With unreal comp numbers being thrown around by the likes of Facebook and Google, other companies (let alone startups) don’t stand a chance of attracting talent using comp alone. Both companies (along with a few others offering private stock) typically suck up ‘branded’ talent. In other words, talent that gives easy-to-read hiring signals. Moneyball recruiting focuses on finding equally competent talent by closely assessing candidate skills and career trajectory to match to the role and team, looking beyond the brands.
First, a few words on Moneyball. Moneyball was a system used by Oakland A’s for finding value in undervalued players to field a team that could better compete against richer MLB competitors like the Yankees. They used unconventional qualities to assess players - qualities that were undervalued thus cheaper in the market (more on wikipedia here)
Applying the Moneyball strategy to put teams together involves a lot more recruiting and assessment. I summarize around a few topics
Sourcing
- Look beyond the brands
Brands are the easiest signals that recruiters, hiring managers or hiring team use to assess qualification. And consequently, talent with these signals is the first to be scooped up. Brand companies are Amazon, Microsoft, Google, FB etc. and brand schools are Harvard, Stanford etc. - Skills
Be closely aware of the skills that your role needs along with the desired seniority. Experiences with specific products might be more accessible than subject matter expertise e.g. it’s easier to find a candidate to train models using TensorFlow vs getting an AI expert. Look across disciplines to find the core skills desired e.g. Data Analysts for data-centric Product Manager roles, Program Managers for technical Product Manager openings. - Progression
You’re looking for a person who might not quite be there but will get to it on the role. Perhaps a candidate looking to switch disciplines. Extrapolate their career trajectory and assess their passion in interviews. - Relocation
Cast a wider net beyond the job location especially in a heated talent market. In the Bay Area for example, look up and down the west coast from Seattle to San Diego for faster relocation.
Interview
- Assess, assess, assess
To accurately assess the candidate requires your team to do a lot more interviewing without the strong signals that brands provide. That includes meeting a lot more candidates than is norm. Schedule conversations with interviewers across more disciplines for additional candidate insights.
With specific role and team fit as key focus, interviews should target deep job related capabilities (vs generalist questions) and behavioral questions using current team challenges (vs hypothetical ones). Since the role could be a stretch, assess whether the candidate’s current skills would extrapolate to where the role needs them to be. Continual follow-up questions allow you to analyze an answer to calibrate candidates skill level. If you’ve correctly sourced using the candidate’s career trajectory, you’ll see the spark needed to fill the gap quickly.
Job
- Training, Mentoring, Team Building
Even with all that effort to add a team member, you’ll have to spend more time training and mentoring. Remember you hired someone that might need to grow into the role. The team needs to be on-board with designated mentors and frequent feedback. Managers should offer specific training or job shadowing and be more proactive to maintain a productive team dynamic. All these tactics build team loyalty and camaraderie and are a good practice even if Moneyball isn’t for you.
The Moneyball approach takes time and is risky, if executed incorrectly. It will, however, help you put together a better performing team against deeper pocketed competitors.
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