✦Teams · 12 records · for a shared workspaceHire someone

Most bad hires are decided before the first interview, in the gap where nobody wrote down what the role is for. This settles the scorecard and the process first, and treats a slow no as cheaper than a fast maybe.

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✦ Everything it creates

The whole plan, before you install it

Goal

Hire the right person, or nobody Month 3

A scorecard agreed before anybody is interviewed.

Define the role Week 3

Before looking, so five interviewers assess one job.

  • Write what this person does in their first yearDo firstDay 5
  • Write what good looks like, and who decidesDo firstDay 12
  • Agree the stages and who runs eachWeek 3

Interview and decide Month 3

A slow no is cheaper than a fast maybe.

  • Open the role and start sourcingDo firstWeek 3
  • Run the first interviewsWeek 6
  • Decide, and make the offer the same weekMonth 2

Routines

  • Review the pipelineweekly
✦ It puts something in the calendar

Dates you will not have to remember

First interviews

Week 610:00120 min
✦ It comes with a note

If nobody is right, hire nobody

A vacancy is expensive and a wrong hire is much more expensive, particularly on a small team where one person is a large fraction of it.\n\nThat decision gets made under pressure, which is why it is written down here before the pressure exists.

✦ Questions

Hire someone, answered.

What the person will actually do in their first year, what would count as doing it well, and who decides. Writing that down first is what stops five interviewers assessing five different jobs and disagreeing for reasons nobody can name.
Usually three, each with a stated purpose. More stages mostly add delay, and the best candidates are the ones who accept something else while a fourth conversation is being scheduled.
Do not hire. A vacancy is expensive and a wrong hire is much more expensive, particularly on a small team where one person is a large fraction of it — and this plan says so in a note precisely because that decision is made under pressure.
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