The Goal
We are hiring in order to achieve results that are far greater than the sum of our individual efforts. (see Values ) To do this we have to find a perfect candidate, not the best, a perfect candidate, and if we don’t find them, we don’t hire. And if we find them, we have to give them everything they need to succeed as quickly as possible. We want their addition to our team to be a multiplier of the teams output, not merely an addition to it, and we want to achieve this multiplication as fast as we can.
Finding the right person and getting them onboard and effective is the responsibility of the Team Lead that they will be reporting to. This is a serious responsibility and it must not be taken lightly or considered something to be done on a context switching, half hearted basis. If the team needs to hire, the Team Lead needs to be all in, and they need to make sure the new employee is a success.
Scorecard
The hiring begins with the Team Lead defining the Scorecard for the new hire and getting it approved by their Boss.
Hiring Committee
Once the Scorecard is agreed to the Team Lead forms a Hiring Committee comprised of them self, 1 or 2 members of their Team, and their Boss.
Posting
Once the Hiring Committee is on-side the Team Lead writes the job posting as a letter to a friend, be casual, not formal, and describe the following;
What we do - what are our products and services, what customers do we serve, our history reference, our values and why people work for us and stay with us, what is it about us that makes us a good place to work and what are the character traits are of a person who thrives with us? Be sure to explain our virtual, 9 to 5 eastern standard time requirements. Reference all of the applicable sections within our knowledge base to direct potential candidates there and encourage them to explore further to find out more about us.
What we expect from this role - what’s the purpose of this role? What is this role expected to achieve in terms of productivity, efficiency, quality, timeliness, accuracy, talent management, customer service, reporting, etc...? What are the challenges that this role will face? What is the size and scope of the responsibilities and influences? How will the company be impacted when this role succeeds? If it fails? What does this role need to achieve within 90 days of joining us to successfully pass our probation? What does this role need to achieve within a year of joining us to be a top performer in the company?
What experience and qualifications do they need - what do we want a candidate to have already accomplished before considering joining us?
And finally, tell them about our compensation, time away, and benefits, and explain how we use Topgrading and how they will apply through the Topgrading site for the position.
Once written the Team Lead shares the posting with the Hiring Committee and gets their agreement on the tone and content. Once ready, post away.
Selection
Use the Topgrading process to select at least 6 candidates that you, as Team Lead, will interview for each position that you need to fill. Use an scheduling application like Calendly to make it easy to book times that work for both you, and the candidate, and do your interviews over Google Hangouts.
Use the Topgrading interview process to understand the candidates history, motivation, values, and potential cultural fit. You are looking for weaknesses, reasons to say no, not strengths, or reasons to say yes. You are grading candidates against the criteria that you have for the position to be filled. You are not ranking them against each other. For those candidates that exceed your requirements ask them to arrange reference checks with at least their last 3 or 4 Bosses and if they can’t do it for their current employer ask to speak to a current coworker or past Boss who has left the company who can talk to you about their current work. Once again use an application like Calendly to make it easy to book the appointments and put the onus for scheduling the reference check calls on the candidate. Not you. If the applicant can’t get the references, their Bosses, to speak with you then unfortunately you can’t consider them.
After the reference checks grade your candidates against your requirements, not against each other, and put your top 3 up to the Hiring Committee to interview. The Hiring Committee will evaluate the original interview assessment and dig further into the technical capabilities of the candidate. Do they have the skills and experience in addition to the motivation, values and cultural fit to do the job that we need done?
Once the Hiring Committee has completed their interviews they and the Team Lead grade the candidates, they don’t rank them, and if they end up with no one that meets the standards required, they start over. They do not recommend that we hire the best ranked candidate - they are looking for the top performer that has exceeded the requirements that we have set. Assuming they have one candidate in mind they present their conclusions to the CEO, and assuming the CEO agrees with their presented assessments the candidate is then asked to meet with the CEO for their final interview. If the CEO can’t find a reason to say no the position is offered to the candidate. Keep in mind that it is the Team Leader, the Hiring Committee, and the CEO’s job to find a reason to say NO. Expect it. No amount of hard work spent trying to hire someone will come close to the amount of hard work and financial loss if the wrong person joins the company.
Offer
Once the Hiring Committee has unanimously agreed on a candidate the Team Lead in coordination with their Boss works out the compensation to offer as per our range for the role. The position and compensation is presented as an offer to the candidate in the form of our Employment Agreement with an expiry date of 3 business days from the date that it is sent, unless some other circumstances warrants extending, or shortening, that duration. We don’t want to lose the opportunity with other potential candidates if our current selection is not sure and taking too long to decide.
Acceptance
Upon acceptance of the signed agreement the hard work begins. The Team Lead must get this person on-boarded and multiplying, not just adding to, the output of the team as quickly as possible. To make this happen the Team Lead creates an on boarding epic that includes at the very least all of the rows within the On-boarding Checklist.