As companies navigate a landscape marked by higher wages, greater specialization, and fluctuations in demand, they encounter significant challenges. The quest to control costs, enhance transparency and visibility, and minimize management budgets has become increasingly critical. In this context, staffing supplier programs have risen as pivotal solutions.
Yet, the true challenge emerges as businesses are tasked with developing and refining these programs on the fly. Zendesk, a prominent tech company celebrated for its customer service software, faced precisely this scenario.
With a burgeoning contingent workforce program and an urgent need to expand its team in the Midwest, Zendesk embarked on a mission to cultivate a more sophisticated supplier program, ensuring operational continuity amidst growth and change.
Building the Plane While in Flight
Zendesk’s Procurement Manager, Angela Westhead, found herself at a crossroads. Despite being a well-known company, Zendesk’s contingent workforce program was still fairly new.
As a global organization, Zendesk faced a unique set of challenges. Despite its global presence, its contingent workforce program in the United States, particularly outside the Bay Area, required additional support. “We’ve had a lot of hiring in the midwest out of the Madison area in the last year,” Westhead reflects. “We’re also a digital-first company in the U.S., aiming to hire the best-fit candidate wherever they may be,” she added.
This approach necessitated a robust strategy for attracting top talent, especially in technical roles, across various regions with a focus on cost savings and niche skills fulfillment.
When Westhead joined Zendesk in 2022, she knew just what they needed to accelerate hiring in the Midwest. “I went to Zendesk, and sent Cypress a contract within the first couple of months,” said Westhead.
With offices in Minnesota and Atlanta, Westhead knew that Cypress had the resources and network to support digital-first hiring in the region. “I know they can find talent in the regions we were looking for, and I know that I can trust the account management team,” she added.
Westhead sent out four contracts to their supplier network. Cypress quickly proved their ability to gain traction in the region, “They had five hires in the first six months, which is great,” said Westhead.
When Westhead had the opportunity to hire for a full-time position on her team, she again turned to Cypress. With specialized skillsets and a mandate to hire in Wisconsin, Cypress had tough shoes to fill. “I gave them the exclusive. I told them, ‘If you can find this person, I’ll hire them, but I’m not putting this out to group recruiting. I don’t think this person exists, so I don’t want to waste everybody’s time,’” said Westhead.
Westhead knew that if anyone could find the right candidate for the role, it was Cypress. “I don’t know how they found this woman, but they did. It’s a testament to their excellent, deep recruiting,” remarked Westhead.
Cypress’ deep recruiting specialization and strategic partnership approach allowed Zendesk to navigate budget constraints, location strategies, and the intricacies of hiring digital-first talent.
Their responsiveness to Zendesk’s unique needs, coupled with a consultative approach to recruiting, fostered a productive relationship. “They’ve been receptive to our location strategy and budget restraints, and have been valuable strategic partners,” stated Westhead.
The Strategic Value of Partnership
The relationship between Westhead and Cypress extends beyond contractual obligations. It dates back to her early days in the MSP world at LinkedIn. “I didn’t know what I was doing and I just sort of came into a supplier program and had Cypress as one of my vendors,” explained Westhead.
Westhead worked with roughly twelve vendors during her five-year tenure with LinkedIn. During this period, the skillsets and requirements needed, especially in technical roles, were extremely rigorous. One of the biggest challenges the team faced was finding technical talent that would fit into the organization. “I felt like I would always get excellent information from Cypress about the candidate’s technical ability as well as the type of person we were getting,” said Westhead
As she took over LinkedIn’s vendor management strategy, overseeing the supplier scorecards, Westhead had a front-row seat to the great job Cypress was doing. Quarter over quarter, Cypress consistently outperformed other vendors in the program. “It was five years of consistently being impressive, especially in engineering, but also they can do every silo well,” added Westhead.
When Westhead moved onto a new opportunity at Twitter, bringing Cypress on board as a vendor was a no-brainer. “I started doing supplier optimization and one of my teammates said, ‘Hey, if you have any suppliers you love that you want to bring in, feel free to send them a contract,’” added Westhead. She sent two contracts and one of them was to Cypress. “They came into Twitter, and just excelled out of the gate,” Westhead elaborated.
A Blueprint for Future Success
Through specialized recruitment, strategic partnership, and strong relationships, Zendesk and Cypress have demonstrated the power of alignment in achieving business objectives.
The longstanding relationship between Westhead and the Cypress team has been the cornerstone of their successful collaboration. “We built a really good, strong rapport over time,” Westhead reflects.
This relationship has fostered a deep understanding and mutual respect, enabling effective problem-solving and strategic planning. “They would take my call, hear me, and then go take action and report back what happened,” said Westhead.
The trust and rapport developed over time underscores the importance of relationships in staffing. “Ten years later, I can still call them up and ask for market data; which is not their job,” added Westhead, “But these are the kinds of things that we can still come to each other for.” This foundation of trust has enabled both parties to work together effectively, anchored by collaboration and trust.
As both Westhead and Cypress continue to evolve and grow, the lessons learned and the success achieved underscore the enduring value of building meaningful partnerships in the staffing landscape. “It’s nice to grow together and mutually support each other’s goals. That’s what we want in this industry. So I hope we keep doing that and keep growing together,” concludes Westhead.
