Hiring a great team is tricky. Someone who is smart does not mean they are going to be a great fit. You have to look at everyone from multiple dimensions. So how do you assess whether someone would work?
It’s not easy finding good people. If you’re a smart leader, you know that if you find them, you want to keep them around wherever you go (but you know, watch your non-solicitation clauses in your contracts). But, how do you avoid making mistakes?
So there’s a post on Evergreen called “How Not to Hire Like a Clownshow” that breaks down the entirety of the process, but in this post, I’ve focused on how not to make hiring mistakes.
There’s a great rule from management science expert, Robert I. Sutton (Stanford), called the No Asshole Rule. He even wrote a whole book about it: “The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t” (and the supporting guide “Asshole Survival Guide” which are both short and extraordinarily fun reads if you’re dealing with an asshole – or, ideally not, assholes – at work).
What is the No Asshole Rule?
Whatever you call or refer to them as toxic, bullies, jerks, tyrants, gaslighters – Sutton summarized all of those into the simple, and bold, category of Asshole. They cover a wide spectrum, but there’s a few ways to identify if they firmly fit into this category.
So, let’s assume you don’t know what an Asshole is or if someone is an Asshole. There’s a quick two part from Sutton test to figure out if that person is demonstrating asshole behavior:
Test One: After talking to the alleged asshole, does the “target” feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled by the person? In particular, does the target feel worse about him or herself?
Test Two: Does the alleged asshole aim his or her venom at people who are less rather than at those people who are more powerful?
Don’t forget, assholes can be men AND women. They can be senior leaders or even your most junior staffer. I’ve worked in such a diverse range of companies that I have met them at ALL levels and all types. It is a great wonder how diverse we all are that every background can produce assholes.
So how do I avoid hiring assholes?
When you start to hire a team, you have to start with writing down the ideal set of traits and ideal background you’d like for that person to embody and making sure that everyone on your hiring panel is well versed in identifying these traits and understanding the background you’d like.
Just a sample traits that you might want in a hire
- Intelligent
- Curious
- Active listeners (really listening to what you have to say and not thinking about their response with responses or questions based on what you’re saying)
- Kind (seeing how they treat others around you)
- Ambitious (just note, not every manager may want an ambitious person, this can be both a good and bad trait)
- Confident, but also humble
- Hard working
- Great written & verbal communication (ask for writing samples if possible)
- Passionate about their work
- Dependable/Reliable (a difficult one to suss out – good questions to ask include how they handled a project that they failed and what did that look like – generally candidates don’t rehearse for failed projects so you can get a real answer).
What a hire’s background might look like
- Does their experience match the role? If not,
- Do they have (transferrable) skills match the role?
- Do they show an aptitude for learning based on their background?
- Have they been moving up in their career? If not, why not (and is that ok with you?)
So what about interviewing?
Once you get some candidates in the door that, on paper, seem to have the traits & background you want, you really need to confirm those things AND ask them a few questions to suss out whether or not they will be a great hire.
Some questions to ask to understand their character
- What is the motivation behind them wanting this job?
- (or) Why are they leaving their current job?
- Why are they motivated to do the work that they do?
Don’t accept bullshit answers. (Gently) push for the real reasons.
What you don’t want them to be is poorly motivated – meaning they are there for status, power, or money – or even worse, completely de-motivated. If you’ve read Susan Fowler’s “Why Motivating People Doesn’t Work . . . and What Does: The New Science of Leading, Energizing, and Engaging,” you know that those external motivators (status, power, money) are sub-optimal motivators. They will only get someone so far.
What you want is for them to have optimal motivators – where their values are aligned, integrated, or inherent (read a shortened summary about this here: “Are You Still Being Driven To Accomplish Something?” if you don’t have time to read the full book).
Resources: I have yet to find a good article on interviewing, but once I find it, I’ll put it here – so stay tuned.
Finding that unicorn hire is tough, but you can do it!
You may find great candidates that only cover portion of the traits you want, or have the background – but rule of thumb – AVOID ASSHOLES.
Realistically, you are not going to find a unicorn hire – if you do – AMAZING – but remember, unicorns are unicorns for a reason.
Be reasonable in your search. If you are taking a very very long time to hire someone, that should be a huge red flag to yourself – and also is a red flag to candidates. You probably need to adjust your expectations.
The #1 piece of management advice I have every received was to prioritize hiring. I cannot stress this enough and I cannot educate any new managers enough on this. Hiring your team changes your entire (work) life. So, make it a priority.
GOOD LUCK!
Bonus
What if I keep hiring assholes?
First of all, if you are an asshole, you are probably going to hire other assholes. Plain and simple. If you don’t think you’re an asshole, and other people are complaining that you are, then you aren’t self aware. So, you know, I’m just getting that out of the way.
If you are adamant about hiring someone and are in a position of power and everyone else is saying no or cringing and saying yes but shaking their head no, something is more likely wrong with YOU than with THEM. Don’t be stupid (unless you aren’t self aware, then you’ll never get this… so why am I even bothering?).
Footnote
Why am I, random person, qualified to talk about hiring?
- 10+ years of management
- I have had 20+ direct reports over my career (and talk to 10 of them – currently not reporting to me because we have gone off to do different things – on a regular basis)
- I have inherited teams and turned some around, other times I have had to let people go (see below on how I was a bad manager)
- I have managed teams of 8+
- I have managed remote teams and in international / national (non HQ) offices
- I have interviewed hundreds of candidates
- I have personally scoured through thousands of resumes
- I have personally recruited and referred candidates for roles
- I have, not to toot my own horn, but to prove a point – been mentioned as a “favorite manager” by multiple of my former direct reports
Now this isn’t all to say that I haven’t been a bad manager. Yes, I absolutely have been a bad manager – but early in my career. First time managers, and often young managers, don’t stick the landing. I have let go (let’s be clear: fired) 3 people. This is, of course, a final merciless act if I can’t turn someone around. Yes, I have also made bad hires. The woman that texted the entire time in a meeting with the CEO (and she was far older than you’d think). The nice guy who actually was very sloppy in his work. The woman who cared for no one but herself. These things happen, and they are very hard to spot in a 30 minute or 1 hour conversation.
Header Photo by Free To Use Sounds on Unsplash