Posted By Cary Toor
For a start-up or small business, hiring is one of the most important and most difficult tasks you do. In an organization with only a few employees, there is no place to hide. Everyone’s job is important and everyone’s contribution is essential. The wrong hire can literally kill a company!
I especially see my start-up clients having difficulty hiring. Sometimes they get very skilled employees who are difficult to work with (malcontents, drama queens, and people lacking flexibility). Sometimes they hire people who can’t do the job and can’t grow into it fast enough for a small company.
Owners may have expertise in one or two areas, but they don’t have expertise in many of the jobs which they need to fill. Many times, we come up with tests (or grab them from the internet) to judge potential candidates. Although this can be helpful, it is pretty difficult to align tests with actual skills and they are only one indicator of a good or great employee.
Some Indicators of Great Employees
Over my 3-plus decades running a 50-person software development company, I hired hundreds of staff members. I was good at spotting hard skills, but not so good with soft skills like communications and team work. Over time, however, I came up with a few indicators that made hiring much easier and better identified successful candidates.
- Will the candidate love his or her work?
- Does the candidate want to learn new skills in their field?
- Is the candidate flexible?
- Most importantly, is the candidate a “human” (i.e. not a jerk)? Do you want this person in the cubicle next to you?
Make sure the candidate loves his or her work! I have never had an employee who loves their work and was not worth their money, or better. If you are hiring a software developer, they need to love to code, even to the extent that they code at home for fun. If you are hiring an analyst, they need to love to write or be jazzed by learning about business processes. How do you tell if someone loves their work?
- Ask them! Do you love to code? Do you like to write? Is accounting the most interesting thing in your life?
- Ask them to tell you about the most exciting thing they did in their career. If they love their work, they will show a lot of excitement.
- Ask them to describe their ideal job/work environment. If they describe a different job than the one you are hiring them for, they probably are not a fit.
Make sure the candidate wants to learn new things in his or her field or expand his or her professional horizons. You may need a C# developer, but does the candidate want to learn more about databases, or Java, or other related areas? In a small company, you can’t afford an employee who only wants to stay in their small niche and not expand their skills and knowledge.
Flexibility goes along with this. How well is the candidate likely to adapt to a changing environment? Are they willing to change teams, work on different projects, or use different methodologies? You can find this out by talking to them about these issues.
Finally, and most importantly, make sure the candidate is a “human,” my code word for not a jerk. Of course, the definition of a jerk is different for everyone so, try to get the following:
- Is the candidate likely to work well with other people in your organization? Is he or she likely to work well with you?
- Does he or she provide information freely or are they information hoarders?
- Are they malcontents or likely to cause trouble?
- Do they bring along drama? Will they start rumors or talk behind other employee’s backs?
This can be difficult to determine, but if you ask the candidates about why he or she left their previous positions, you might get some very good clues. You don’t want to hire people who speak poorly about their previous employers or complain incessantly about aspects of their previous positions. Ask the candidate whether he or she would be happier working on a team or individually and how they see themselves participating in a team. Talk to them about the importance of following the rules of a team, such as attending team meetings, coding to standards or writing using a template that someone else created.
Additionally, talk to everyone (recruiters, receptionists, etc.) in your organization that had contact with the candidate. Did he or she show respect and curtesy to everyone up and down the line? If not, you don’t want them! Before we met with a candidate for a technical interview, we asked our recruiter and HR person to try to figure out if they were a human.
Of course, to get this information, you need to interview. In person is best, via video conference (Skype, Facetime, etc.) is next. Voice only is bad since visual cues for both sides are lost.
The Role of Money
Money is very important, to both you and the candidate. Let’s face it, money is always tight (and even if it is not, you should be running your business like it is)! The less you have to pay for an employee the better. However, if you pay less then you need to, you might not get what you want. If you pay significantly less than market value, your employee will leave at the first opportunity.
Ignore the salary surveys. Ask candidates their current salary and their desired salary. One major advantage of this strategy is that you will have a much more complete understanding of the market and what you need to pay to get what you want. Remember that you are hiring in a market. You are comparing the candidate to other people you have interviewed and the candidate is going to compare your offer to other potential offers.
It is really difficult to hire someone for less money than they want to make (although in a start-up you can convince them that stock options are worth more than the difference). If you do hire someone for less than they want, don’t be surprised if they continue to search for a higher paying job even after you hire them and they start work. Hiring someone for less than they want can also breed resentment, even on day one. If you want to hire someone for less, you need to explain to them why and sell them on the benefits of your organization.
Some Final Thoughts
Hiring is difficult, time consuming, and expensive, so it is important to get it right as often as possible, even though we can’t get it right all the time. Try my four indicators for identifying great potential employees. They definitely worked for me (most of the time).
Finally, when you hire someone, make sure you give them a written offer clearly spelling out the terms. They won’t be around long if you have one view of your offer and they have another.
And remember, it is easier to retain great employees than it is to find them!