The art of attracting talents, by Igeneris

Igeneris is an innovation firm that specializes in boosting its clients through corporate venture building, strategic innovation, and digital product development. They help companies identify opportunities, launch profitable business models, design innovative structures, and create tech products that meet real needs.

We spoke with their Managing Partner, Miguel Urrecha, about how to select and manage talent, and Igeneris’s recipe for success: offering an appealing project and real growth opportunities.

Igeneris has positioned itself as an attractive workplace not only due to its focus on employee satisfaction but also because of its success with clients. This approach has allowed them to expand into Latin America, extending their global impact. By adopting innovative practices and fostering a culture of transparency, flexibility, and growth, Igeneris is prepared to face future challenges in the world of work.

Transparency and honesty

Among the current challenges in attracting talent, Urrecha highlights three: making the first contact or how to get noticed; selling the project and employer brand; and, finally, compensation.

"The main challenge is being able to get noticed, but once the candidate walks through the door, the game is on. To reach someone, we need to grab their attention, get them to listen to us, and then sell them on the project so they want to work with us," he explains.

Igeneris’s advantage at this initial stage is its ability to present challenging and technically rich projects, accessible even to less experienced talents. "Once they get to know us, they see very attractive and innovative projects in a company that balances consulting and startup spirit, with stability and growth," he notes.

However, there is a serious drawback: the scarcity of specialized talent and the need to "attract those who are not actively looking to change jobs."

"Not everyone plays by the same rules when it comes to profitability, and this affects the compensation each can offer."

Regarding compensation, Miguel points out the difficulties stemming from market disparities, especially after years of abundant funding and exorbitant valuations.

"Not everyone plays by the same rules. Some companies aim for positive EBITDA and control their expenses. But others are funded, have tons of money from investors, and don’t mind running at a loss. That’s a problem for us," he admits.

In this situation, Igeneris opts for honesty and transparency, making it easy for candidates to know exactly what to expect: "The work relationship is like a partnership: the more we know each other, the better. We try to be transparent and expect the same from the candidate." This means being clear not only about the project and the company but also ensuring talents get plenty of feedback from various sources to compare before making a decision: "Any candidate will meet many colleagues before getting an offer and may even hear from former employees in some cases."

‍

"We don’t want candidates who are only after early rewards. We can offer a career plan and real growth to those who want to stay long-term."

But in a labor market marked by scarcity, they often face a final hurdle in this phase: many candidates prefer short-term benefits over stability and growth. "We don’t want candidates who are only after early rewards. We can offer a career plan and real growth to those who want to stay long-term," he maintains.

Unless a highly specific profile is needed, they also avoid professionals who can’t adapt. "We look for flexible profiles who don’t limit their role within the company. We believe that an employee in a non-giant company needs to be adaptable and not put barriers to the breadth of their role," he acknowledges.

Skills and values

For Igeneris, the balance between technical and personal skills is crucial, with cultural fit being essential. "A good team has shared both joys and challenges. We ensure every candidate interacts with several team members to assess this fit," he emphasizes.

"A good team is one that has laughed and struggled together. One plus one can equal much more than two if you build a good team."

"During the process, each candidate meets many people from the Igeneris team. We do this because we’ve made mistakes in the past. Even a junior candidate will meet at least five people, including José and me, the partners. This is a purely human interview," he clarifies.

The process starts with a practical case, where the candidate must demonstrate technical and problem-solving skills. "For us, to reach the final stage of the process, skills are important, but no one gets through without sharing our values: joy, social sensitivity, honesty, teamwork, humility, boldness, and magis—a term that means always giving more and better. We test these skills in the technical case, where we apply some pressure to see how the person handles it," he explains. From there, "we’re only interested in the human side and understanding the person. We try to be open and avoid having candidates come with barriers; we want to see the human behind each profile."

"One of our great successes was putting our company values in writing."

Along with skills, maintaining company culture is vital. Therefore, Igeneris takes actions to reinforce and make it evident at all times, both to clients and internally. "In our history, we’ve made a few huge successes, some blunders, and many small good things. One of those big successes was putting our values in writing," Miguel reflects.

‍

"The little trick" to attract young talent
Miguel calls it a "little trick," but it’s actually a well-thought-out strategy with very good results so far. "We have a little trick for attracting young talent. We designed an internship program a couple of years ago where we take 3-4 people to work on a project like the ones we do. We make them leaders of that project, and in 7 weeks, they complete it. It’s a competitive process, and we’ve managed to create high demand among students. We organize it for students in their penultimate year of college so they can look for other internships in their final year," he explains.

And if they want to attract the best young talent, why encourage them to do internships at other companies?

The Managing Director of Igeneris clarifies: "For two reasons: if they decide to come back after graduating, it’s because they really want to and liked their time with us, and if they like the program, they’ll be our greatest representatives at the university by sharing their good experience with us. This doesn’t mean we keep everyone, but we try to keep the best performers."

‍

Future: moving towards flexibility

Looking ahead, Miguel predicts: "Without losing the human touch, the future will see increased use of tools and automations. The first filtering will come with automations where a matching score identifies the best candidates. Phrases like 'getting your resume to the top of the pile' will become meaningless."

"Without losing the human touch, I believe the use of tools and automations will increase to help with the initial candidate filtering."

The employer brand and the image it conveys to candidates will become increasingly important. Technical candidates are more cautious about accepting offers now. It’s no longer enough to be the first; companies need to show what they can offer. That’s why "the authenticity of companies will gain importance. Feedback from clients and employees... All this feedback will be crucial for having an attractive brand."

"Jobs will adapt to the lifestyle of each person."

"In management, we don’t see fully remote work for most companies, except purely technical ones. But we do see a move toward flexibility. Jobs will adapt to the lifestyle of each person, always talking about companies and positions that can do this," he concludes.

‍