Steve Bartel’s Post

Intersting interview with Marc Lore in TechCrunch. I thought his perspective on hiring “superstars” was insightful. He made many false-positive mistakes in hiring people who he thought was a superstar. He found a clear pattern that superstars have in resumes that’s differentiated from a non-superstar. “But the resume has to show a demonstrable level of success in every job that they were in. That means multiple promotions. It means staying at a company long enough to get promoted, and it means when you leave and go from one company to another, it’s a big move. Superstars don’t move laterally. They don’t move down from a good company to a bad company, because bad companies need to pay more to attract people and so sometimes they shake loose people that aren’t as good, that just want to go for the money. But you find somebody that’s [in the top] 5% and you look at their resume, it’s like: boom, boom, promotion, promotion, promotion, promotion, promotion, promotion, and then a big jump … promotion, promotion, big jump. When I get that resume that shows that demonstrable level of success, I grab it and I pay them whatever they need. It’s that important to me to get that superstar in there. And you build a company of superstars.” https://lnkd.in/gvpX2n2W

🚀 Need to build your startup team fast and efficiently? Don't let the time and cost hold you back! With InterviewDesk's Interview as a Service, you can swiftly and cost-effectively help you find your dream candidates. 💼💡 - https://interviewdesk.ai/ #InterviewDesk #StartupSolutions #EfficientHiring #InterviewAsAService

A client received an offer on Saturday. Yes Saturday! In 8+ weeks he went from "nothing " to late stage interviews with 7 different #technology companies. ( one offer) 5 super hot #VC backed #startups and 2 of the most respected large companies in the US. Here is how we drove these results- ✅ He took weeks off after losing his job to recharge. ✅ We created a simple, easy to read resume and updated his profile. ✅ We built a "targeted" list of companies that would see HIS #experience as valuable. ✅ Created messaging that would generate response. (25+%) ✅ Leveraged his #network when possible. ✅ Messaged #hiring leaders directly. Often 3+ messages before he saw a response. ✅ He prepared and practiced for every call. ( 30+ and counting) ✅ He tracked every activity and tweaked approach based on results. 👍Takeaway is similar to what I have said for years. The best or most qualified people aren't winning the most #jobs. Those who can engage the most hiring leaders and excel during all stages of the #interview cycle are! More to follow! #startups #technology #careeradvice #sales101 If you have lost your job, reach out. Happy to discuss your goals and challenges. years.https://https://lnkd.in/g5R3DTfT

"Why am I losing so many candidates at offer stage?" The biggest culprit here? Poor candidate experience. As we close out the year I'm seeing a lot of startups get surprised by candidates going with other companies. They're asking if they could have offered more cash, more equity, or more investor convos to help seal the deal. But in our debriefs with candidates, we're often sensing a common theme: the interviewing experience simply wasn't great. One-sided interview processes. No relationship building and genuine get-to-know-you. Sell mode on, all the time. Cancelled interviews last minute. And lots of dropped balls with followups, next steps, and more. One common challenge were seeing is that these startups are way, way behind on recruiting operations. Often they just have a Chief of Staff in the role -- and the CoS is underwater with tons of other projects. Other times it's a single internal recruiter already on 10+ calls a day, with little bandwidth for anything else. Candidates want to join amazing teams and get building with them. But when they see utter disorganization, they're reminded of the downside of joining a startup. And then they meet the ones who have things running smoothly -- and they realize that this is specific to certain companies, not all early stage startusp in general. At the end of the day, founders are asking candidates to commit years of their lives to a company. So when we don't hear back about candidates and then two weeks later the founder wants to make an offer, we instantly flag that things may be tough. You've lost the chemistry and the relationship at that point, and getting back to a good spot is often an uphill climb. This is why we partner so closely with our clients -- especially the ones lacking strong internal ops. Following up on every detail, tracking the dates, ensuring the scheduling emails have gone out. And it's even harder for us, given we're operating on the outside -- but in today's age it's more important than ever. This is also why so many repeat founders have the edge too -- operations is table stakes for them, and candidate experience is paramount. They've learned this the hard way. Thousands of great companies are getting built, so many with great funding, great teams, and wonderful missions. That final edge when you're competing for top decile talent? It all comes down to candidate experience.

My latest Substack delves into the topic of Stolen Valor, shedding light on my personal encounter with it in the hiring process. I discuss it's relevance and explore the broader lessons that can be applied to hiring for startups. #StolenValor #HiringProcess #Startups

Is YOUR startup able to....? - Hire from role sign off to candidate contract signed in under 4 weeks? - Complete your interview process in 7 days from application to offer? - Maintain an interview -> offer rate of 40% or higher? - Secure 90% of the candidates you offer on the 1st ask? More importantly - is your startup able to do all of that WITHOUT recruiters? We believe that any startup who wants to be around in a couple of years should be aiming for these kinds of benchmarks whether they use recruiters or not. If you're falling short too often, perhaps you'll eventually fall short of startup success too. But if 2025 is going to be your year for the RIGHT reasons - it might be because you read (and implemented) the must know formula to startup hiring that I've shared in my book. And if you haven't got your copy yet (you're missing out) - find it in the comments!

Startups, Let’s Rethink Our Interview Practices In the fast-paced world of startups, we often find ourselves desperate to make the right hires quickly. But sometimes, in our eagerness, we forget that interviews are *a two-way street*. A candidate is evaluating you just as much as you're evaluating them. Asking questions like: - "Have you read the JD?" and then asking them to repeat it verbatim. - Inquiring about a married woman’s future family plans. - Questioning whether their in-laws will approve of their work schedule. - Rehashing outdated experiences from 5 or 6 years ago, instead of focusing on their current capabilities. These types of questions can be frustrating and make candidates question your professionalism, as well as your understanding of the market today. A strong candidate doesn't just bring past experience—they bring their mindset, creativity, and the ability to adapt in real-time. It’s critical we foster a respectful, fair, and transparent environment that values their expertise. Startups are built on trust, vision, and collaboration. Our interviews should reflect that. Let’s approach interviews with respect for the candidate’s time and experience—and remember, the best talent often expects more than just a paycheck. They’re seeking meaningful work and an environment where they can thrive. #Startups #Hiring #InterviewTips #Leadership #WorkplaceCulture #Respect #Recruitment

Why start-ups and early-stage businesses wouldn't use an external partner: 🚫 They know exactly what they want from their hire. ✏ They can write an excellent job ad. 📈 They'll have hundreds of applications and lots of time to CV and initial screen them. 🔎 They already have an extensive network and will definitely, 100%, fill the role from that. 💸 Why spend the money if they have all of the above and loads of time. Why start-ups and early-stage businesses should use an external partner: ✅ The profile can shift during the process once you've met some people, we can support and advise on the shift and take that to market. Quickly. ✅ A job description (thorough or not) is not a job ad and won't help attract the best talent. ✅ Hundreds of applications will take AGES to review and by the time you have, loads will be gone or not interested anymore due to poor candidate experience. ✅ Your network is always good to go to but remember you want culture add not just culture fit which you're likely to get from people you know already. ✅ A fee to a partner should be weighed up against the value of your time, in all likelihood you'll actually be saving money seeing a shortlist of prescreened candidates. Obviously there are LOADS more reasons but these highlight some of the value a great external partner can add. I'm happy to talk through all this with any founders and CEO's looking to hire or build out their hiring processes. #startuprecruitment #startup #startupchallenges #recruitmentfixer

If you're a startup, keeping hiring in-house, without an agency partner or TA, make sure you're constantly filling the top of your candidate funnel, until you get to offer accept stage. One of the most common reasons we're contacted by startups, is because they've run their own hiring process, the role has been open for 4 weeks, and it's fallen apart at final stage. Candidate didn't get an offer, or they did and rejected. And now the hiring process has lost all momentum, the hiring manager & interviewers have lost hours of work, there's no one in the pipeline, and they don't have the time, or the energy, to start again. The easiest way around this, is to stop treating hiring stages as consecutive. You should try, as best you can with available resources, to have all stages running concurrently. So if your candidate doesn't get to offer stage, you already have 2 more finals lined up, you have 3 others at challenge stage, and 5 first rounds booked in. So the process keeps moving with little effort, rather than having to start again at the top of the funnel.