Over the last decade, I interviewed well over 3000 people and hired over 400 people. I’ve engaged in top management recruiting as well as entry level hires; done top grading / head hunting and job portal mass posting.
Undeniably, there’s a certain science to creating access to talent. But there’s also an unspoken art to recruiting the candidates with right traits (and especially so if you have a pile of resumes to go through). Below are 4 principles you can apply to hire A-type players!
Bill Walsh’s “The Score Takes Care of Itself” lays down four traits of top-notch candidates which I have come to adopt as my own – and successfully implement throughout the years. The things I look for when recruiting / hiring (fresh grads or senior hires) are the following:
a) At least 1 area of domain knowledge
Whether you’re hiring an all-rounder or someone technical, it is key you pinpoint a recruit’s core domain knowledge. That can be sales process, project structuring, putting together events or even generating social media content. Anything you could throw at them the day they start and they’d immediately be able to master or challenge what’s being done.
But having a domain knowledge isn’t enough. Make sure you understand if that particular knowledge is relevant to the position you’re recruiting for – and at a level of seniority / mastery you need.
b) Proven functional intelligence
This is a personal favorite – and a must when hiring people. Functional intelligence can be understood as people’s ability to process new information on a domain they do not master, assimilate the same and put it to use.
Think of it a bit like learning on the go and using those learnings to process information differently. You can test this by creating small case studies or by framing a problem on a topic the candidate admittedly does not know much about.
c) Rough edges (or a handful of character)
If smarts and knowledge are the source of talent, personality is what drives people. Over the years I’ve come to increasingly value this trait as it is key for recruits to create their own space and pursue increasing levels of standards.
d) Belief in the project
Enough said. If a candidate does not believe in your project, company or vision then the period of adaptation will be greater. It will also be harder to deal with the highs and lows of operating in high performing and rapid evolving cultures.
In order to successfully control for these traits, I recommend creating a quick one-pager with all these 4 buckets and adding a comment box for you to take notes as you conduct the interview. Find out more about the system I use here. (coming soon).
How about you, what sort of traits do you look for when recruiting A-type players?