Oksana joined the EvoTalents team as our Lead Generation Manager in May. The decision to expand and venture into the world of lead generation came after EvoTalents was ready to enter international markets. These were markets where we didn't have case studies or recommendations to help us assist new clients in finding IT specialists.
Oksana previously studied foreign philology and had diverse experience in teaching English, e-commerce and recruiting. Unfortunately, like many Ukrainians, she had to change jobs during the midst of the war. Such challenging times break many people, but not those who are truly driven to develop and move forward. Oksana proved to be one of them: determined, always smiling, and eager to learn to achieve her goals.
In this article, in an interview format, we get to know the girl's story, her responsibilities in the company, and delve a bit into the topic of lead generation.
Let's begin!
► What experience did you have before deciding to start your path in lead generation?
I worked as an IT recruiter/sourcer for 6 months before. At that time, I was planning to further pursue this direction. However, the job market situation was quite challenging. There were not many job offers, but a lot of people interested in non-technical positions like sourcers or recruiters. So, I had to ask myself: "Where and how can I be useful?" Eventually, I decided to explore positions in lead generation.
► How did you get introduced to lead generation?
I had heard about this field before and had a basic idea of what I would be doing. Back to my university days, I had a surface-level acquaintance with IT positions. I read job descriptions of those specializations where I thought I could apply. Additionally, I have acquaintances who also work in this field.
Deep down inside, I felt that this specialization would suit me. I could also use English (in writing sales emails) here. Lead generation, in my opinion, is somehow related to sourcing and recruiting as well. Now, I'm involved in finding clients, while sourcing/recruiting is about finding candidates — both involve interacting with people. In recruiting, the funnel represents the candidate's journey from sourcing to job offer, and in lead generation, it's from finding a lead to signing a contract. For me, this wasn't a drastic shift since it remained within the IT domain.
► How did you and EvoTalents find each other?
How I became part of EvoTalents is quite an interesting and somewhat fateful story. When I started actively considering lead generation positions, I was recommended by my good acquaintance. When Marina, my future mentor, contacted me, it turned out that I was already familiar with EvoTalents and EvoTalents.School to some extent when I was exploring courses and webinars for self-improvement. I was genuinely impressed by how the team worked. At that time, I hadn't even thought about lead generation or that I would become a part of EvoTalents.
So, the Universe hears us :) The key is not to be afraid and be open to new opportunities!
► How was your start and adaptation at EvoTalents?
Undoubtedly, before starting, I had some fears because it was something new and different. However, my adaptation here has been extremely cool and pleasant. Having a great mentor like Marina played a significant role :)
- Now, let me tell you about the tools I work with — some were already familiar to me, while others required learning:
- We search for leads through LinkedIn, which I already had experience with when working in recruitment.
- For finding contacts (emails), we use SalesQL and Snovio. I hadn't worked with them before, but they are user-friendly and real helpers.
- I'm also getting used to the CRM system PipeDrive. There, we manage the sales funnel and get an overview of the entire process.
- Another new tool for me was Lemlist — a mailing tool, specifically for email outreach. There are many options, but its cool advantage is the ability to use both email and LinkedIn for outreach. We also set up mailing criteria, gather analytics (as my mentor says, "Analytics is a must"), and synchronize it with our CRM
► You have experience in both recruiting and lead gen. Can you tell us about the main differences between the emails you send to candidates and potential leads?
I believe that both lead generation and recruiting are about sales. So, both the recruiting and sales texts have a "sales" tone and share many common elements. However, in my opinion, recruiting emails are more focused on offering, while sales emails are more persuasive.
Lead generation often involves interaction and the result is not "here and now" but for the future. Therefore, in our emails, we often propose meeting "for a coffee" to discuss potential business opportunities and the possibility of future cooperation.
Currently, there are ongoing debates about the relationship between recruiting and sales. Can one be attributed to the other or not? Nevertheless, what remains a golden rule for both recruiting and sales emails is to make them eye-catching. But all of this requires testing and analyzing results.
► Can you tell us more about testing hypotheses in lead generation?76
These can be various hypotheses, variables in the emails, flow, or the approach and tone of the emails (formal or informal). Let me tell you about one of our cases.
We launched a campaign using only one outreach channel — email. The campaign consisted of three emails. After observing and analyzing, we realized that it wasn't working as we hoped. The response rate was very low, so we decided to launch the longest campaign in our history, consisting of 10 steps and using two outreach channels — email and LinkedIn. Now, we'll observe and analyze again because it's essential!
