Hiring

An important lesson I have learned over my career is to always have hiring as one of the highest priority. Early on in my career I have made the mistake of thinking of hiring as a chore rather than “actual” work because it would not make the impact now; I was wrong. A good hire can help propel the business forward at a much faster speed. 

Now for interviews - over the years I have tried different approaches from giving people analytical questions, problem solving, putting the candidate in uncomfortable situations to see how they react - I soon realised that making people uncomfortable doesn’t work for me. 

I found a lot of parallel between interviews and going on first date - both the interviewer and interviewee are trying to understand whether they are compatible with each other. So I focus on few things only:

(i) do I enjoy talking to this person - do I have a flow in the conversation

• We spend almost 50% of our awake hours at work so it is important for me that I am compatible with the people I am working with

(ii) is the person self-aware and accountability

(iii) will the person bring a unique perspective to the team 

• ability to explain / teach about something that they are passionate about - this is genuinely the part which I enjoy the most. Over the years, I have gotten to know about different topics which piqued my interests.

Recently I have been tinkering with a new format where I let the person ask their questions first and helping them understand more about the role and expectations.

If you have more tips, please do share with me via twitter. I would love to know how I can improve my processes.