Why Axiom’s Kyle Richless Loves to Recruit Harvard Grads

Imagine being a $300 million company with offices located across the US, as well as teams in Singapore, Hong Kong and Switzerland. Now, picture that growth coming over 15 hard fought years,consistently chugging along at 20% growth year over year.

Paints a pretty good picture.

Now, visualize all of that that success with a BDR team of one – that’s right, one – just three short years ago.That’s the Axiom growth story. But, times are (and have been changing) at the company: by year’s end Axiom’s BDR team will boast up to 20 reps located across the US.

Leading this expansion is Kyle Richless, a reformed lawyer and Chief Conversation Starter, at Axiom. Richless, who is based in New York City with the majority of the company’s BDRs, was that lone rep 3 years ago. He’s been part of Axiom’s sales development growth each step of the way, moulding his hiring methods, figuring out how to attract the best people.

“Talent attraction is huge for us,” says Richless, in a recent edition of The Predictable Revenue Podcast.

“That’s why I spend one-third or half my time doing it.”

To call Richles’ hiring methods thorough is an understatement. Over the course of his experience growing a national SDR team, he’s formalized the type of candidate he looks for, where he looks for talent and how he judges potential hires.

As for the type of candidate that interests Richless, he’s looking for someone he can teach and mould. Experienced BDRs, although they come with a knowledge of the job and understanding of a general sales funnel, don’t have a head start with Axiom because of their resumes.

“My preference is to recruit direct from undergrad. I realize I’m at odds with other sales leaders and managers on this, but it lets us mould and shape people on our team. We’re not undoing bad habits,” says Richless.

“Some believe older candidates come with a bit more polish, but a recent grad is a piece of clay that we’re going to make great. And, we get more productivity out of them. Out of school, they’re more hungry.”

But Richless isn’t just looking for any new grad – he’s targeting those from the world’s greatest schools. A number of his team members, for example, graduated from Harvard. Other leaguers, too have joined the Axiom family.

Richless admits it can be tricky to get the attention of grads from such high-profile schools because a career in sales isn’t necessarily “sexy.” So, he has to show that the company is.

He typically starts with an email where he introduces Axiom and shares what it was about the candidate’s background that interested him (generally a mix of GPA, extracurriculars and entrepreneurship experience).

Then, he calls.

“To be honest, it is not a hard sale to get them over to see us for a day. Once in the door, we highlight our beautiful office and tremendous team,” says Richless.

“We’ve assembled tremendously talented and fun team. That’s magnetic. Once they see that, and we meet with them, then see if they’re interested in our evaluation process.”

Those that choose to enter Axiom’s evaluation process are in for a detailed interview experience. Axiom’s evaluation begins with a screening call aimed at understanding what the candidate wants to do with their lives. That screening call is followed by a writing sample in which candidates are asked to describe what Axiom does and how they are disrupting the legal industry.

From there, candidates are asked to hop on a call where Richless plays a potential client.

“We get on the phone, answer questions and see how they deal with my pushback. I want to see how they handle the trouble,” says Richless.

“And, I want to see if they have the instincts to get a meeting. Do they have that in their DNA?”

Finally, candidates are put through a live interview round where Richless tells them what they did right…and what they did wrong. This is, primarily, a session where he can gauge how a candidate takes feedback.

“Then, it’s pedal to the metal to close that candidate. We have other team members reach out, whatever we have to do,” says Richless.

“We should never lose a person we want.”