Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Guilty Until Proven Innocent & 5 More Lenses for Hiring

Evidence of the Exceptional

Succeeding with a startup requires not only exceptional effort, but also exceptional results. Anyone can be exceptional, but being exceptional is hard. It requires discipline, sacrifice, and determination.

You really can’t afford to bet on this finally being the time someone starts doing exceptional things. You need evidence they are willing to be.

Credentials, like where they worked before or what school they went to, are a bad way to do this.

A better way is to ask them about the most exceptional or hardest thing they’ve done. If their answer intrigues or inspires you then that’s a good sign.

Can They Explain It?

You know the old saying that if you can’t explain something then you don’t really know it?

Play that game with candidates. If they tell you they accomplished something that was hard, ask them to explain how they did it and don’t let them deflect.

Ideally, they offer it up themselves and are excited to share. But, if they don’t, probe for detail to see if they can explain it.

It’s best when they can explain it concisely.

Decide Quickly

Most people schedule interviews for 30-60 minutes, but know within the first 1-5 whether the candidate is a good fit.

You won’t always reach conviction this quickly but, if you do, trust your gut, especially if it’s a “no.”

Early on you’re probably hiring through your network and referrals, so you have some context on the candidate going in, which makes this easier. The less you know about them going in, the longer of a shot you should give them to change your mind during an interview.

Be Honest About Commitment

This one should be obvious.

You need people who are going to work hard, in some cases beyond the point other people in their life may understand.

Just be honest and upfront about this when you meet the candidate. If you do, they’ll self-select out of the role if they aren’t into it so you won’t have to worry about being fooled.

Reputation Goes a Long Way

All you really need to make a hiring decision is answers to:

1. Can they do the actual work? → For example, give the engineering candidate some assignment

2. Are they the right fit? → Your take after you and others on the team meet with them

3. Is there anything from their background that might make 1 or 2 false?

That last part is tricky, because they’re not going to tell you. Or at least they’ll work hard not to.

This is why you need to do reference checks. Talk to as many people who’ve worked directly with them before as you have time to.

Be incredibly personable so they like you. A good way to do this is to lay your cards on the table and explain how important this role is and exactly what needs to be true about the candidate. Make them feel your need for this role to work out.

And then ask probing questions, sometimes you have to ask the same question in a different way a few times before you get a non-HR-speak answer.

Understanding a candidate’s reputation is important when you hire them (especially if you plan to rely on them to hire others in the future).

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

You rarely “need” to hire someone. Sure, you’re drowning in work and having someone take some of it on would help your stress levels but never let that back you into a bad decision.

Common advice is to have a “high bar” but you need to go beyond that. Think of every candidate as, by default, not having what it takes to be a fit.

Treat them with respect, and give them room to wow you. They’re guilty until proven innocent.