Introduction to Purple Squirrel Recruiting

Apple’s Innovation The “Purple Squirrel” is the most valuable recruit. They are the innovators and game changers that drastically improve business operations, and one single purple squirrel hire can often be more valuable than all other hires that year. The ultimate example of a key purple squirrel hire is that of Tony Fadell, concept creator of the MP3 at Phillips. Apple recruited him to develop the iPod, and thus, this single hire netted Apple billions in product sales, and paved the way for innovation within the company.

Rewards Purple squirrel hiring is complex and highly strategic, but can reap an array of rewards if implemented correctly. Revenue Increases: We have discussed before the concept of the performance differential and the impact of hiring a top performer vs an average one. Google use this approach, and calculate that one top performer achieves over 300 times the productivity of an average one, netting significant amounts in increased revenue. Improved Employer Brand: By recruiting a market leading innovator or game changer you will instantly improve your employer brand, making your organisation more attractive to other top talent. Cultural Innovation: By recruiting a few purple squirrels with the right mindset, they can instantly make an impact on business culture to become more innovation driven, opening up your organisation to more opportunities. Competitive Advantage: Due to many smaller organisations viewing purple squirrel hiring as limited only to large corporations such as Google, Facebook and Apple, by utilising this strategy in the SME market you will have a greater competitive advantage in attracting the top players, by doing something a little different to your competitors.

Benefits This is not an easy process and it does require a lot of planning and time, due to the fact that these candidates are super passive. They will not respond to traditional recruitment approaches, so you have to create a completely different strategy. Put in the time and effort to implement this strategy, and you will reap huge benefits. Step One: Understand your target and their aspirations: You need to truly understand your purple squirrel target and their aspirations to ensure maximum success. Build a behavioural profile of your target purple squirrel. What events do they attend? What organisations do they join? What communication methods do they use? Understand their career aspirations – purple squirrels are motivated by the job, more than the salary and the benefits. They want to make an impact, to help move the company through a change, to work with high profile clients – essentially to drive innovation and change the game. On this basis, you need to craft a job and an offer that match their career aspirations.

Step Two: Develop a Talent Communication Plan: You and your company need to be on your purple squirrels radar long before making an offer. As they are super passive in nature and well rewarded in their current role, they need to be engaged with your business prior to you approaching them with an opportunity. There are several ways to put yourself on their map: involve a range of high level purple squirrels in your work, i.e. Microsoft build talent communities through social media, where they encourage learning and best practice with other strong people in their market. You could also partner with a potential purple squirrel for consultant work, or simply connect with them and engage with their work online or through mutual connections or networks. Step Three: Pick the Right Time to Move: You need to track your purple squirrel and their movements. These individuals would say an instant “no” to a job offer 99% of the time as they are well rewarded and valued in their current positions. You need to be there for the 1%. This time is often after they have a CEO visit, after a colleague leaves their company, on completion of a big project, following a merger or a big change in their current employer. You can track these movements by following social media or getting to know your target through networks, and if you approach them at the right time you will be in the best position for success.

Step Four: Be Ready to Hire with Innovation: Purple squirrels are innovators therefore they are attracted to innovative companies. Demonstrate innovation in your hiring approach and steer clear of traditional selection processes. Requesting a CV or discussing standard interview processes will instantly turn off a purple squirrel. Craft your hiring approach individually to them. By now you should know your target well and what they respond to – this could be presenting them with a personalised iPad with uploaded business information and growth plans, or it could be a day out to visit a new site. There are many options, but always be individual and innovative. Influencer groups are important to purple squirrels, so you should include them where possible in your selection process, i.e. involve their spouse by taking them both out to dinner, or involve a respected third party in a business meeting. Be prepared to move quickly with an offer. Purple squirrels do not wait around, so you need to be prepared to make a same day offer. You will have been tracking your target for a while, so should know the position and package you want to offer. Involving the most senior person in your business, such as the CEO, at this point is important, as a purple squirrel needs to feel valued.

Email us… Purple squirrel hiring is complex and time consuming, and may not work for some businesses. But if you are looking to grow your business and have high aspirations, hiring even just one purple squirrel could have a phenomenal impact on your business future. This resource has only just scratched the surface of purple squirrel hiring but hopefully it will provide some pointers on useful techniques. If you would like to talk further about how to implement a purple squirrel hiring strategy into your business and how we could help, we would love to talk to you. You can email us directly on: info@duoglobalconsulting.com