Don’t hire for corporate culture
Few founders have come to me with a shared concern which I felt compelled to address it in the first opportune moment
Whenever we interview job candidates they ask us things like — How important will my decision making be for your company or What is the corporate culture like? Am I in position to avoid giving abstract answers to these queries?
Startup founders are in a constant hiring mode and it is of crucial importance to consistently have a pipeline of candidates.
Quantity matters just as much as quality because in an early stage startup hiring is as any other type of sales process. Startup hiring involves plenty of negotiation plus charming. After all your little company poses far greater risk than the secure corporations he is involved with at the moment.
Yet, be careful when you receive this type of question because it may tell you a lot about the nature of the candidate and his expectations.
To me such queries are clear signal that the person comes with an enterprise type of upbringing accustomed to well established processes and procedures and who wish to leave because the current structure doesn’t comfort to his own idea of how things should be like.
Do not waste too much time with these candidates.
Early stage startups do not hire for corporate culture. Culture matters, yes but it comes slightly later.
The only culture a startup has is the one of getting shit done and being honest to each other. Defining culture in such fashion makes so much easier for both the sides.
Therefore if a candidate inquires too much about your corporate culture without first having established clear value proposition in your eyes, take this as a red signal that the candidate is not worthy.
Having enterprise type of candidate in an early stage startup can often turn catastrophic. These people come with their own need of procedures and managerial requests and are masters of distracting your focus from your product and customer with their myriad small requests.
Shun them away and move to the next candidate.
