new capabilities it gives them.
4. Put your attention where it matters.
Some companies spend tremendous energy projecting success.
Recognition and milestones matter when they reflect meaningful work. But external validation should reinforce results, not be the goal itself.
Consider how senior leaders communicate. Do they focus on customers, employees, products and meaningful results? Or does the conversation come back to personal recognition? Tell candidates what matters most to the business this year and how their role contributes.
Your leadership team should be telling the same story. If five executives give completely different answers about what matters most, candidates will see the disconnect.
5. Build a culture that says ‘we.’
Great people do their best work when teams work well together. You can see that culture in how people share credit. Does every success become “I did this”? Or do people naturally talk about what “we” learned, built or fixed?
Leaders set the example. Give credit generously, own mistakes and reward people.
Make that culture visible during hiring. Introduce candidates to people across functions so they can hear how teams discuss difficult projects and shared wins. Don’t just tell candidates you’re collaborative. Let them see it.
6. Demonstrate capital discipline.
For leaders, capital discipline is also a talent issue. Employees are making a bet on the business. They deserve to understand how leadership thinks about growth, investment and tradeoffs.
Make that thinking visible to candidates. You don’t need to share everything, but you should be able to explain where the business is investing, what it is prioritizing and why.
That transparency builds confidence. Great candidates want ambition, but they also want to know that the people running the company understand the economics behind it.
7. Make career development a leadership priority.
Perks and benefits matter, but they don’t tell employees how much a company will help them grow.
One of my favorite measures is what employees become after they leave.
Some companies become launchpads for people who later build companies, lead teams or create new categories. PayPal became famous for producing an extraordinary network of founders and leaders. We’ve seen versions of this across technology, from Gilt Groupe and Twitter to companies I’ve helped build. Colleagues go on to start businesses, become executives and bring what they learned to new problems.
That pattern tells you something important. The organization gave ambitious people responsibility, strong peers, challenges and room to develop judgment.
Business leaders should treat that career growth as an outcome worth producing, not an accidental byproduct of employing talented people. Give people meaningful responsibility before they feel ready. Surround them with colleagues who raise their game. Create opportunities to lead.
Talk about the people who have grown inside your company. Where did they start? What responsibilities did they earn? What are they doing now?
The strongest companies should also be proud when talented people eventually leave and go on to do remarkable things. Building great careers is part of building a great company.
Great talent has choices. Leaders should act accordingly.
You are asking someone to choose more than a job. You are asking them to choose the people and opportunities that could shape years of their career.
The goal isn’t simply to hire exceptional people. It’s to build a company exceptional people want to join.
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