The Power of Storytelling: Case scenario by TechPods

Recently someone asked me to share hilarious stories that happened to me during interviews. I awkwardly laughed because this is a side of my career that I can’t share openly with everyone. After all these stories are very personal and unfortunately under GDPR protection. Like the story of how I interviewed my husband-to-be. Sounds funny, doesn’t it? However, I will try to think of a way to go around and write a second material about this topic. So stay tuned and keep reading!

Nevertheless, this question got me thinking about storytelling in the recruitment process. I often include stories in my interviews because I’m focused on fostering a meaningful engagement with each candidate I speak to. I really believe that by telling authentic stories, you can build a genuine and unique connection with the potential hire without coming across as fake, templated, or cynical. Мhm, you got it right.. Cynicism can indeed harm the recruitment process. After all, I am an HR representative of a very bright and young company towards which many candidates have their initial biases.

Now, one might think, ‘Oh, poor Dayana” or “after all this is part of her job”. Well, storytelling works for me and it might work for you too. While I am telling stories about our experiences, accomplishments, failures, motivations, I see real time candidate’s impressions.

Still with me? Excellent, because we’ve arrived at the exciting part.

First Story

One of my favourite stories focuses on how we treat people internally. By treatment I mean caring, supporting, being present, being there for them.

It happened not too long ago. One of our colleagues, who is a Full-Stack Developer now, and also a huge football fan, had a very nice idea of creating a football platform that could unite an entire community of football enthusiasts. He had a whole plan of how everything was going to look, from selecting the tech stack, branding, football-related articles, fixtures schedule, detailed score statistics and standings, live scores, and so on.

Although it may not sound extraordinary to some of you, it meant a lot to us, and we chose to support him selflessly, without any expectations. We at TechPods made the decision to back up his dream and bring it to life.

For us it was something normal to do as it was part of our mentality and operating model — to become masters of our craft while encouraging growth and learning, instead of prioritising profit. We at TechPods highly believe that traditional outsourcing is dead, and the key to long-term success lies within partnering, as opposed to vendoring. 

Have a chat with me, if you are willing to understand more about it.

Back to the story. Intrigued by our colleague’s vision we learned that he planned to build this solution from the ground up. Recognising the potential of this venture, we decided to lend our support by hiring a junior developer. Together, they joined forces to bring the football platform to life. I won’t go into details about the whole experience because I know that you already started thinking about the result.

The outcome was a win-win situation for everyone involved. On one hand, we contributed to our colleague’s fulfillment of a personal goal. On the other hand, the junior developer thrived and grew so quickly that he eventually became an integral part of our team, currently mentoring other individuals.

This outstanding teamwork not only showcased our commitment to supporting personal aspirations within our organization but also exemplified the rewarding nature of providing opportunities for growth and development.

By building strong connections and relationships with colleagues, you can make a positive impact on their lives while also securing the retention rate of your company.

Second story

Hungry for more stories? Well, you’re in luck because I have another one for you.

This story describes our culture, atmosphere, and shows that while being open-minded, you can easily foster creativity, innovation, and effective collaboration within a team.

I am talking about a colleague who was part of our green-energy pod as a Senior Software Engineer. To properly illustrate the profound impact of this story, I have to provide you with some background information.

Our green-energy partner is a UK-based provider with more than 10 000 employees worldwide, who aim to scale net zero carbon living through software development solutions. You now understand that we are talking about a big organisation with hundreds of departments and teams.

Despite being part of a large team, our colleague proactively sought out areas of improvement within the current codebase. One of his initial suggestions was to begin working with GraphQL. For those unfamiliar, GraphQL is a query language specifically designed to facilitate the development of client applications. It offers an intuitive and flexible syntax and a comprehensive system for describing data requirements and interactions.

Driven by his passion for enhancing processes, our colleague gathered the entire team for a meeting. He presented the concept of adopting GraphQL, outlining its strengths and weaknesses. The outcome? Not only did his team enthusiastically start using GraphQL, but the entire technical vertical within the organization followed it. This decision proved to be a pivotal moment, setting our squad on a path towards improved efficiency and productivity.

Through the lens of this story, I wanted to focus on two vital aspects: our team’s communication and our flat organisational structure. At TechPods, we create a culture where every individual can openly share their ideas without fear of judgment or ignorance. We embrace a receptive attitude toward fresh concepts and remain eager to explore emerging technologies and trends in the market.

It’s fair to say that we are not fans of legacy code. Hence why TechPods thrives on a collaborative environment that encourages innovation, open communication, and a forward-thinking mindset.

Conclusion

With those two stories I wanted to share how I break down barriers between a candidate and a recruiter.Through storytelling, you can provide more details about who you are today and what you aim to achieve. Moreover, storytelling is a tool that helps replace suspicion with trust.

Every candidate has a unique story to tell, and by fostering a supportive environment, you may inspire them to open up and build a deeper connection. Building such a bond is crucial, as it helps to establish trust, a key factor for successful placement.