The Same-Day Hire
Preserve your hiring model and GSD by hiring contractors the day you need them
We were screwed.
We invested in sophisticated measurement software, but it wasn’t working. My team and I were wasting valuable time and pulling our hair out trying to figure it out. Revenue wasn’t optimized. Morale was low. Nothing was getting done.
One of the women on the team had a former coworker who was willing to help us on a contract basis. She was helpful, but then she had to quit the project early, when we weren’t even halfway through.
No one in my network knew another contractor.
I love Reddit. I use it for all sorts of things. So I said “what the hell,” and posted a plea for help to the Marketing subreddit.
A contractor answered. We talked on the phone. He asked me when he could start. I said “Today.”
It worked.
My team was instantly back on track, and my eyes were open.
You don’t need permission
The beauty of the contract hire is that they don’t need to be a cultural fit. They don’t need extensive vetting to see if they meet your hiring bar. They just need to do one thing awesomely well.
If they’re great, perfect. Maybe you can prove out the need for headcount (or hire them). If they don’t work out, they’re easy to fire.
So there’s no reason that you can’t hire them in a day.
Sh!t needs to get done
If you’re a startup, your chief weapon against big contenders is agility. The giants may have the talent, may have the money, but you can move.
But most people still don’t manage a startup that way. Most still look to find that magic full-time hire, or pit 9,000 contractors against each other to find the perfect one.
Not everything needs to be a process. Even if you have to fill out an SOW, or whatever, you can do that in a few minutes.
If you wait, you’re dead. So make it happen.
The new normal
Now I hire all of my contractors same-day. In fact, everyone here has started doing that.
Do you meet our needs? Are you in front of us? You are now employed.
Did you just fuck up? Was it real bad? You are now fired. And you’re probably (mostly) ok with that. Contractors don’t expect coaching.
The equation
But remember, you should never sacrifice ALL quality for speed. What you want is (high-quality * speed discount) + speed.
The benefits:
- We do huge, company-shifting projects with high impact and no wait time.
- We unblock everyone.
- We hit our goals.
- We conquer the world.
I hired 3 people while you read this
It’s not worth the wait to pick the perfect employee. Just go and get it done with contractors.
And don’t wait on those, either, or I’ll hire them before you do.
Andrea Sharfin Friedenson is the VP, Marketing for Vungle. Questions/feedback/MASH notes? Hit me up on Twitter: @asharfin
Want to work for us? http://www.vungle.com/careers/apply/
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