The Future of Tech Recruiting Will Resemble Sports Agencies. Who's Your Agent Going to Be?

The recruiting industry in tech has remained unchanged for the past 50 years.

Today, recruiters have one true customer: founders. Whether it's an in-house recruiting team, an external recruiting firm, or an executive search firm, recruiters are hired and paid by companies to source, assess, and hire talent. Their incentive is to bring in the best talent possible to their company to help their company win.

But the tides are changing my friends.

What are the problems with today's recruiting industry?

Today, the recruiting industry serves founders first, Operators second.

I have an infinite level of respect for founders. I am one. But today, founders, VCs, and recruiters hold the power.

Today, this creates problems:

• Misaligned incentives. Who's looking out for you, the Operator? A recruiter functions as part company salesperson and part candidate coach/therapist, blurring the line of being able to remain 100% impartial. 90% of recruiters I know are phenomenal people with great intentions (many are my friends), but what if the best thing for a candidate is not to take the comp package because they're worth 3x?
• Lack of transparency. How is XYZ company actually doing? Not every company is killing it. Despite what you see on LinkedIn. And just because a company got on a "Best of" list doesn't mean it's doing well. We need more transparency in tech. Agents and managers will usher in that wave.
• Outdated compensation packages. What is the "Tom Brady of tech" actually worth? Today, tech compensation is defined in terms of role and level, not quality and risk. How much would you pay to have the Tom Brady of engineering as your CTO? Why do we not compensate all-star tech Operators like all-stars in sports? Do we not think there are 10x, 20x, or 50x employees and this phenomenon only exists in the world of sports?

What does the future of the industry look like?

The future of the tech recruiting industry will resemble that of today's sports agencies.

Agents, managers, and coaches unite around a tech Operator. LeBron has an agent (Rich Paul). Serena has Smoller. Jordan had Falk. Now, too, will tech people.

• These agents will be domain Operators themselves. Engineering leaders representing fellow engineers.
• These agents will assess talent, coach talent, open doors, and close deals.
• These agents will eventually not just help with careers, but with all aspects of a person's life.

With agents, everyone stands to benefit.

• Agents will improve the lives of Operators (consumer-first). Operators will be in the driver's seat. They'll be brought career opportunities by their agents, investment opportunities by their managers, and life-changing health improvements by their coach. They'll have the support of a world-class athlete and the access of the best tech founders.
• Agents will improve company outcomes for founders and VCs by raising the talent bar. With agents assessing candidates within their domain, companies can focus on the biggest predictor of candidate success and employee retention: cultural fit.
• Agents will usher in a new wave of innovation and entertainment. The entire tech industry is going to get a whole lot sexier. The best Operators will be represented by the best agents. That competition drives the best outcomes for Operators, and it drives Operators to become better themselves to reach the bar of being represented. And then comes the entertainment: televised Drafts. Televised trades. Big deals. Big money. Press conferences. Who knows… maybe even Conference creation. "East vs. West" anyone?

What happens to recruiters in this new world?

They'll adapt and focus on three different areas:

• Employee retention rather than employee acquisition. The biggest problem today, outside of finding killer talent, is retaining talent. Recruiters will focus here.
• Joining these "sports agencies of tech," becoming experts in compensation and negotiation. I believe many will go to law school to become lawyers. Yes. You heard that right.
• Leaving the field entirely. Ten years from now, there's a chance the entire recruiting industry is decentralized, with zero recruiters working for companies.

Embrace the change

This isn't going to happen overnight. But it will happen.

Over the next decade, agents and managers will help a lot of people. They'll support Operators the same way investors support their Founders, with aligned incentives and an eye for doing what's best. If you're interested in this future, watch The Operators as we transform the game.

The only question is: do you want to play?