Avast, who recently merged with NortonLifeLock to form Gen™, is a Cyber Security Firm that protects individuals’ and Organisations’ online privacy via its anti-virus protection software.
As Avast became a global Leader and continued to grow, it was clear to its Chief People and Culture Officer (CPCO), that the Talent Acquisition team needed a review. This review would ensure the team had the right resources, knowledge, and capabilities to meet the hiring demands Avast’s growth required.
Innovex Global is an Executive Search Firm specialising in undertaking Talent Acquisition reviews in the Technology and Cyber Security industry. Jake Parish, the Founder of Innovex, had a strong working relationship with the CPCO after working together on previous Executive level hires and advisory projects.
Therefore, they were confident Avast’s Head of Organisational Design, who was managing this review, could rely on Jake to be his external Talent Acquisition Advisor.
Once the introductions were made, Jake presented his proposal of a three-month review. This proposal included the core changes and activities needed to meet Avast’s hiring expectations.
Below we have broken down the Acquisition review month by month, along with the outcome and capabilities of the newly reviewed Acquisition team.
Month One:
Jake needed to understand why Avast didn’t currently have the talent capabilities to achieve their goal. Therefore, the first step of this process was to review the current team to understand the key strengths, weaknesses, gaps in experience and expertise.
From this, Jake understood they needed a Leader, external support, and a department structure in order for the team to operate with a clear hiring focus.
This created the following opportunities:
- The Hiring of the Head of Global Talent Acquisition.
This move allowed the team to have a leader with the knowledge and expertise to steer the team in the correct direction.
- The restructuring of the current team into a hierarchy model.
Once the ‘Head of’ was implemented, they built the rest of the team into different divisions and functions.
For example, this included an Executive Search function where the team are solely responsible for identifying those core leadership-level hires needed to drive Avast’s growth.
- Creating a new resourcing model, using an external Consulting Firm to collaborate on hires with.
While it was essential to Avast that most of the hiring was to be kept internal, Jake presented the benefits of having an external partnership with an Onsite Recruitment Provider to collaborate with on Executive C-Suite Level and Board Hires.
Jake created a recruiting search model to ensure the right RPO were selected. This recruitment process included a market mapping of organisations, an interview structure to create a shortlist of vendors, pricing models, and other intangible advantages for each.
Month Two:
With the Talent team restructured, a Head of Department hired, and Onsite Recruitment Provider chosen, it was time for the next steps.
Avast didn’t just need a Talent function that was strong on paper but one that pushed the business forward in the direction and speed required.
Therefore, Jake and his Research team reviewed the current targets, compensation benefits, and project timelines. From this, he reported on the changes required, to support the team needed, and then supported Avast on the best approach to undertake the following:
- Restructure KPIs to ensure they meet employees’ abilities and the organisations’ focuses.
- Implementation of performance-based bonus schemes to motivate employees.
- Restructure working methods for day/week/month/quarter/year deliverables.
- Create targets to decrease the timing of delivery from briefing to shortlisting.
The result of these changes meant the Talent team knew what they had to achieve.
What’s more, employee feedback showed they had significant improvement on the clarity towards their future progression.
Month Three:
The goal for the final month of the advisory review was to ensure the Hiring team could identify and deliver exemplary talent at a fast, efficient pace. Jake, who has over a decade of Talent Acquisition and Executive Search experience, is known in the industry for his commitment to finishing searches at a fast, high-quality rate.
Therefore, it was clear that for them to achieve this goal, Jake needed to coach the team to do the following:
- Effectively sell the business, including market differentiators.
- Find the geographical differentiators for candidates.
- Manage consistency across the Executive Search system.
- Coding and upload of CSV files into the system – population of system.
- Maintain best practices of the Executive Search platform system.
- Comply with the correct approach for the direct application journey.
The Result:
Once the review was complete, the Talent Acquisition team were geared up to get the right hires on board and reduce the hiring time. As a result, they were on their way to making 1,000 hires in one year.
When reflecting on their experience working with Jake and the Innovex team, Avast said:
“Working with Innovex was fantastic. Innovex acts as a trusted consultant, ingrained within the business, advising you on what to do and how to do it and ensuring that you gain desired transformations. Actions speak louder than words. Jake delivers and holds the client accountable to hit deadlines and targets.”
