Hiring: What Not to Do
Andrew Johnson is the Head of Talent at VeUP
Hiring in a rapidly growing start-up can be a difficult task.
It is easy to fall into traps, such as rushing to fill roles when there is an urgent need or prolonging the interview process to find the “right” person. These mistakes can stop organizational growth from even beginning, with potentially devastating consequences.
There are many ways to hire effectively and efficiently for your business. This article will explore the three most common mistakes that organizations make in recruiting and how to avoid them.
Miss : Emotional or Hasty Hires
You’re likely to encounter scenarios similar to the ones below at some point in your startup journey.
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You need to fund your books. You may not be making enough sales.
Your solution? Hire a Chief Financial Officer or Revenue Officer on a full-time basis.
Our suggestion: Instead hiring a full-time chief financial officer, or a chief revenue officer, perhaps ask yourself if there is really a gap in leadership? Is it a leadership gap or merely a lack of enablement? You could promote from within instead. Why not hire a part-time senior leader until your business is able to support a full time employee? Think of it as a trial before buying. The wrong person being placed in a leadership position (or any other role) can completely derail a train.
2. Your product falls short.
Your solution? Your solution?
We suggest: It’s also worth looking at this example scenario from the perspective of a ‘build or purchase’ mentality. People are the biggest cost in business. Is it better to partner with an on-demand services company or hire more developers? If you have an established product team and engineering leadership, it may be wise to focus first on cost savings and fractional support. You can then hire full-time when you have enough revenue and ongoing fundraising.
It may seem logical to wait until you need someone to hire. This approach is fraught with danger. You will starve if you only search for food when hungry. If you wait for an emergency before hiring, you will negatively affect the culture of your company and risk its collapse.
Missing: Interviews with Too Many Stages
A complete consensus will not turn your organization into an unicorn. It will turn it into a horned cow with foam on its forehead. The candidate will feel stressed and less excited about the role if they have to go through too many stages of interviewing. As a general rule:
Leadership roles at 4-5 stages
More Junior Roles: Three Stages
Communication is key to a successful interview. Explain to the junior candidate why the interview is important to them and to the company. Make sure you’re the person who promotes your company. Remember that there is a thin line between wasting someone else’s time and conducting an impactful interview.
Miss: Assume that the grass is greener
You want to hire the most qualified candidate, but you need to consider the following:
Speed = excitement = confidence = quick impact.
Leaders are expected to make decisions quickly, and change their minds slowly. You risk losing good candidates if you don’t move quickly and make them wait. The person you hire will have a major impact on the business, so don’t hesitate. As always, there are risks when making a decision, but you can mitigate them by doing the following:
- You should have a clear definition of ‘greatness’ for the position you are hiring for. Interview to this standard.
- Know your company’s culture and the types of personalities who would fit best. Make culture fit a top priority during your interview process.
- Define your hiring processes clearly and structure each stage of the interview with the desired outcome. This process should be communicated to all stakeholders, including candidates.
Keep an eye on these red flag scenarios. Reframing your recruitment strategy will help you make better decisions and scale your business more effectively. It will also increase employee morale and retention. All around wins.
HR News published the first version of this article Don’t Miss Hiring.
