Should I hire external interviewers?

From a reader, based on a previous post here.

I have a question that’s in context to an earlier post on getting interviewed by a younger person. I’m the only HR person at a startup that has fourteen employees. We currently don’t have interviewers within the startup for specific skills. We are planning to hire external interviewers from agencies to take interviews for these skills. I’ve been assigned to find out the feasibility of going with this model. There is a possibility that we would have younger external interviewers taking interviews for senior roles. Would it impact the way candidates perceive the startup? If we choose to go with this model, what should we look out for?

Thanks.

Well, it’s an interesting thought. At the startups that I worked, we had used the services of external interviewers and must say that we had a so-so hit. But I did get to learn a lot from that experience and here’s my take on the model.

First, since your question is based on my previous post, I’ll repeat that as long as you have competent interviewers, the interview process should go on just fine. Don’t get confused with years of work experience and competency. Especially in a startup that most often relies heavily on the latter.

Well, coming back to your question. What deliverables are you expecting from the external interviewers? If you are hiring them to identify the best fit candidate from start to end, then you may want to rethink that strategy. Yes, it’s critical for the external interviewers to understand the job requirements before starting the interview process. However, the key to make this is work is to ensure that the external interviewers are to only assess specific skills. Their selection process should be very objective. That should be the very reason you would want to hire external interviewers. After they have done identifying the right fit candidate, you then continue with your normal interview process. The final decision or call on hiring a candidate should rest with the people running the startup. Period.

Would this impact the candidate’s perception? I don’t think so. Really. Every startup needs to be sold like an idea and that applies even to candidates. If that’s true, then candidates would have got enough information about the startup from you, before coming down for an interview. So, sparing the odd candidate, most of them wouldn’t really change their perception of the startup. Should you tell them about hiring external interviewers? Maybe, just maybe, you may not want to emphasize on that. As long as you have chosen a fair selection process and one that lets you make the final decision, it should work fine.

What to watch out for? Set the right expectations for their role in the hiring process. Never let them do the selling. Track deliverables regularly, but don’t micromanage their interviews. It’s quite obvious that they’ll charge you a fee for taking interviews, that shouldn’t force you to ask them to select candidate(s) in a hurry. Your $x dollars spent now will multiply 2x/3x times, which way would you want it to go? Spend it on firing a wrong fit candidate in 3 months or making money from a right fit candidate that can deliver the best for your startup’s product/service. The choice is simple. Isn’t it?

Good luck!

Start-up: Hiring challenges

From a recruiter:

Dear HR Store,

I’m a recruiter at a start-up that has started hiring. Seems like the market conditions are improving and big players in the market have started hiring too. Candidates are accepting our offer, but that hasn’t stopped them from talking to the big players. My question to you is: how many times can we call candidates after they have accepted our offer? What can we do to convince the candidates to join us?

Thanks.

First, welcome to the world of start-ups. I just love the thought of a start-up. Hmmm……Sorry, I digress. This question’s about you. Not me. I’ll proceed to answer your question in two parts.

How many times can we call candidates after they have accepted our offer? Well, I’m tempted to ask, what is the purpose for which you are calling the candidate? Are you calling daily/regularly with an intention to find out what the candidate’s been up to since accepting your offer? That’ll look like you are stalking the candidate or you’re unsure of your choice or might even tell the candidate that you are desperate to get him onboard. Yes, it might be all of that and more. But that’s not the impression you want to give the candidate. Right? So, ideally here’s what you could do. Start with a call a week. That should suffice if the candidate’s going to join you within two weeks. If the joining time is more than two weeks, you could call a couple of times a week after the first two weeks. Understandable that you want to give your interactions a personal touch, but an overdose of anything is harmful. You could even try mails on other days. Make your mails informative. That should help a lot. Try and avoid calling daily! That’ll end up hurting your cause a lot.

Your next question, what can we do to convince the candidate to join us? So, what do you talk about in those calls / mails? Do you have a unique story to tell the candidate? Why, when or what was the reason for the startup to take shape. Take the opportunity to use those calls as personal touch time to give the candidate as much information as possible. Ones that will help him take an informed decision. Talk about improvements in product line, new customer wins, new additions to senior management/other teams, re-emphasis his role in the team, growth plans for the start-up, financial plans etc, Hiring for a start-up can get challenging, but you can make life easier for yourself by getting as much information as possible. You are expecting a candidate to give up his regular job and take a chance with a start-up with hopes that it will payoff soon. Give him enough reasons for doing just that. It may have been covered in the earlier interviews, but the gravity of the situation would have sunk in only after he went back home, consulted with his family, friends and peers in the industry. Decisions change rapidly based on the inputs he gets from them. Highlight that the startup is an opportunity that is very rare and one where he will find enough challenges that would be of high interest. Involve the manager in your talks. In most startups there isn’t a manager! Get the boss to do some talking too. Helps a great deal.

Good luck!

When a team member dislikes process!

Got this query from a manager.

“I work at a large multinational where process plays a vital role in getting things done on a daily basis. I manage a team of over 20 people and so process becomes even more critical for the team to perform as a cohesive unit. We recently hired a candidate from a start-up and are finding it difficult to get him to follow process. I understand that a start-up does give a lot of freedom at work, but our current set up does not allow for that kind of culture. I have tried to understand his need for freedom to a large extent and indeed have given him enough time to settle down. But now I’m finding it difficult to manage him. How do I get him to follow process?”

Well, it’s a typical case of a person who has moved from a start-up to a large organization. While your need for process is to ensure things are done in timely manner, that every process could be seen as a roadblock to creativity by the new hire! You mention that he is a new hire. So here’s a question that I have for you: Did you set the right expectations during the hiring process? The reason I ask is that most often managers feel that they have found the right candidate and end up promising the world to them. Just to get them onboard! It’s also one of the primary reasons that managers find it tough to manage new hires or even existing employees. They find it hard to balance between future promises and current reality.

If you believe that you’ve set the right expectations and have not made promises which you can’t keep (you shouldn't be making one!), then it’s time to sit-down and have that discussion with the new hire (let’s call him Joe). Yes, it’s good that you have understood Joe’s need for freedom, but that need for freedom shouldn’t affect the remaining people on the team. It’s something that can be avoided. Joe could just be resisting process because he has never tried or followed one till date. He could have been the only one working on a certain project. More like a one-person team. So I wouldn’t dismiss it off saying its dislike for process. It could just be a basic lack of understanding for the need to have one. As a manager, that understanding should come from you. So how do you do that? You could get him to do an activity in a way which he feels works best. While you want to ensure that you don’t belittle his efforts to get the desired outcome, you could define that same activity in a process oriented way. An approach that helps him save a lot of time & effort! It’s a lot easier to explain process while on the job.

Another common trait I’ve observed is that start-up guys tend to be very action-oriented. For them, results matter most and not really how they achieve it? They don’t have the liberty of time & money to sit down and analyze their approach. So projecting the process as a tool that would help to get things done, is another way of get his attention. He just needs to see results that come out from following process. All this is possible to a certain extent, after which process isn’t an option. He needs to believe that you have process to make life at work a lot simpler and also to improve performances. That’s not going to happen overnight. Have patience.

While you do talk to Joe, just ensure that you don’t kill his urge to question processes. He’s the kind of guy who’ll help you tweak that process, optimize it or even introduce new ones! Really. I’ve seen it happen. After all, process is one way to ensure there is some order to chaos! Nothing like getting one from a person known to have worked in an adhoc/chaotic workplace. Right?

Now, if you have not made the right choice in your hiring process. You are then trying your very best to fit square pegs into round holes! Hope you are not in this category.