Why This Innovation Agency Stopped Pitching and Hires for Behaviour Over Skills: Jenny from Magnetic on the Happy Teams Podcast

Jenny from Magnetic walked away from pitching. Not because she couldn't win, but because the process had become a procurement exercise that rarely suited the work Magnetic does. "We sell solutions, but we don't always know what the solution's going to be" Jenny explains. "Sometimes we don't even know what the problem is." A client arrives with a brief and Magnetic tells them the problem is somewhere else entirely. That doesn't lend itself to a competitive pitch process with a fixed scope. Instead, Magnetic operates on relationships. It takes longer to start a project, but once it begins, the foundation is already in place. "Innovation takes people out of their comfort zone," Jenny says. "If the relationship isn't there when you start, it's hard." Internally, Magnetic runs a programme called Jumpstart, hiring six to eight people a year into entry-level innovation and design roles. They recruit career changers, returning parents, and graduates, screening for curiosity, generosity, and a willingness to act.  "If they don't have the right behaviours and mindset, they're not going to work in our culture," Jenny says. Their annual book, now in its ninth edition, reaches 8,000 readers. Clients collect them and ask to be featured. During the pandemic, when the team debated whether to produce one at all, Jenny pushed ahead. She dialled into a call with a senior client and spotted every previous edition lined up on his bookshelf in the background. "I went straight back to the team and said, guys, we have to do the book." Listen to the full conversation with Jenny on the Happy Teams podcast.