How 360dialog Hired Incredible DevOps Engineer Through Devop.One
Mobile Automation Solutions is the industry where companies offer products that help clients automate their mobile processes, and of them is 360dialog, the official provider of the WhatsApp Business API & specialist for Mobile Messaging & Mobile Automation Solutions via API. In a nutshell, they are providing access to the WhatsApp Business API to empower automated customer communication via WhatsApp.
Their product is usually best for development teams and actually businesses of all sizes who want to automate their communication with customers and understand that WhatsApp is an important channel for their business.
As any other leader in the industry, 360dialog also found themselves in a problem when it comes to hiring A player - someone who will skyrocket their business and help them set a new industry standard.
"We were always on the lookout for experts in the industry, people who can help us elevate our business model to a whole new level and set a new standard in the industry. Just like with any other company that's looking for top-notch workers, we were struggling to find the right people so we started looking for alternative solutions.”
One of their alternative solutions was reaching out to us, but we’ll talk more about that a bit later.
This success story isn’t just a story about how we found a new rockstar for a business like 360dialog. This is the story of what most companies go through in order to jump to that new level.
Struggle to find the right person to take responsibility
Growth is a consequence of team effort. Bigger the team, the bigger the effort, therefore the bigger the growth, right?
Well, theoretically yes.
There’s just a slight problem - in the beginning, it’s a lot easier to find new teammates since you, as the owner, are usually the one running the entire show and you know where you’re going.
You probably won’t need the top 1% experts in the world to accomplish what you intended and reach success.
Therefore, you will hire people who are good (but not AMAZING) at what they do and things will work out for a while. Over time as you grow you will hire more good or great people (still not AMAZING ones), and all of you together will push the same idea forward.
Bigger the team, bigger the effort but also:
- Bigger chances of people not fitting in your company culture
- Greater demand of A player, someone who will utilize the entire team and lead them towards execution of your vision
- Fewer chances to top up your game without the right person.
And that’s exactly the issue 90% of companies who reached success are struggling with. Getting into the 1% circle. Circle that allows you and expects you to create new solutions the world has not seen yet. And that’s exactly the level 360dialog is at.
“Our mobile automation software is one of the best in the world, but in order to set a new industry standard and push the boundaries, even more, we need a top-class performer.”
As we elaborated, this is a common problem of companies who are on the level of 360dialog. But not a problem that we, here at Devop.One couldn’t handle.
Building a profile and finding The One
360dialog reached out to us for help and we scheduled the initial meeting that had the purpose of us figuring out what you EXACTLY need and where do you actually want to go with this.
In their case, they needed an Expert DevOps Engineer.
“We reached out to them hoping they can find us a top-class DevOps Engineer that we've been looking for ages, someone who can own the entire process from coding to deployment and take a large amount of workload from the rest of the team. Also, besides the incredible skill set, company culture and our pillars of the functional environment are extremely important to us. Therefore, we weren't just looking for the expert - we were looking for someone who would fit into our team and deliver on the top level.”
So they needed an expert who’s also an all-rounder.
This profile is usually one of the hardest ones to fit because candidates are usually divided into two categories:
- The candidate is a true expert in the field, but doesn’t want to be a leader nor has good social integration skills
- The candidate is okay, probably will be an expert in the field somedays, but fits perfectly into the company culture and has strong leadership traits.
Neither of these categories would satisfy our client and we knew that this pursuit would be tough. Which is exactly why we got so excited about it!
We went over the details with 360dialog and we closed the deal. First thing in the morning, we presented the story about 360dialog and its needs to the entire team.
We pride ourselves on open communication where everyone is always welcome to ask questions and suggest new things. Saying that, the team actively started building the profile of The One. It looked like a mess with everyone speaking all at once, but it’s our creative mess, a process where we all align our thoughts and go after the same thing.
Key takeaways about what are we looking for:
- Someone who is an expert in DevOps Engineering with 10+ years of experience
- Someone who has strong leadership skills (personality tests required)
- Someone who owns proper moral values
- Someone who wants to grab an opportunity not just to bring a company to a new level but to tackle one of the hardest challenges in a career.
- Someone who is open-minded and ready to adopt new things.
These 5 takeaways are clear - we are truly on the hunt for the top 1% in the world.
We immediately started digging through our network and made dozens of quick calls with dozens of candidates.
Most of those calls were not successful, but we always believe in our processes and in our database of people.
The result after 48h?
“After talking with folks from Devop.One and closing the deal, we were expecting exactly the person we wanted. What we didn't expect is their speed and a dozen candidates who fit the requirements perfectly.
Within 2 days, we got the first batch of candidates to review and we were super satisfied with the profiles we got. They were all experts in their industry with amazing personality traits. Honestly, we were blown away!”
We delivered 11 candidates we talked to and figured they would be a good fit.
We can never know for sure, but chances were on our side.
However, in order to maximize those chances, we wanted to go over the top - as we usually do.
Connecting candidates with 360dialog
After selecting proper fits for the role we notified them that they passed our interviews and that the representative for the company we’re hiring for will get in touch with them.
Also, we gave them simple guidelines:
- Be yourself
- Be honest
- Be transparent
- Be open-minded
- Believe in yourself.
The reason why we’re doing this is that for lots of people of this caliber, opportunities like this are major career jumps, something that will either make them or break them.
Even though they are an amazing fit for job requirements, they are human beings in the end and they probably will be nervous during their big interview. A nervous candidate often doesn’t showcase his personality and expertise properly, which is why we always loosen them up before the interview, but once they pass on to the second stage, we do our best to keep their spirit up.
To 360dialog we delivered a batch of 11 incredible people. But that wouldn’t do it for us.
As always we want to deliver over the top, something no one else can offer.
So we kept digging and interviewing candidates for this position.
A few days after, we reached out to 360dialog to see how they were doing with the 11 candidates we delivered.
“Out of 11 candidates Devop.One delivered, we decided to go with one of the 3 candidates who were the best fit for what they needed. These 3 candidates were absolutely everything we were looking for.”
After a response like that, we were super happy to have another customer success story but we know how this industry works. We know that people change their minds and that hiring is not just signing the contract.
Therefore we delivered the second batch of candidates.
“The cherry on the top - a few days after they also delivered the second batch of candidates and made our choice even harder! Among 13 new people, we found 2 more who would be a great fit for the role. We had to consult with Devop.One on which one to hire, as any decision we made looked like the right decision but also the wrong decision.”
And they were right.
Once you get to the point where you have 5 candidates that you don’t know which one to hire, every decision looks like a right one and wrong one at the same time.
- Right one because you’re hiring a GREAT fit
- Wrong one because you’re missing out on others
But we’ll talk about that in a bit.
How did 360dialog end up with their hiring?
“We talked to all of them and decided to go with the one we believed was THE one!
Now, 2 months later, we can verify that the candidate we picked was an absolute bullseye!
There are no words to describe how impressed we are with Devop.One service. Their speed, level of professionalism, dedication, and quality of work are over and beyond. We are 100% positive that we will be using their services again in the future and couldn't recommend them enough.
They are exactly what the industry needs!”
Why are A players always hardest roles to fit?, (presentation that we have all solutions + CTA)
When trying to find the top 1% of experts in the world you soon come to the realization that they are usually not in places where others are.
Business people may be on Linkedin, but when it comes to developers and engineers, most of them don’t even have Linkedin.
Upwork? Not really.
Well, how do they find jobs then?
First and foremost, recommendation. They’ve built their way up with amazing work they did and after a while recommendations started popping up. This fact makes them super hard to find because unless you’re in the right circles, you don’t have many chances of finding them.
Second, they are a part of closed groups, forums, and private circles. It’s highly unlikely that a true expert will apply to a job on platforms like Linkedin, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, etc.
It’s also worth mentioning that in case you manage to find the expert you’re looking for, it’s highly likely that they simply won’t be interested in your offer because they are in most cases:
- Already a part of great opportunities
- Too busy with multiple projects
- Happy with their income and other benefits
So there’s not much to offer them, right?
Saying that it’s crucial to know how to handle that process.
How to skip those complicated steps?
That’s what we’re all about.
Devop.One has its own pool of amazing talents that we already talked with and they are all open to new opportunities. We are also a part of numerous closed communities where we communicate with experts in the industry on a daily basis.
Just like with 360dialog, once we figure out what you exactly need, we go after it in our own pool and in communities we’re a part of.
That way, we can deliver first results super fast, and we’re 100% sure their skillset will match your job requirements. Developer or executive, it doesn’t matter - we have them all.
Need help getting your own top 1% talent in the world? Reach out to us and we’ll figure it out together!
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