Softcat’s Rebecca Monk and Coachere’s Yvonne Matzk have shared their top tips on attracting and developing industry talent, with the former opening up on Softcat’s famous ‘grow-your-own’ culture.
Monk and Matzk were two of this year’s Oxygen Influencers. Compiled in partnership with Nebula Global Services, Oxygen Influencers highlighted 25 women and men driving positive industry change, but from outside the boardroom.
Around half the employees Softcat hires each year are early-career people, making it a “huge part of the culture”, Monk said (see clip, above, and full video, bottom).
“We can really mould people and shape their careers,” said Monk, who is Chief People Officer at the 2,600-employee reseller.
“That’s why we don’t tend to hire people from competitors… you end up getting people who maybe aren’t the best culture fit, and that’s not really worked for us in the past.
“Grow your own for me is the best way to solve the skills shortage – by a mile.”
Matzk, meanwhile, opened up on her decision to launch free mentoring network, The Channel Community, in 2021.
“I tapped up some industry friends of mine and said, ‘look, I’ve got this concept around how we can help give back to that next generation of talent, by way of mentoring – but it’s got to be free’,” she said.
Matzk talked about the Channel Community’s focus on social mobility, and recruiting and nurturing talent from all walks of life.
“If you take the great work Softcat has done, and replicate that with people from outside the industry, then you can get the same type of results,” she said.
“It’s just making sure you fish from a different pond.”
In the podcast, the duo also reflect on:
- What a best-in-class graduate and apprentice scheme looks like, and why Softcat is now hiring more senior-level apprentices
- How to profile the social demographics of an organisation without being too intrusive
- How Softcat has “work to do” to mirror wider UK demographics
- Their carreer highs
- What they have planned for the next 12 months
- Their chosen walk-on songs
View previous Oxygen Influencer podcasts:
Episode 1: Former teacher and carpenter on bagging £1m deals in the channel
Episode 2: ‘They’re going to check up on that’ – ESG duo drop bombshell
