- A leaked internal document detailed Shopify’s plan to overhaul its recruiting strategy.
- It said that recruiters needed to raise the bar for candidates and employ “unorthodox” methods.
- Shopify has taken steps to flatten its org amid economic uncertainty.
An internal document that was shared with employees in Shopify’s talent acquisition division earlier this year outlined the company’s plan to use targeted, “unorthodox” methods to find new hires as it looks to flatten its organization and become more efficient.
The document, which was viewed by Insider and outlines the division’s investment strategy for the first half of 2023, said that Shopify purposely limited the number of positions it plans to hire for this year. It said that recruiters needed to raise the bar for the quality of candidates they were bringing on to the company.
The talent acquisition org’s goal is to redesign the way it recruits so that “each position is filled with the very best people in their respective craft,” it said.
“To do this, we will exhaustively seek out world class talent, scorching the earth with thoroughness and precision,” it continued.
The document also said that it would lean on data to see how its new processes were working, looking at things like the speed of recruiters’ outreach as well as attrition and new hires’ performance reviews.
“Increase the bar to entry through every assessment point. Increase rigor of every search and empower TA to reject candidates who are just ‘good enough.’ Good enough is not enough,” it continued.
The document also said that the company would do “less ‘posting and praying’ for the right people to apply and more active sourcing, bold experimentation around finding and attracting top talent.” It also said it would employ “stealth ‘spear-fishing’ in unique and untapped areas.”
A Shopify spokesperson declined to comment for this story.
Shopify, like many other companies in the tech industry, has been looking for ways to do more with fewer resources amid economic uncertainty. The Canadian e-commerce company laid off about 10% of its workforce last July. The company also quietly laid off smaller numbers of employees both before and after that large round of layoffs was announced. In March, it rescinded full-time job offers for a number of former interns who were set to join the company this summer and fall.
Shopify has taken other steps to flatten its org structure this year. In March, it announced a new framework that would classify employees as either managers or “crafters,” with the goal of incentivizing more employees to be individual contributors. Managers spend their time on tasks like resource planning and strategy, while crafters focus on building products. Under the new framework, being a manager would have no impact on compensation.
Meta has also reportedly asked many middle managers to take on new roles as individual contributors as it has looked to improve efficiency throughout the company amid layoffs. Like Meta, Shopify has placed a new emphasis on efficiency in the midst of a difficult economic climate.
The leaked internal document from Shopify cited a January conversation with CEO Tobi Lütke where he emphasized the need to hire fewer people managers and more people who had deep technical knowledge.
“Cavalry officers need to be able to ride horses,” it quoted Lütke as saying.
It also said that Lütke instructed org leaders to “avoid high drama negative talent.”
“Spiky is good, divisive is bad,” it said.
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