Filtering through Talent: Screening process for A+ Players

“Leaders don’t flock. You have to find them one at a time.” — Ross Perot

In our pursuit to hire the right people, we juggle between Aspiration, Attitude, and Ability. We believe in hiring people who have the “Aspiration to Win,” “Attitude to Deliver,” and “Ability to Learn.”

Leadership traits are a top priority at Hevo, even for Individual Contributors. That’s why we handpick people through targeted search and an elaborate screening process that requires effort from both ends. We try to have Multi-layered selection processes that test skills, effort, learnability, and attitude.

Hiring Philosophy

1. Aspiration to Win — We look for people who have set lofty targets and are willing to go the extra mile to achieve those targets. If the aspiration is well internalized, the person already has a higher chance of success as their attitude will start blending with their aspiration, and they will do things that will help them achieve their goals. These kinds of people can manage themselves and are self-starters.
2. Attitude to Deliver — A high-performing team will always have a set of people who are concerned about effort and not just the outcome. We have teams that put in consistent effort, improvise, and are 100% sure that they will get the outcome in a specific timeframe. We like to get to the bottom of every problem and look at the minor details that help us deliver.
3. Ability to Learn — Learnability is invaluable; it can scale up careers and companies faster than we imagine. It has a compounding effect, and it turns the average into genius over a period of time. We ideally look for people looking to level up their careers and take up more strategic roles than they currently have. A simple mantra is — Look for people who match 80% of the Role requirements, check for their learnability, and help them step up their game and start winning together.

What forms an Effective Screening Process

The screening process aims to gauge the ability of the candidate to perform the tasks that the incumbent is expected to perform or help others perform. We try to keep a similar Screening process within functions. The idea is to ensure that the entire team (including Individual Contributors and Leaders) goes through a similar experience and is well-aligned.

Key elements of the Screening Process:

1. Meeting with the Talent Acquisition Team: This meeting sets the context for the rest of the selection process. The discussion is based on overall Work History, Career aspirations, Role clarity, and expectations. Based on this discussion, the candidate proceeds to the next stage.
2. Case Study: Case Studies have turned out to be a critical part of the screening process. We share Business Situations/Role-based Tasks, Pattern Recognition (Data) that the candidates can work on. These assignments are role-specific and elaborate. The expectation from candidates is to understand the problem and follow a structured approach while working on a Case Study. Communication and Grammar are also vital factors considered during a Case Study evaluation.
3. Product Pitch: The Product Pitch session is used for Sales hire. It requires the candidate to create a detailed Pitch Deck on a SaaS product and go through a Pitching Session simulation with a Panelist. The Panelist plays the role of a Potential Client, and the candidate is in the role of a Sales Manager.
4. Work History Session: Towards the latter part of the screening process, we keep a Work History session with the candidate. During this session, we dive deeper into the roles that the candidate have worked in, their career aspirations, Leadership skills, and Learnability. We also try to gauge the Cultural Alignment during this session.
5. Meeting with Co-Founders: This is a stage that is usually considered a Final meeting for Leadership roles. We try to recognize how the person can lead the company once they join us, how well they would be able to work with the Co-founders and Investors, and the level of impact they would create within the organization.

At Hevo Data, we keep the hiring bar high and ensure we make an effort to get the right people on board — Customized Case Studies, Elaborate Interviews, and Transparent processes help us with this endeavor. We engage in dialogue, make candidates think through problems, and empower them with relevant information that brings out their best.

Did this blog get you vibing with the way we do things at Hevo?

Write to rahul.mishra@hevodata.com to chat about our Talent Acquisition strategy.