Learning from Hundreds of Resumes and Tens of Interviews in a Few Weeks

Hiring great employees is hard; ask any hiring manager, and you will hear war stories. I've had my share of those stories from my days at Microsoft, where I started interviewing engineers many years ago; at LinkedIn, where — in addition to interviewing — I was a member of a hiring committee; and now at Workfit, where I've been directing engineering and rapidly growing the team. Hiring for a startup is a different beast; at a big company, a ton of work happens before the candidate steps into your office for an interview. I've always had respect and gratitude for recruiters and recruitment coordinators I had the pleasure to work closely with at those companies; now, more than ever, I appreciate the unsung heroes and heroines of the war that is hiring great employees.

Why did I call it a war? Because you, as a hiring manager, are always fighting: you're fighting other companies that want to hire your candidates; you're fighting resume fluff; you're fighting culture misfits; you're fighting mediocrity; you're fighting bias; and sometimes, you're fighting time itself! A hiring mistake is a costly loss; it's a risky business. You know what they say: "Recruiting is like dating and employment is like marriage." I'd say that interviewing is like asking someone to marry you after a couple of dates.

Hiring managers know that, so they aim to minimize the risk by hiring great candidates. At a big company, that risk is relatively lower because of the diluted effect of a bad hire and, more importantly, thanks to an army of professionals who tirelessly work on screening candidates. At a startup, especially one that's rapidly growing: The stakes are much higher and the hiring criteria are a bit different. In the past few weeks, I had too many hiring experiences to count in details; so I picked highlights of some lessons that I learned, which hiring managers — and candidates as well — may find useful.

Know What You Really Want

Before you engage with a candidate or a hiring manager, ask yourself what you really want in the prospective employment you're seeking; write that down and communicate it.

For hiring managers, it's important to set a standard hiring process across the organization to avoid the pitfalls of bias; it's also key to communicate the company's values and culture to candidates; work with your recruiters to ensure that the message sticks. Make sure your website clearly states what you're looking for when hiring a new team member; for example, you can find out the things we care about at Workfit here.

It's a Numbers Game; However, It's a Nonlinear Relationship

The more candidates you interview, the better chances you have finding the candidates you want to hire. Though, there's a caveat: it's a nonlinear relationship; you can't assume that for every x number of candidates you interview (regardless of the order of interviews) you will find one whom you'd want to hire. My theory, which is a mere gut feeling, claims the following: Caliber and other desirable traits follow a normal distribution when measured across the entire population of the global workforce; however, said distribution becomes skewed when measured across a subgroup of active job seekers who seek jobs at a small startup.

Use an AI Assistant to Schedule Interviews

Scheduling meetings can get painful and costly; folks at x.ai can do the math for you to estimate how much it costs to schedule a meeting. I've been using Calendar.help (Cortana) to schedule my meetings with candidates; I simply CC Cortana after connecting with a candidate; and Cortana, who has access to my calendar, takes care of back-and-forth negotiation to find a time slot that works best for both of us.

Shameless plug: AI assistants are here to save us time and make us more productive.

Don't Call; Meet in Person

First impressions tell a lot about the candidate; they also tell a lot about the company. Candidates are interviewing hiring managers as much as managers think they are interviewing the candidates — especially when the company is a small startup. After an email or LinkedIn introduction, it’s best to invite the candidate over to chat at the office instead of a phone call if possible. Most of what we communicate is non-verbal; it's conveyed through body language, which can send strong cues to pick up on during an interview.

5 Minutes Early Is On Time; On Time Is Late; Late Is Unacceptable

Being late to an interview is unacceptable — and that goes both ways; an interview is a two-way street between the hiring company and the candidate; both parties should strive for a great first impression. That said, life happens; one shall be understanding when the excuse is valid. I have another theory to put to the test here: I bet that there's a correlation between showing up early for an interview and a higher success rate of getting an offer.

Be On Your Best Behavior

Again, life happens; you're not always in your best mode of operations; if you're having a bad day, compartmentalize. The challenge here is to overcome whatever is making you angry or frustrated when dealing with others. Interviewers and candidates need to be on their best behavior; you may think that's a given, but this blog post begs to differ.

Use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Who is screening Jane Doe today? What's the next step for John Smith? The answer should be readily available in your ATS. No matter how small your company is, the number of applicants you're recruiting is large enough that you can't rely on email and fragmented sources of data to track what's going on with hiring. Invest in an ATS or create your own poor man's version of it (a spreadsheet).

Ghosting Ain't Cool

Back to the recruiting-is-like-dating analogy, the communication line between both parties (the candidate and the company) should remain open until a final decision has been reached (and hopefully beyond that point as well — networking!). Be responsive and reply back as soon as you can. Candidates, see the previous point: companies track applicants. Companies, candidates talk on Blind and review you on Glassdoor.

It's a Small World After All

Today's hiring managers can be tomorrow's candidates interviewing to work for candidates whom they had interviewed; life is funny like that, so be nice no matter what.

P.S. We're hiring :)