Recruiting great people is a priority for any company at any stage of their growth. In the early stages, finding and hiring your initial team is core to instilling the right company culture. To hire effectively, founders and managers need to be thoughtful and organized about their recruiting process — from the first screening until delivering an offer. A sloppy and inconsistent process reflects poorly on the company, and can be the difference between a “Yes, I want to join” and “No, I don’t think this is the right fit.”
As a Talent Partner at Greylock, I work with our portfolio and advise them on refining their recruiting processes. As such, I’ve become familiar with many of the common problems that both new and experienced teams face when recruiting.
Recently, I gave a talk that addresses some of these frequent “bugs” in the recruiting process, and want to share my presentation here more broadly. I go over the three stages of recruiting — sourcing, evaluation, and conversion — covering common mistakes made at each level as well as the questions you need to answer to avoid them.
The full talk will be available on video and podcast soon, but for now here are the slides from my deck. I hope these thoughts and questions are helpful when thinking about your recruiting process.
5. Basic Process
Sourcing
Referrals, Direct Source, Applications, Recruiting Agencies
Evaluation
Technical ability, work history, culture fit, references
(formal/back channel)
Conversion
Pre-closing, comp discussion, offer delivery
1.
2.
3.
6. If you’re not converting offers,
nothing else matters.
(healthy = +70%)
7. Conversion Mistakes
Person was not ready to receive the offer (preclosing)
• Unclear role expectations (current and future)
• Decision making time
Compensation
Unaddressed organizational issues
• Reporting structure
• Leadership gaps
Scared off in the interview process
8. Offer Checklist
Decision Criteria
• Do you know how they’re making their decision and what
they value (e.g. autonomy, tech, people, comp)?
• Who is involved in the decision (e.g. spouse, kids)?
Role
• Do they understand what they’re going to be doing and why
it’s important to the company?
• How will they grow?
9. Offer Checklist
Company
• Do they understand why the company matters and why it will
be successful?
• Do they believe in the company mission? (Involve your
investor)
Ask for the business
• If we make the offer are you ready to accept?
*still wont be a 100%, run post-mortem on rejected offers
10. A great candidate experience will
prevent leaky bucket problems.
*consistent candidate experience will still make you
better than most companies.
11. Evaluation Mistakes
Time in process
• Clock starts from the first conversation
Lumpy communication
• Communicate constantly; Allow no more than 1-2 days
between touch points
• Candidate should not have to follow up
Sloppiness
• Missing interviews or being left waiting in a conference room
12. Evaluation Mistakes
Inconsistent expectations between interviewers and
candidates
Bad interviewers
• Interviewers who are inexperienced, argumentative, or biased
will affect the evaluation process
13. Evaluation
Diagram experience
– If not consistent,
then make it so.
– Identify and fix
holes.
Understand your funnel
– When are most people
eliminated?
– Where are they
choosing to opt out?
– Know your time in
process.
Sell early and often
– Begin the closing
process at the first
meeting.
15. Targeting the right people and
telling a great story will improve
conversion downstream.
16. Sourcing Mistakes
Story sucks
• Unable to articulate the company’s “why”
Poor targeting
Impersonal message
• Generic outreach is *mostly* ineffective
17. Storytelling
Why does it exist, what’s the potential?
What’s unique about the company?
Why is it relevant to the candidate?
Why should they care?
Can everyone involved in recruiting tell the story?
18. Sourcing
Do we have the right targets set?
Systematically drive internal referrals
• If N is small, find out why
Hiring managers must source
Hire recruiter, engage agencies
Increase external presence
• Events, meetups, speaking engagements