As the head of talent at CapitalG, Alphabet’s $4 billion independent growth fund, Lauren Illovsky helps guide the firm’s portfolio companies as they scope out executive level hires and fill out their boards. Illovsky sees her role as absorbing—and solving—any challenges they’re facing in the talent department.
“I always tell them if something’s keeping you up in the middle of the night, don’t let it—call me, text me, send me an email, and let’s solve it together. I may not have the answer, but I’ll find someone who does,” Illovsky says. “I joke [that] my major is anything and everything executive talent [and] org design, and my minor is anything below the executive layer: broader team-building, HR, things like that.”
That expertise has been particularly crucial in the past few years, as tech companies big and small have cycled through acute periods of hiring and seemingly endless rounds of layoffs in the face of economic pressures. Since last fall, tech companies have cut more than 330,000 jobs, according to Layoffs.fyi.
As we approach the end of the year, there are plenty of companies still conducting layoffs, but Illovsky says others—especially the type of high-growth startups backed by CapitalG—are slowly reinvesting in hiring and retention. Illovsky talked to Fast Company about how tech companies are recovering from the tumult of the past few years, what she’s seeing in the hiring market, and how return-to-office policies are redefining company culture.
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