15 years of hiring experience in 5 bullets and a checklist!
Having gained extensive experience as an entrepreneur and CEO of ProductsUp, I had the privilege of leading and scaling our organization to >300 employees worldwide. As I was involved in many other venture activities during the last 15 years of my entrepreneurial journey, I estimate that I hired directly or indirectly up to 1000 people for various different companies. Throughout this journey, I have come to realize the pivotal role that effective hiring practices play in the success of a company.
The experience of building remarkable teams has shaped my perspective and led me to develop a set of essential rules for hiring exceptional talent. In this article, I want to share my insights with you. Hopefully, my learnings can also help you to elevate your own hiring practices, assemble your dream team, and drive your organization towards new heights.
Here are my five key insights that have guided my hiring decisions and have been instrumental in our company's growth and success - plus my personal hiring checklist.
Hire for ambition, train for skill
I believe that hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard or put in other words: I would always look for people that are motivated to do exactly this job because they love the challenge. I believe that in most cases this attitude is more important than experience. And the people that have that mindset will quickly become more effective and productive than the people that mainly build on their experience. That is also why I don’t look at CV’s when hiring. I want to understand what drives people and not which company names they have added to their CV.
Hire slow, fire fast
My experience is that it pays out to invest a lot of time in the process of hiring the right people. Most of the time people/companies hire because they need to fix a problem e.g. too many customer requests, we need to hire somebody in customer care. The longer the process takes the higher the pressure to get somebody will become. Sometimes it is really painful and you have the feeling that you cannot wait any longer to hire for the position but taking the time to find the right candidate ultimately pays off.
The fire-fast part was one of the hard learnings as an entrepreneur. I believe that everyone has a lot of skills and if put in the right position with the right task they will shine. And every time I hired somebody I did it with the full belief that this person will shine in the position we hired him/her for. Because of that mindset, I tried a lot of times to make it work if it didn’t by changing the position and/or task. But over time and after many failed attempts to do so I came to the conclusion that it is better for both sides to end the collaboration if it does not work out. If you communicate this decision in the right manner and support the person in finding a new job somewhere else I realized it is often a relief for both parties involved.
If in doubt say no
Sometimes you meet a great candidate, a great CV, perfect references, great interview but you have doubts about some points e.g. team fit, will that candidate stay long enough? Or even if everything is fine but you still have that gut feeling that something is off. This is a difficult situation, especially if you have problems piling up like described above. In the early days of my career I would let my mind overrule my gut feeling but every time I did so I regretted it later. At least for me.
Hire A Players
When you are starting a company you are most of the time lacking a lot of things (experience, people, customers…) one of which is money. Therefore it is a tough decision to hire A Players because most of the time they will know about their value and command a premium for it. A lot of times in the early days of my career I would say: we can not afford to hire this person he/she is too expensive. If that candidate is a real A player I would today say: we can not afford to not hire that person. For the first years of running Productsup my Co-Founder Kai and I did not pay ourselves any salary in order to be able to hire more A-Players. Sometimes it is hard to know who will be exceptional and perform well in the setup you are offering to a candidate. My experience is that it will click and you will know when you found the right candidate. A little bit like falling in love.
Do not only think about what it costs you
As mentioned earlier in most companies money is not a resource you have in abundance, therefore there are discussions about which positions can be put in a budget and which items money can be spent on. The majority of those discussions are structured around costs of e.g. software, an office, or a hire. Also when comparing two items in a purchase decision focus is too often on the cost associated with it. In my experience, it pays off to also have a look at what the options will bring you. Think about two options for a new office location where one is 50% more expensive but is more attractive in terms of location because it offers more lunch options for employees, is easier to reach…. It might be cheaper to go for that option if you look at the bigger picture and consider the implications that this decision might have e.g. on employer branding and your ability to attract top talent.
My hiring checklist
Apart from the rules guiding my decision, I try to work with my personal hiring checklist.
Do interviews in teams in order to prevent personal biases
Do interviews according to: “Who: The A Method for Hiring”
(Find it here: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Geoff-Smart-ebook/dp/B001EL6RWY)
Ask yourself the question: what will that candidate have done for me after a year?
Do 2-3 reference calls.
At the end of the trial period ask yourself if you would hire that person again?
What are your experiences? What are the rules you use to hire the best people?
Conclusion
Hiring the right people is a critical component of building a successful company. By adhering to the principles of hiring for ambition, investing time in the process, trusting your instincts, seeking out A Players, and considering long-term value, you can assemble an exceptional team that drives your organization's growth. I hope my learnings and checklist also inspire you with your hiring process.
Share your experiences and let's continue to learn from each other, as we strive to hire the best talent.
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