What do you take into account when you hire talent or choose co-founder?
Yesterday, I asked a question on one of my social media accounts that sparked a great discussion. I'll try to rephrase and tweak it a bit.
My question was:
"Why is it so difficult to get a remote job offered by a U.S. company?"
Many responses mentioned factors like:
– cultural background,
– time zone differences,
– geographical proximity,
– U.S. vs. EU law,
– optimising costs (e.g. instead of hiring from the EU, they hire from Asia).
I want to look at this from the perspective of HR or those involved in hiring.
How do you approach to hiring process or teaming up with co-founders when there is distance?
@andy_hogg I know there are several rounds of calls with HR, founder and manager and in the end with the team. But what is e.g. the thing that differentiate someone from 10,000 CVs?
A CV standing out is clearly not the same as the candidate standing out after the interview process.
The CV is all about skills, experience and previous employers and will get someone on the short list.
After this it is still about 'trust' - have they been trusted before, can we trust them to work well with our team, can we trust them to solve our hardest problem, can we trust them with our 'secret recipe' ?
@andy_hogg so what is that trust parameter? Like loyalty to previous employees? (the amount of years they worked there)?
Trust is empirical but its foundations can be built by looking for certain elements in a candidates background, such as: Have they been asked to help solve problems outside their immediate role? Have they been trusted before? Have they made good decisions under pressure? Have they recruited staff?
@andy_hogg Some of these questions cannot be answered just by looking at CV or their LI profiles. Are there any special techniques HR recruiters can find out?
When hiring talent or selecting a co-founder, I consider the following key factors:
Skills and Experience:
Professional skills: Whether the candidate has the hard skills required for the position, such as programming, design, marketing, etc.
Industry experience: Have relevant industry work experience, can quickly get started and understand the industry dynamics.
Cultural fit:
Values: Whether the candidate's values are aligned with the company culture and fit in with the team.
Work style: Fits in with the pace and collaboration of the company.
Learning ability:
Growth potential: Whether the candidate has the willingness and ability to continue learning and self-improvement.
Adaptability: The ability to quickly adapt to new environments, new technologies and new challenges.
Communication and collaboration skills:
Team work: Have a good team spirit, can effectively communicate and coordinate.
Leadership: For a co-founder, the ability to lead a team and make decisions.
Innovation and problem solving skills:
Innovative thinking: ability to think creatively and come up with new ideas and solutions.
Problem solving: When facing problems, can calmly analyze and find effective solutions.
Responsibility and professional ethics:
Responsibility: Whether to have a high sense of responsibility for work, can complete the task on time and quality.
Professional ethics: Have good professional ethics, honesty and trustworthiness.
Long-term commitment:
Stability: Whether the candidate has the desire for long-term development and can grow together with the company.
Vision alignment: For the co-founders, whether there is a common vision and long-term goals for the company.
Referral and Background Checks:
References: Whether they have reliable references or background check results that attest to their competence and character.
Past achievements: Whether there are significant past achievements or success stories.
By taking these factors together, a more comprehensive assessment of a candidate's suitability for joining a team or becoming a co-founder can be made.
@busmark_w_nikaIn my view, the primary function of a resume is to present a candidate's educational background and work experience.This is an essential prerequisite for fulfilling the job requirements.
However, to gain a deeper understanding of a candidate's interests, successful project involvements, and a more in - depth account of past work experiences, additional and more detailed communication with the candidate is necessary.
This communication helps us assess whether the candidate's personality and values are in alignment with those of our team.
Moreover, obtaining insights from the descriptions provided by their former colleagues and friends is also crucial for forming a comprehensive understanding of the candidate.
@tingting_wang3 So do you reach out to their LI connections to ask them for some testimonial of a review for that candidate?
Hi Nika,
Hiring for a small team / remote working is the norm and therefore getting to know and trust your new employee is first on the agenda. You cannot meet in person, so how many calls / interviews / tests are going to be needed?
How are you protected, can you enforce an NDA where they are located, can you ring-fence their tasks to avoid leakage, structure interaction with other employees?
As the prospective new employee - how can you help your new team gain this trust? What behaviours are needed and expected? What references are going to be taken up?
These are some of the issues we have found and I am sure they are not unique!