Hiring for fit, Hiring for talentWith Genghis Philip

First– when to hireThree kinds of needs

◦Specialized talents (Get it)◦Motivation (Want it)◦Deeper bench (Has the capacity for

it)

We’re going to assume it’s a Get it or Capacity hire for this talk.

Interviewing Stakeholders/Work Audit

◦What isn’t getting done? (Everybody)

◦What are the team goals this year? (Exec, Manager)

◦If this role exists, what does it currently require? (Manager)

◦What is the hard cap on salary for this position? (Exec or Manager)

Interviewing Stakeholders/Work Audit

◦What would they be doing if they had more capacity? (Manager, Team)

◦What are the most important qualities for a member of this team? (Manager, Team)

◦What’s the hardest thing about working on this team? (Team members)

Work Audit!

Look at artifacts in Jira, Zendesk, etc. Compare to KPIs.

Re-examine accountability

Whose neck?Who is going to be training this

person?

Do you have onboarding ready to go?

What are the expectations of the role?

Example Expectation Document: https://goo.gl/O1PH1B

Writing the job description

Put company core values front and center

Company ValuesOpen company, no

bullshit Build with heart and

balance Don’t f**k the

customer Play, as a team

Be BoldFocus on ImpactMove FastBe OpenBuild Social Value

Writing the job description- Personality

Stop writing job descriptions for robots to read

Is this really the team’s voice or is it for show?

Writing the job description - Responsibilities

Why is this work interesting? Talk customers; company impact.

Describe team dynamics, sell team membership

Writing the job description - Experience

Do you actually care about YEARS or FLUENCY?

“Nice to have”? No shit.

The Interview Rhythm

Interview rhythmPhone interview – 30 minutes,

unless a phone job (sales/service)

Case study – can this person DO the job?

In-person – curated group, armed w/ case study results

Example interview rhythmSun

Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

Phone Interview (30 min)

Case study scheduled

Case study sent out

Case study

returned

Case Study

reviewed (3 hours); In-person requested

First In-person Intervie

w (2 hours)

Final In-person

interview (1 hour);

Offer sent

Example interview rhythmOverall time-to-hire can be as

little as a week and should be less than two weeks

If you have deviate from the rhythm, communicate clearly and quickly

Interview criteriaCore values have to match

Use expectations document to determine characteristics this role MUST have

Write a couple sentences about those characteristics

Interview criteriaSelecting interviewers

◦I like two groups of two people, but one more or less is fine

◦Diversity of who the candidate will deal with – roles, seniority, gender, race

◦Every member must commit

Interview collateralInterview questions

◦Just a handful (5-8) per interviewer◦Cover personality and job tasks◦No either-ors

Interview collateralCase Study

◦New task, not a previous work-sample

◦Contains all info needed to complete the task

◦Not specific to your company’s domain

◦Time-restricted

◦Example at: https://goo.gl/wTPP3P

Actually interviewing!Every interviewer must be

prepared – no dead silences!

Communicate location and dress code

Respect timeboxes

Actually interviewing!Don’t overwhelm the candidate

Answers beget more questions.

Take notes, but make eye contact

Deciding between candidatesNumerical rubrics don’t work as

well as you’d think

“Would you be comfortable working with both of them?”

Ultimately, a lonely decision

Making an offerVerbal agreements are nice, but

don’t celebrate yet

In the offer letter, include specifics on job title and base salary, but broad strokes on bonus, benefits, PTO, perks, etc.

Hard deadline for signed acceptance

Thanks!WE’RE HIRING

Sr. Software Developer

Software Developer

QA Analyst

Product Manager

Product Marketing Specialist

Inside Sales Manager

Inside Sales Executive

Account Executive

Equipment Prep Technician

https://www.wandcorp.com/careers/

Contact meEmail- genghis.philip@gmail.com

Twitter- @hawksfire

These slides at : http://goo.gl/oT5R7M