Photo by Kate Trysh on Unsplash

A short field guide to hiring a team member with grit

Noam
Noam
Sep 5, 2018 · 8 min read

You’re looking for someone hungry, committed, that will own their work and contribute. You want them to be a family member on your team (or startup!), a good friend and a problem solver as well. You want them to be all in and you want to know you’ll be able to trust them forever in a less-than-an-hour interview. Well, the challenge is tough, but we’re gonna try to drop a few clues here that can hopefully help.

The following are my two cents on the subject after almost two decades in the field and experience across several small medium and large organizations and companies. Take in mind that these tips are best applied as an addition to the standard practices in your organization and not as a substitute to anything that already works ;)

Step one: Don’t forget to ask yourself who you -don’t- want to hire.

The job listing you’ve just posted on Linkedin or Facebook is an invitation, and you want it to not only invite the right people, but to uninvite the wrong people.

When we say the wrong people, we mean people who might be closely qualified for the job- perhaps with the right academic credentials and some good experience, but that might not be a good personal fit as a team member. So, after you’ve polished your post’s wording and are ready to publish it, ask yourself these key questions:

  • Are the blood, sweat and tears you expect to be poured into the future position emphasized in the post (alongside the perks and prizes of course)? This will cut some of the ‘perk hungry’ candidates off your back.
  • Is your company’s (or team’s) ‘why’ mentioned in a clear way at the beginning of the post? Make sure it’s long enough to push out those who’ll send a CV anywhere, but not too long so it tires your serious candidates. Three lines is okay. Five might be too many.
    You want a better starting point than a candidate who doesn’t know why you’re here.
  • How long is the post ‘until it gets to the main course’?
    Of course, some really talented people who could be great candidates might be turned off by your non ‘get-to-the-point-already’ language, but that’s perfectly fine. The skills you’re looking for are way beyond what’s written in their CV (if not, you’ll be outsourcing shortly). Remember, hiring well is not only a science, it’s an art. You’ll be using your heart and common sense as well.

The above will not only help you filter out some of the candidates, but when you follow up with them on the phone before a possible interview, you’ll get a vibe about what they’ve picked up, remembered, background-checked or simply ‘tried to apply cause it was there’.

Step two: Notice what’s -not- written in their CV.

Okay, you’ve got a pile of CV’s or an online queue waiting for you to review it. What now?

If you look closely and read the words, sentences and paragraphs that appear in your candidate’s CV, you will be able to pick up the following clues:

  • Do you notice more titles or more results?
  • Is the wording more like ‘Responsible for…’, ‘Brought the product to a 200% growth in 2 months? or ‘Brought the team to exceptional…’?
  • Does it focus on people or numbers?
  • How long do they usually stay in one job?
  • What do you find more visible from behind the written words: who they’ve worked for or who they’ve worked with?
  • Did they have both authority -and- responsibility or only one of the two? What are the clues you notice?
  • Is the language more ‘story’ or more ‘bullets’? If it’s more bullets — Can you notice anything missing? If it’s more ‘story’ — Is it concrete or vague?
  • Does their background seem to be more consistent or does it seem more colorful?
    If it’s more consistent — is it monochromatic or professional?
  • If it’s more colorful — can you identify an underlying theme that isn’t visible at first sight?
  • Is it more I’m-climbing-up-the-ladder or more I-just-happened-to-end-up-here?
  • Looking a bit closer, can you identify a superpower that emerges from their CV? If there isn’t one, is there a superpower in there that’s waiting to emerge? Can you identify an insatiable thirst or a potential you’ll be able to address or see in them before someone else does? Name it. You’ll be using it in the interview.
  • What was the maximum number of personnel or dollars they’ve managed or been responsible for?
  • If you’re hiring for management, ask yourself — is this candidate a manager, a leader or both?

Step three — Give a killer interview

Before you hold the interview, go over their CV again. Remember that insatiable thirst/ passion superpower you were looking for? Now ask yourself:
What do I want to learn from this person during their interview?
You heard it right. If this is an important interaction worthy of your time, you are going to design this as an interaction in which you will learn something new from someone you haven’t met yet.
Build the questions and the interview in a way the candidate will need to teach you something new. It can be small, it can be their expertise- heck, it can be a recipe for homemade spinach pasta. But consider this: Seeing the way they contribute before they join the team will give you an invaluable puzzle piece.

Build trust by leaving the interview mindset (for a moment):

So, to begin with, you want to get your candidate 100% comfortable during the interview. That way you’ll easily get to the point you’re asking them direct difficult juicy questions that move them out of their comfort zone, those they can’t prepare for, those that will bring out their true self- That’s what we’re aiming for. Once you see your candidate out of their comfort zone, you’ll get the best answers you need for your interview.

Getting to that ‘point of trust’ between you and the candidate can be a bit tricky, the secret is to leave the ‘interview’ mindset for a while and to enter a different mindset, one that’s closer to the ‘dating’, ‘getting to know who you are’, ‘business meeting’ or ‘friendship’ mindset. More like “I want to know you and am genuinely interested in who you are since we are going to be partners” and less like “I am testing you to see how you might function in a harsh environment”. Don’t assume we might be partners. Give them the feeling they already are (be delicate there, not too pushy). This will raise the level of comfort so you can move on to the important questions. Give it a few minutes there, remove ego and status, and be sincere (which is generally a good tip for life…)

This doesn’t mean we’ll be asking our candidate what their dog’s middle name is. It does mean we will be leaving the talk about spreadsheets, results or workflows for a couple of minutes, since our candidate has already done their homework and is probably fully prepared for all that sh*t with all the buzzwords jargon and ammunition available (if they’re not, we’re probably in the wrong place)- So going there would basically be wasting our time in their primary comfort zone. We’re looking to leave or challenge that area, SO- if we’re convinced they know the work, we’ll be staying in the ‘professional questions’ zone as short as possible. Things that can be learned on the job matter much less than the personality someone brings to the table.

What we want to find out during the interview — AKA What questions to ask:

What does your unwritten CV look like?

If they’re the consistent type, bring up the ‘colorful’ questions. You want to lead the conversation to a point you’ll ask them what they do when they don’t know the answer.
If they’re the colorful type, bring on the ‘consistent’ questions. “What was the longest time you’ve worked on one project?”, “Give me an example of a boring or tiresome task you needed to do” and ask about the results and how they were tied directly to the value the company delivers.

Are you asking me difficult questions?

Notice the speaking/ listening balance during the conversation. Are your candidates asking questions? Are the questions they are asking moving you out of your comfort zone? If they are, that’s a plus one for them. Move forward.

How hungry are you? AKA — What do you do when you’re -really- stuck?

If you really want to know what happens when they’re stuck, don’t ask them what they do when they’re stuck… That’s too obvious and too general of course.
Instead, let them narrate a situation they’re familar with. Let them enhance and expand a lot about what they do and how they do it. Explore their role within the context and ask specific questions (specific is key here). Don’t ask them about the challenges they’ve faced before you’ve reached a significant amount of detail- Real challenges appear in the details, and you’re looking for exactly that in your candidate as well. You not only want to know what they’ve decided, but why they’ve made those decisions- That will give more insight into their values, priorities and performance.
If they haven’t mentioned a challenge, don’t remember any significant one or deny having any altogether, either ask them why, or try moving the conversation to a territory they can talk about a major challenge they’ve had. If they still can’t, or if the challenge sounds a bit ‘weak’, there’s your red light.
And yes, once you get enough detail, ask them what they did when they got stuck. And just like you didn’t settle for a general question, don’t settle for a general answer from them. “I just pulled through” doesn’t cut it. “I called an all nighter and phoned my boss at 3:58am with a lead + new slide deck with the updated numbers for the client” does. If they don’t get specific enough and if it’s getting difficult, there’s another warning sign.

Can you commit?

Obviously you wouldn’t ask someone if they could commit, because of course they’d answer they could. Tap into their superpower: Ask them what they do best and how they do it- let them lead the conversation and explain in detail for at least 180 seconds straight about what they do best, methods, technique, examples. Dig deep into their strengths, and only after they’ve finished ask them why they’re leaving/ have left/ looking to join your company.
That way you’ll catch two birds with one stone. Their expression and the way they answer will tell you a lot about their ability to commit as well as the reason they’re leaving.

Will you own it?

Guide the conversation until you feel comfortable enough to ask them to give you an an example of a mistake they’ve made in the past. If they ask you what you mean, let them know ‘the bigger the better’. Listen carefully to the words they use and to the details that come forth. When they talk about mistakes and responsibility, do they use ‘I didn’t’ or are they more inclined to use general language ‘There weren’t sufficient resources’. Great people take responsibility for great mistakes, and you’ll be getting good clues about the values and priorities of your candidate.

Wrap it up

Just like a good music piece ends with the same chord it started, you want to ‘unwind’ the conversation correctly, align expectations and thank your candidates for what you’ve learned from them. Like every interaction, an interview well designed can become a powerful learning experience for both sides. And if you make it that way, you won’t only be looking forward to these interviews, but you’ll be constantly raising your standards- and of course, hiring awesome people as well.

Noam

Written by

Noam

Simply ship.

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