Hooked on Recruiting Algorithms

"All great changes are preceded by chaos." - Deepak Chopra

We get it; you left big tech to build a product and company your way — and your way equaled freedom from all the processes and structures that only bogged you down at past companies. So you went from one extreme to the other, kicking all that red tape BS to the curb. But once that chaos leads to breakthroughs, it's important to codify the recipe or algorithm to enable predictable repetition as you scale.

What's going on?

The thought of implementing any level of process can be triggering to founders. When you started your company, you prioritized building with speed in mind. "We're a startup! We thrive on chaos and being nimble!" This approach may seem fine in the earliest days of your journey when only a handful of people share common tribal knowledge in the "beautifully messy creation phase." Once it was time to start hiring, you likely took this same "fast and loose" approach, bringing in new leaders through ad hoc methods, relying on gut instincts because most of your first hires were known quantities, making them lower risk. But just like that, your team doubled or even tripled in size, and many of your recent hires are "net new" and not previously known, and they're all bringing their own "flavor of process" with them (just like you.) This has created a Frankenstein version of hiring, and wow, is it ugly! And even though you've likely experienced a couple of bad hires, resistance to codifying a shared, cohesive process can remain strong. So the cycle continues; only any speed you thought you'd have without process is quickly replaced by the frustration of not having it. This frustration only mounts as you accumulate talent debt, bringing team morale to an all-time low. We've seen this story play out time and time again. And while process resistance is often labeled a "candidate problem," nine times out of ten, it's nothing more than an operational problem.

Why does it matter?

You can't scale chaos. No matter how much you want to or how allergic to process you are. Without a consistent and repeatable hiring mechanism in place, you eliminate your ability to measure what's working and what's not. Your hiring bar becomes relative instead of absolute, comparing candidate to candidate instead of all candidates to a well-constructed role spec, which is stress-tested and validated consistently. A relative approach lowers your hiring bar over time because you only know how two potentially wrong candidates stack up against each other. Confusion surrounding what great actually looks like and an inability to validate fit extends the process and wastes time. And what you wind up with is a mixed bag of leaders who can't do the work (because you didn't take the time to map out what the work was), aren’t startup-willing or able (because you didn't validate they could roll up their sleeves and build), and a whole lot of churn (costly and painful).

What do others think?

“A rigorous hiring process is important on day one and becomes even more critical to the success of the company as you scale. Many factors contribute to a hiring decision — at A-Alpha we broadly categorize these factors as intellectual fit, role fit, and culture alignment. Without a standardized process to assess every candidate, it’s easy to be influenced by a candidate with exceptional intellectual fit and miss red flags in other areas — or evaluate existing candidates relative to each other without considering general hiring standards. As startups grow and founders become less directly involved in every hiring decision, process and training become essential for maintaining a consistent and high hiring bar.” — David Younger, Co-founder and CEO at A-Alpha Bio

“As a founder at a small startup, you may be asking why should I have an interview process or why should I have any discipline here at all? You’re not doing process because process is fun or important in and of itself. You’re adding process because the act of hiring your team is the most important thing you do. Having a process for hiring is a way of embodying that importance — and what you value in the people you hire — into something that is principled, disciplined, and repeatable.” — Mark Nelson, former CEO at Tableau and Venture Partner at Madrona

What do we think?

As a founder, one of your superpowers must be hiring great people. And the only way you accomplish this is by having some level of structure and repeatable process in place that allows you to understand what great looks like, and identify what works and what doesn't when attracting, assessing, closing, and onboarding talent. If you don't consider that something you need to codify, ask yourself what kind of company you want to build. Without question, building a recruiting machine (i.e., a recruiting and hiring process) is one of the things that you have to be phenomenal at — not just good, not just great — but phenomenal.

What do YOU think? 

Take Action

Hiring philosophy. Much of your hiring process is rooted in your hiring philosophy. This is the who, why, and how methodology for hiring at your startup. As Mark Nelson shared, "If you aren't being thoughtful about this, you are just taking a random walk." Get clear on interview loops (who/why), interview debriefs (to glean critical feedback and create learning loops), the importance of feedback (take it seriously), how hiring decisions are made, and candidate experience.

Scalability requires upfront effort. Scale is enabled by building repeatable and consistent hiring frameworks. The sooner you lay the foundation, the more agile you can be. This means you'll only need to make minor adjustments to your hiring framework during growth or market changes rather than large-scale overhauls that can slow you down.

Hiring Myth Busters. Many founders who run "fast and loose," think they will hire fast and fire fast. What often happens is hiring fast and firing slow, leading to months of dysfunction caused by a misaligned hire. In these cases, founders fall into the trap of thinking, "Someone is better than no one," but this couldn't be further from the truth and is just as painful for the employee as it is for you.

Align your "how" with your culture. If you are resistant to the "p" word, call it something else that maps well to your culture. The "how" you hire or your hiring algorithm. Just remember — without a mechanism to validate, you will repeat unsuccessful hiring cycles and experience a lot of pain in tandem.

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