Early Stage Hiring

Dan Arkind is the CEO & founder of JobScore, a free applicant tracking system and resume database for small companies. Dan has been helping to build startup teams for 15 years. He recently stopped by FBfund to offer some tips and tricks to optimize startup hiring. Here are a few key takeaways (hire hacks):

It’s great if you can hire people that you know and trust from your network, but it’s not scalable. The hard part, and the true test of successful startups, is the ability to attract amazing people that you don’t know

Recognize that hiring, fundamentally, is a sales process. Arkind affirms: “You have to sell before you assess. Half of a startup’s early sales activity is interviewing and hiring people. It’s the entrepreneur’s responsibility to turn every interviewee into an advocate for the company. Job one is not to figure out if someone is good – it’s to get them fired up and get them to tell other people about what you are doing.”

Spend 80% of your time on your story. The easiest and best way to build a candidate pipeline is to have a very short, repeatable compelling story. If you do this right, each person you meet with becomes a mini-recruiter because when they leave they are out telling your story and getting other people excited.

Just as every company has a story, every position has a story. When pitching specific jobs, it’s not about the laundry list of things you want someone to know. Job descriptions should get people excited, explaining discrete cool things you are going to pay someone to learn — and how they’ll be able to make a meaningful impact by joining your company.

Ask for advice, not referrals. It’s best if you call people you know and describe a problem you are having and ask for help (which will prompt them to refer you to awesome people who solve problems) than to call them and ask if they know anyone looking for a job (which will prompt them to refer you people who are unemployed).