What I love most about being a startup founder that works with other startups is the chance to combine data from our successes (and many failures) with that of 50 other companies. The data points paint a clearer picture than I could on my own and lead to insights such as my recent post on why candidates fail the screening interview.
This post aims to provide a shortcut to hiring success. If you don’t have time to read the entire post, here’s the TLDR: Show you care. This is also called empathy, and it’s one of the key elements of Emotional Intelligence that are critical to getting individual people to work together for the greater good.
Empathy is about putting yourself in the other person’s shoes. In this case, candidates for your job opening are generally not great at interviewing. It’s a skill you only get to practice every few years and triggers lots of our innate stress, like being judged and fear of failure. Some of your most critical hires—people who write code for a living—often gravitate to such jobs because they prefer writing code over human interaction, including interviewing. And many of us have seen that those who are best at interviewing end up being the worst at doing the actual job. People are imperfect, so a perfect interview process doesn’t exist, but bringing the following mindsets can significantly improve your odds of hiring talent that will help your company get to the next level.
5 Mindsets for Startup Hiring Success
Have a Process and Stick to it - Process does not mean “bureaucracy”. Rather, it’s an agreed-upon way of doing things around here. Lay out specific steps, timing, responsibilities, and decision-making input and authority. Hold your team accountable for sticking to the schedule, quickly sharing feedback, and getting to the next step, no matter what it is. Your interview process should be built quickly but able to flex—here, you can re-apply the old quote “done is better than perfect” and evolve your process based on its results and what you need as you grow. With this process, you’ll hire faster, with less effort, and get top talent more excited about joining your team.
Be Excited with Candidates - Excitement is key to startup success. The odds are long and the challenges intense. You’ve got to get your energy up to keep chipping away. So when you meet a great candidate, bring your energy forward in every interaction. Your energy is contagious and leads to a more positive, productive meeting. For example, when I introduce candidates to clients via email, the typical reply from the hiring client is, “Great to meet you. Here’s my calendar.” That’s fine, fast, and professional, but it brings zero energy. Alternatively, my client Tom usually says something like: “Hey, Kathleen, I love your experience and can’t wait to chat. Let’s grab some time as soon as you’re able!” In both cases, the client was impressed enough by the candidate’s resume to spend their precious time on a meeting. The former is fine and expected, but the latter excitement and compliment make a tremendous first impression and deliver a dose of confidence that usually turns into a stronger screening discussion for both sides.
Be Direct - Just because you’ve got empathy and excitement doesn’t mean everything is unicorns and rainbows. Ironically, the more empathy you have, the more you see that direct communication is part of the positive package. This should start with your screening discussion. For example, if you like the person’s background, but their frequent job switching is a red flag, be direct in saying that’s a concern and give them a chance to address it. If your tech test is tough, say that at the start of the process so they can be ready (or decline and save time). When you say “no” to them at some part of the process (which happens most often), give them just one reason for that decision so they can mentally move on.
The Default Answer is No - Never, ever settle in the hiring process. Most of my hiring mistakes happened when I leaned forward out of desperation to throw bodies at a problem. Your brain rationalizes: “I know that’s a concern, but I really need someone for this, and hopefully, they’ll work out.” These people consistently fail to succeed and draw tons of time and distraction in their wake. If you or anyone on the team has serious reservations, the answer is No. Your gut instinct is often right, and there’s more amazing talent out there. If you’ve got an interesting company (and follow the tips I’ve shared so far), you’ll see more strong candidates come your way with time.
Never Ever Ghost - It’s never fun to share bad news, and it’s easy to skip the “no” email and ignore the candidate’s pleas for feedback. But it’s inhumane and risks earning an enemy for life. Do you remember the person who ghosted you years ago after you spent hours of interview time? I still do, and I bet you do, too. Treating people poorly like this scatters seeds of destruction, torching your reputation and that of your company for life. The world we work in is too small and interconnected to afford ghosting. On the other hand, I’ve made and maintained some great friendships with people that I interviewed and chose not to hire! They have referred other talent my way and later became clients of my companies. I appreciated their time, enjoyed getting to know them, and they found jobs that were a better fit for them anyway.
Funny, looking back on this list, I think you can apply these tips way beyond hiring, including working with agencies/consultants/vendors, coaching and developing employees, raising money from investors, and replying to people who ask for a favor.
Being a better human has lots of advantages :)
Bob Gilbreath is a 2x-exit entrepreneur and co-founder of Hearty, a curated matchmaking service that combines top software developers with early-stage, venture-backed startups.