GOOD QUESTIONS
The Questions To Ask Before Making A Hire
Think strategically to ensure you’re making the right hires at the right time.
Working as an HR consultant, I’ve learned that one thing is true across most companies: startup hiring is chaotic. There are often vague job descriptions, uncertainty about what makes a good candidate, and a general feeling that the future of the business may hinge on a single hire (but you never know which one!).
The pitfalls and literal costs of a bad hire have been well documented, and in response many startups have gotten better about building a solid interview process, training interviewers, and creating checks and balances to make sure they’re hiring the right person for the job.
But there’s another version of a “bad hire” that’s discussed less often — the one where you find someone great and decide to hire them…but it’s for a job that doesn’t really exist, or it’s too early for them to be fully utilized, or you don’t have a realistic plan to make sure they’ll have impact.
In terms of the long-term success of your company and any new hires, it’s just as important to discuss how a new person’s role will fit into the company as it is to assess their skills.
So how do you make sure you’re making the right hires at the right time for your company?
Good question. Here’s how.
First, answer these questions:
How will this hire contribute to our current goals? Are they achievable within our current structure and budget?
It doesn’t matter how much someone can theoretically do if they’re not set up for success or if their skills don’t match your company goals at your current stage.
Is there a role for this person beyond the next 6–12 months? Are there other ways we might hit our goals without hiring this person?
Save yourself some hard conversations and be clear on if this role should perhaps go to a consultant.
Does this person have a manager?
Everyone needs a manager, someone to talk to and bounce around ideas with — even senior leaders.
Does this role have alignment with other team members? Will they have internal resources?
It’s entirely possible that five different people can see a role going in five different directions. Make sure there’s consensus internally and that the new hire’s job and goals are both understood by and not in conflict with anyone on the team. It’s common to, for example, hire your first head of marketing, who assumes that someone from your engineering team will help them out…while meanwhile the engineering team isn’t interested in marketing and also has their own work to get done. Be clear on what this person will work on, what their resources will be, and how their work will impact others.
Is there someone else on the team who could do this job, or might be interested?
A key reason people join startups is for the opportunity to impact more parts of the business than they would at a larger company. Don’t waste that by hiring to solve every problem. And even if you don’t think anyone internal is qualified, address the topic so people don’t feel overlooked.
What is the level of this job?
It’s worthwhile to think if you need a leader or a soldier to get your specific goals achieved. You may end up hiring a candidate with a different profile than you intended, but if you remember why you originally were looking for someone with more/less of a specific type of experience it can help you do a necessary gut check.
What title is appropriate?
Before you hire, no matter what your original job posting was, take a look at your final candidates and re-assess what titles make sense given their experience. Many startups see titles as a “free” thing they can give candidates they wouldn’t otherwise be able to hire. But a few years (or sometimes months) down the road they find themselves in ‘title debt,’ meaning the inflated titles they gave early junior employees don’t make sense now that the company has grown and they want to hire more senior people with those same titles. Sometimes inexperienced but strong hires grow into their titles, but just as often the company grows around them. Being rigorous about titles and thinking about expectations at all levels of the company, even if you don’t have employees at all levels yet, can help you make the best decision possible.
Then, ask yourself the big question.
None of this is meant to talk you out of hiring someone, but rather to:
- Make sure you’ve thought deeply about expectations and that you’re aligned both internally and with the candidate.
- Make it easier to fight the urge to hire just because someone is available but before it makes business sense.
Which leads to the big question:
Is now the right time to hire this person for this role?
Do a final validation of if it makes strategic sense to hire this person or if you’re just worried that by not hiring them you’ll be missing out. It’s tempting to go for flashy hires or easy wins, but make sure you’re always hiring where it will have real impact.
