Hiring Insights |
Startup Hiring - The One Trait Your First Hire Must Have
The good news, most startup CEOs enjoy a good challenge. And believe me, this will be a challenge. You'll want to find the hire quickly, but that can be a huge a mistake. You also don't want to spend all your time searching for this employee. That will ultimately take you away from your main focus - growing the business.
The easiest way to find that balance and make a positive decision for your company is to understand what you're looking for.
Positional Profile (Part 2) - Skills, Organizational Placement, and The Big Why
Positional Pressure (Part 2) - Prioritizing Pressure Points
Well In article 2, we're going to prioritize that list. This will allow you to concentrate on the areas that are most crucial to this position's success. And to do that, we're going to start with the Positionally Created Stresses.
The Setup
You've put in the effort to create a list of stresses this hire may face, and now it's time to make the list work for you. This can be achieved by creating a simple chart, where the vertical line represents the frequency of an event, and the horizontal line represents the segment of the business most impacted by the outcome of the event.
To give you something to reference, here's what my ranges look like...
Positional Pressure - Finding Someone Who Can Handle the Heat
That is why hiring someone capable of thriving despite the stress, is absolutely critical. To do that, you have to attempt to spot the pressure points before you even begin searching for candidates.
Positional Profile - A Company Lifesaver

They rationalize that the longer a position is open, the more money the company will lose. As a result, they hire quickly and that's never a good idea. This increases the chances of a bad hire, and that can easily cost the company 10X what the role is worth.
Now what these company's should be doing is combining the two adages. Yes, time is money, but you have to spend some of it, if you want a successful hire. And what they should be spending their time on, are these Positional Profiles.
What is a Positional Profile?
Business Operations - Products and Services
(Capturing Culture - Part 4 continued)

The two companies were successful, but their cultures were very different. On one end, you had the tried and true firm, which was filled with mostly established professionals, who had earned their status by developing certain skills throughout the years. The revolutionary agency on the other hand, was filled with newcomers, who were willing to take on new tasks and learn new skills. This was absolutely needed because the revolutionary agency would update or add new software every few months, and the staff needed to be adaptable.
So, despite being in the same field, everything was different about the two - even the dress code (jeans and tees vs. button ups and slacks), and it all stemmed from the type of products/services they offered.
Accurately Determining the Category
Business Operations - Technology's Impact
(Capturing Culture - Part 4 continued)
Quick Tip - Screening for Overtime
Now I've noticed that most companies can easily define their position on overtime. The real issues occur when they try to hire around this belief, which is why I've put together this quick insightful article.
Business Operations - Actions and Attitudes (Capturing Culture - Part 4)
Now it's important to note that each business is unique. They all have their own set of practices and methods, which impacts the culture in a variety of different ways. Fortunately, despite this, there are several that remain prevalent from business to business. These universal business operations are...
General Employee Ethos (Capturing Culture - Part 3)

Now the good news is, there are a variety of methods one can use to keep the team motivated, loyal, and honest. Unfortunately, the bad news is, there are a variety of methods one can use to keep the team motivated, loyal, and honest. This means, choosing the right approach isn't always the easiest decision. However, to avoid a hit or miss scenario with your tactics, I recommend defining and/or understanding how your company's employees feel about 3 main areas...
From the Top - The Boss's Beliefs (Capturing Culture - Part 2)
So what do you need from leadership, in order to understand your culture? You need their honest position on 4 main areas...
Capturing Culture - The Art of Defining Your Values
Now if you're bad or don't attempt to brand your business, people will still relate certain feelings or adjectives with your company - They just won't necessarily be the same across the board and it won't be in your control. The brand still exists, regardless of action. And this truth, leads me right into company culture. You see, whether you dedicate the time needed to properly develop your culture or not, it's going to be there. You can either control it or pray for the best.
Candidate Personas - What They Are and Why You Need Them
Getting Scorched By Hiring Quickly
As a result, they'll hurriedly create a job post, upload it to as many job boards as possible, conduct improvised interviews, and hire someone based on a gut feeling. What could go wrong? Well... let's find out.
Is Your Company Making This Disastrous (And Common) Hiring Mistake?

How to Ask the Perfect Interview Question

The Truth About Interviews
Now a way to combat this lack of experience is with a strong hiring strategy that includes an arsenal of useful behavioral questions. But, of course, how useful is an arsenal, if you can't properly use the weapons?
95 Behavioral Interview Questions (Frequently Updated)
As an interviewer, your main goal is to determine whether a candidate will thrive or die in the position. This, of course, isn't always the easiest task. For starters, many applicants stretch the truth, or straight out lie. Not helping the situation, is the typically low caliber questioning that many interviewers use.
What makes behavioral questions so useful, is that they capture a person's past performance honestly. And as the old adage goes, "the best predictors of future performance are past actions." The only thing more important than a behavioral question, is a powerful follow up question.
Enjoy this list and check back often as we'll be updating them frequently.
What makes behavioral questions so useful, is that they capture a person's past performance honestly. And as the old adage goes, "the best predictors of future performance are past actions." The only thing more important than a behavioral question, is a powerful follow up question.
Enjoy this list and check back often as we'll be updating them frequently.
Behavioral Question Categories
- Intelligence (4)
- Leadership (27)
- Management (18)