According to Inc, Aliett Buttelman, co-founder of the viral glitter freckle company Fazit, has revealed one of its mysterious open roles: a head of partnerships. To fill it, she’s employing a strategy called “gorilla hiring,” which involves proactively scouting and reaching out to ideal candidates rather than waiting for applications. The role itself is designed to bring partnerships, communities, products, and events to life for the brand, which is now in major retailers like Walmart, Target, CVS, and Sephora in the UK. Buttelman’s teaser post on LinkedIn has already generated significant buzz, pulling in nearly 900 reactions and over 100 comments from interested job seekers. This high-volume online interest is presented as a cost-effective modern twist on the hiring process.
So what is this “gorilla” thing, really?
Basically, it’s a brute-force approach to recruitment. Instead of just posting a job and sifting through resumes, you go out and hunt. You scroll through thousands of profiles on LinkedIn or other platforms, identify people who look perfect, and then you message them. Directly. It’s labor-intensive, no doubt. But here’s the thing: in a noisy job market, sometimes you have to go find the signal yourself. The “gorilla” part comes from the sheer, relentless effort of it. You’re not waiting for the right person to find you; you’re tracking them down in their own habitat.
Why this makes sense for a company like Fazit
Look, Fazit is a viral, social-media-native beauty brand. Its entire existence is built on creating buzz and community online. So it’s only logical that its hiring strategy would mirror its marketing strategy. Teasing a high-profile role on LinkedIn isn’t just about filling a job; it’s a marketing event. It generates conversation, gets people talking about the brand, and probably attracts a different caliber of candidate—someone who’s already tuned into that world. For a Director of Partnerships, that’s crucial. You need someone who inherently gets how to build hype, not just manage a spreadsheet of contacts.
But is it all glitter and good vibes?
Not necessarily. This approach has some real trade-offs. First, it can feel incredibly aggressive to the people on the receiving end. Getting a cold LinkedIn message about a job you didn’t apply for can be flattering, or it can feel like an invasion. Second, it relies heavily on the founder’s or recruiter’s network and perception. Are you *really* finding the best person, or just the best person whose profile you happened to see? There’s a risk of creating an echo chamber. And let’s be honest, this “high-volume interest” can be a bit of a vanity metric. Hundreds of comments don’t automatically mean hundreds of qualified, serious applicants.
The bigger recruitment shift
So what does this tell us? It highlights a broader fatigue with traditional job boards. Posting on a big board often means wading through a swamp of unqualified applicants. Gorilla hiring, for all its brute-force weirdness, is an attempt to regain control and precision. It’s a sales outreach playbook applied to recruitment. For other founders watching Fazit’s post get nearly 900 reactions, the lesson seems clear: your hiring process is now part of your brand narrative. You can’t just quietly look for people anymore. Every open role is a chance to tell a story and engage your community. Whether that’s sustainable or just another fleeting trend, well, that’s the real question.
