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Early on we got lots of advice that our #1 priority should be: hire great people. That sounds great, until you pause and think: wait how do I actually do that?
It's hard and I’m no master at it, but lessons and advice we’ve learned (usually the hard way):
It's hard and I’m no master at it, but lessons and advice we’ve learned (usually the hard way):
1. It starts before you interview a single person. Agree on the 3 must haves (just 3) for the role. Share that out beforehand with your team.
2. Structure the interviews to figure out those 3 must have things. Same structure for every candidate.
3. Don’t go for consensus. If you only hire people that everyone liked, you’ll get the least offensive candidate, not the best.
4. If the candidate acts poorly while interviewing (runs late, flakes, is rude etc) — it’s not going to get any better when they start.
5. Working sessions and projects are incredible. I don’t care what anyone says. They help weed out people who are just good interviewers. The project/prep shouldn’t take more than a few hours. If it does, it’s a bad project and you should pay them for it.
6. Let the hiring manager make the decision. Then hold them accountable.
7. Reward acting fast on wrong hires. We had a manager realize after a week the new hire was unable to do the job. The manager let them go. Was I upset that we didn’t have a better interview process? Yes. But I was also really proud and impressed that they acted quickly.
8. Set them up for success. Have them make 30, 60 and 90 day plans; Weekly 1:1s; have them meet everyone they need to.
9. Do quick 360 feedback after 90 days. This really helps course correct ways of working issues early on.
10. Fire fast. If you think the person is underperforming, it's too late. They've been underperforming for a while and everyone else knows it.
