Hiring Right: How Values, Vision, Strategy, and Structure Lead to Finding the Best Candidates

As your business grows, hiring the right people is one of the most important steps you can take to bring your vision to life. Each new hire is more than just a person filling a role—they’re a vital part of executing your vision, embodying your values, and supporting your strategy. The process isn’t just about hiring someone who “fits the job”—it’s about choosing people who fit the bigger picture of what your business is aiming to achieve.

Linking Values, Vision, Strategy, and Department Structure to Hiring

When we laid the foundation with core values, we established what our company stands for. With a vision, we created a clear picture of where we’re heading. A strategy gave us the roadmap, and our department structure outlined roles that will bring this roadmap to life. Now, with this foundation in place, each hire can be evaluated on how well they align with the company’s direction and how effectively they’ll perform in the role.

Hiring people who resonate with your values and are excited about your vision improves engagement, retention, and productivity. With the right structure, you can pinpoint exactly where new talent is needed and what skills are essential, ensuring that each hire is a strategic move toward your goals.

Job Description vs. Job Scorecard: Why a Scorecard is Key for Hiring Right

Most companies use a job description to outline the responsibilities and qualifications needed for a role. Job descriptions are essential for attracting candidates—they’re typically used in job postings to give applicants a high-level overview of what the position involves. However, they fall short when it comes to selecting the right candidate. Job descriptions are often too vague or general, and they lack the specific, measurable criteria needed to accurately assess whether a candidate will thrive in the role.

The solution? A job scorecard. Unlike a job description, a job scorecard is a detailed tool that defines exactly what success in the role looks like. It goes beyond listing duties and qualifications by specifying clear outcomes, competencies, and behaviors necessary for top performance. A job scorecard helps you:

• Evaluate candidates objectively: By setting specific, measurable goals and competencies, you can assess whether candidates align with the role’s demands.
• Guide the interview process: The scorecard ensures that each interview focuses on the attributes and achievements that truly matter.
• Establish benchmarks for performance reviews: Once hired, the scorecard serves as a baseline for tracking progress, ensuring consistency and accountability.

Using a job scorecard leads to better hiring decisions because it aligns candidates with both the immediate role requirements and the company’s long-term vision. It allows you to go beyond “filling a role” and ensures each hire contributes meaningfully to your company’s success.

The Four Steps of Hiring: Conducting Effective Interviews

In "Who - The A Method for Hiring", Smart and Street outline a four-step interviewing process designed to ensure you’re choosing the best possible candidates—those who are “A-players” (high performers who align well with company values and goals), while filtering out “B” and “C” candidates who may lack the necessary skills, cultural fit, or drive. Here’s how each interview stage works, with practical examples of how each step helps identify and select “A” candidates.

1?? The Screening Interview

Objective: To quickly filter out “B” and “C” players who don’t meet core criteria for the role.

Format: A 20-minute phone or online interview.

Key Questions:

• What are your career goals?
• What are you really good at professionally?
• What are you not good at or not interested in doing professionally?
• Who were your last five bosses, and how would they each rate your performance on a scale from 1-10?

Example: Suppose a candidate applying for a sales role mentions they’re uncomfortable with networking and building relationships with new clients. Since these skills are essential for nurturing client partnerships in your company’s sales strategy, this response reveals a misalignment early on, saving time for both you and the candidate..

2?? The Who Interview

Objective: To confidently assess the candidate’s career history and experience.

Format: A detailed, chronological walk-through of the candidate’s career (CV), lasting up to three hours.

Process: Begin by putting the candidate at ease and explain that you’ll be going over their career step-by-step. This includes questions about each role, such as:

• What were you hired to do?
• What accomplishments are you most proud of?
• What were some low points of that job?
• Who were the people you worked with, and what was your boss’s name?
• Why did you leave that job?

Master Tactics:

• The Three Ps: Ask how their performance compared to the prior year, to the plan, and to their peers.
• Push vs. Pull: Determine if they left each role voluntarily (pulled to new opportunities) or involuntarily (pushed out).

Example: Suppose a candidate frequently left past roles due to conflicts with management, suggesting a pattern that could misalign with a collaborative culture. If the pattern doesn’t fit your values, this may indicate they aren’t a strong fit.

3?? The Focused Interview

Objective: To gather specific, in-depth information about how the candidate’s competencies match the scorecard requirements.

Format: A one-hour interview with up to three interviewers, each focusing on a key competency or outcome from the scorecard.

Key Questions:

• The purpose of this interview is to talk about [specific outcome or competency].
• What are your biggest accomplishments in this area during your career?
• What are your insights into your biggest mistakes and lessons learned in this area?

Example: For a role requiring strong project management skills, an interviewer could ask for examples of managing complex projects under tight deadlines. If the candidate cannot provide a concrete example, this could indicate they lack the experience needed for the role.

4?? The Reference Interview

Objective: To confirm the candidate’s performance, strengths, and areas for improvement based on insights from former colleagues and managers.

Format: Conduct 4-7 reference interviews, each lasting 30-60 minutes, with contacts provided by the candidate.

Process:

• Select the references you want to interview, and have the candidate set up the meetings.
• Ask questions such as:
• In what context did you work with this person?
• What were the person’s biggest strengths?
• What were the person’s biggest areas for improvement back then?
• How would you rate their overall performance in that job on a scale from 1-10?
• They mentioned they struggled with [specific area]; can you tell me more about that?

Example: If a reference mentions that the candidate struggled with teamwork, which is critical for the role, this insight allows you to assess whether they’re truly suited for a team-oriented position.

Each of these steps allows for a comprehensive and systematic evaluation, filtering out candidates who may not align with the role or culture. This process ensures you’re building a team that supports the company’s vision and values, rather than simply filling a role.

Ready to Hire? Here’s How to Get Started

If you’re looking to make your next hire a powerful contributor to your business’s vision, consider integrating these steps. Moving from a traditional job description to a focused job scorecard and using a structured interview process ensures that every new team member is selected with purpose and aligned with your long-term goals. Remember: Hire slow, fire fast.

What’s Next?

With your hiring process optimized, the next logical step could be team dynamics: how to integrate and support new hires within the company culture and ensure they work well across departments. Or perhaps you’d like to focus on onboarding strategies to set up new hires for immediate success. Let me know what resonates most for your next post!

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