Mark Suster is writing about Startups in his blog post Hire Fast/Fire Fast, but how does it apply to everyone else? Let’s just focus on the hiring part here. Here’s his take:
I don’t think that recruiting is any different than any other decision process in a company. You’re never really going to know how somebody is going to perform in the role, how good of a cultural fit he or she is going to be and how motivated they’re going to become until they’re on the inside.
I’m not arguing that no screening is required. There are obvious questions you have give staff to get a gut feel on cultural fit, intelligence, aptitude and the like.
It’s interesting because he’s not actually talking about hiring more quickly. He’s actually talking about creating a framework that gives you information beyond simple qualifications. He calls this cultural fit, intelligence, and aptitude. And he’s pointing out a fact about hiring and recruiting that’s not often talked about: even if you find a perfect candidate on paper, they may not work out in the realities of every day life in the company.
Call it what you want: company culture, ability to adapt, or simply like-ability — these are important elements that are often ignored in the vetting process. Working with a recruiter or through HR, you can outline questions that will give you the information you need to satisfy your gut feeling about how someone will perform, adapt, and ultimately produce the results. you need.
One story from the trenches tells of a manager that would take potential hires out to lunch and insist that they drive. He could tell a lot from the appearance of a person’s car and also the style of their driving. Too cautious signalled they might not fit with a fast paced sales culture. Too reckless meant that they might be impatient with the slow sales cycle.
A drive test might not be important to you, but creating a framework to evaluate candidates beyond simple criteria is vitale. How do they react under genuine pressure? What is their personality like once the ‘interview mask’ is dropped? How adaptable will they be when situations change? How will they fit in not with your personality, but those people around them? Will they be a positive influence
Perhaps the best question to ask is the following: Is the employee they’ll become in 6 months better than the one that is qualified today?
So many times we focus on qualifications and not quality. Suster is pointing out that it all needs to go into the mix at a startup c0mpany. Should it go into the mix at every company?
Read Mark Suster’s full article here: http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/26/startup-mantra-hire-fast-fire-fast/