Hiring 101- Grow Your Startup With the Right Team

Hiring 101
Grow your startup with the right team
Cristina Fonseca

Hiring101 Grow Your Startup With The Right Team Cristina FonsecaHiring101 Grow Your Startup With The Right Team Cristina Fonseca

Hiring101 Grow Your Startup With The Right Team Cristina Fonseca

Outline
1. Great Teams
2. Hiring Toolkit
3. Hiring Process
4. Onboarding Process
5. Scaling
6. Firing

1. Great Teams

Great Teams
· A players, smart and passionate
· Curiosity, “challenge driven mindset”
· Good communicators
· Team players

“Everytime we hire someone he or she should
raise the bar for the next hire so that the overall
pool of talent is always improving”
–– Jeff Bezos

August 21, 1994
Well-capitalized start-up seeks extremely talented C/C++/Unix developers
to help pioneer commerce on the Internet. You must have experience designing
and building large and complex (yet maintainable) systems, and you should
be able to do so in about one-third the time that most competent people think
possible. You should have a BS, MS, or PhD in Computer Science or the equivalent.
Top-notch communication skills are essential. Familiarity with web servers and HTML
would be helpful but is not necessary.
Expect talented, motivated, intense, and interesting co-workers.
Must be willing to relocate to the Seattle area (we will help cover moving costs).
Your compensation will include meaningful equity ownership.
Send resume and cover letter to Jeff Bezos:
mail: be…@netcom.com
fax: 206/828-0951
US mail: Cadabra, Inc.
10704 N.E. 28th St.
Bellevue, WA 98004
We are an equal opportunity employer.
——————————————————————-
“It’s easier to invent the future than to predict it.” — Alan Kay

2. Hiring Toolkit

Hiring Tools
· Recruiting Software (Workable, RecruiterBox, Trello, Assana or similar)
· LinkedIn
· Calendar
· Video Application (Skype, Google Hangouts or similar)

Hiring Resources
· Job Posting Templates
· Email Templates
· Interview Templates and Questions
· A process

2. Hiring Process

The Funded Superhero Syndrome
The behaviour of hiring with no rules or breaking
all your rules after a round of funding because
you have money and need to grow fast.

The beer test
is not enough

Hiring Statistics
Google hires from the <1% top performers.
They receive 130 applications for each hire made.
1 top hire = at least 5 interviews

Hiring Process:
1. Sourcing
2. CV Screening
3. 1st Interview
4. Technical Challenge
5. Cultural Fit
6. Decision
7. Offer

Sourcing CV Screening 1st Interview Technical Challenge Cultural Fit Decision Offer
Sourcing Goal
Find the most promising candidates for the job.
How to:
- Find candidates using referrals and your network. Later on events,
LinkedIn, Job boards, more referrals and recruiting agencies might
also work
- Look for diversity, different skills bring different perspectives

CV Screening Goal
Filter the potential candidates looking for excellence and get a short list.
How to:
- No mistakes are allowed
- Extremes are not good (10y / 6m at a company)
- Look for excellence (top companies, awards and competitions)
- Find professional contacts in common, ask for references

1st Interview Goal
Determine if the hire would result in a win-win situation for both parts.
How to:
- 30 min video conversation
- Ask smart questions, have a “script”
- Sell the company vision and give a company overview
- Ask what would make the person join you (salary, challenge)
- Main point: “did this person teach me something?”

Technical Challenge Goal
Understand if the candidate’s technical skills match the company needs.
How to:
- Ask the person to solve a problem you are / have experienced
- Invite the person to do it in the ofﬁce is possible
- Perform a critical review of the work, understand the reaction to criticism

Cultural Fit Assessment Goal
Make sure the candidate’s values are aligned with the company ones.
How to:
- Coffee / lunch / beer test with founder / manager / team members
- Look for diversity, different skills bring different perspectives
- Is this person talented, motivated, intense, and interesting?

Decision Goal
Decide if an offer should be presented based on the feedback and
evidence collected before.
How to:
- If you haven’t speak with at least 5 candidates, hold on
- Don’t compromise (even if the candidate was a referral)

Offer Goal
Present the candidate with a job offer.
How to:
- Transform all the verbal agreements into a written offer
- Compensation: create a fair environment (salary / stock options)
- Paperwork / contracts: don't delay it, work with a lawyer

4. Onboarding Process

Onboarding Process
Set the team for success while setting the company tone.
1. Preparation
2. Day 1
3. First Weeks

Preparation Day 1 First Weeks
Preparation Goal
Create knowledge spaces where people can look for information.
How to:
- Have a wiki in place since the beginning
- Have basic “guides”: links and info on how you work, culture,
tools you use…

Day 1 Goal
Welcome, set the tone and produce something (code, blog post…)
How to:
- Morning: paperwork, computer setup, “company guide”
- Lunch: team lunch
- Afternoon: work on the “Issue of the day” with the team buddy

First Weeks Goal
Deliver on what you promised during the interview process.
How to:
- Have the person work with multiple people and projects
- Deﬁne a buddy for each project
- Start with small tasks, increase the complexity

Hiring101 Grow Your Startup With The Right Team Cristina FonsecaHiring101 Grow Your Startup With The Right Team Cristina Fonseca
5. Scaling

Managing internal expectations
- Promote only the right people at the right time
- Find managers that team members respect
- Don’t “give” all the fancy titles. Every 6 months you will need more
people with different experience

How to avoid the “desperation hire”
- Make hiring a #1 priority, it takes time
- Create a hiring team
- Make sure your hiring process is solid

6. Firing

Hire fast, ﬁre faster (but do it right).
· How to:
- Be transparent, give people feedback
- Don’t put yourself in trouble, seek legal advice

Thanks!

Hiring 101- Grow Your Startup With the Right Team

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (20)

Similar to Hiring 101- Grow Your Startup With the Right Team

Similar to Hiring 101- Grow Your Startup With the Right Team (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (10)

Hiring 101- Grow Your Startup With the Right Team