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How COVID-19 Changed The Tech Leadership Hiring Perspective Of A SaaS Giant

Almost a year back we were living in a world that seems completely different from the one that we live in today. The COVID-19 outbreak has forced us to change the lenses through which we look at companies and individuals. This is a story of one such company and one such individual who were united by their changed perspectives.

In May 2019, Purple Quarter was engaged with a SaaS giant for a Tech Leadership role. The firm was almost on the verge of becoming a Unicorn, a feat they still aspire today. We introduced them to a tech leader that in our opinion was a perfect fit for the company. He had a couple of decades of experience in product based SaaS companies and was then working for a company valued less than 5 times to the one he was applying for.

Even though the tech leader had job offers in multi-billion dollar companies overseas, staying in India was his top priority. There is no denying that the SaaS giant’s leadership position he was gunning for has one of the best tech infrastructure in the country, thus, in India, was one of the biggest targets for people with similar profiles.

However, the company was on an upward trajectory and wanted people with experience in larger firms. Another reason for the mismatch of the profile was that the tech leader wanted a remote work option to stay close to his family when necessary. Needless to say,  the tech leader stayed in the same company and the mandate for the role also died down.

Fast forward to May 2020. While most companies were struggling to find a revenue stream, this particular firm, like many other SaaS companies, saw an opportunity to expand and grow. They needed urgent leaders to run their expanding business. However, this time, they were looking at candidates with more agility, flexibility, people with hands on experience with scale, people who are not afraid to come out of their comfort zone to try new things.

Remote working was another area where the perspective of the SaaS firm changed along with the entire world. Company functions that we never imagined would be possible to be done remotely was pivoting to remote roles. 

We got a mandate to close the leadership position as soon as possible. Typically, a role of such stature takes 60 days to close. But Purple Quarter knew exactly where to go. In just 30 days of the revised mandate, we were working on onboarding the Tech leader in the SaaS giant. It is truly commendable how quickly the SaaS major adapted to the ‘New Normal’ and got the same Tech Leader onboard in under a month. It truly is a testament to their leadership team, their TA leader and the Tech Leader for making this happen. 

This is just one company changing its outlook to accommodate a post-COVID-19 worldview. There will be numerous such examples.