Recruiting at Startups (follow-up)

In a previous post we discussed the challenges of hiring at Startups. Recently we interviewed a candidate who is an exemplar for all that is not to be expected from a candidate applying for a job with a startup. This experience has led us to re-evaluate some of the criteria we applied earlier and add news ones. We share our insights here in the hope that it helps some fellow entrepreneurs in similar situations.

We received the resume of a candidate, who on paper, appeared to have some decent qualifications. But in the very first interview serious doubts were raised about this candidate's abilities, despite several attempts to smile and hand-wave through. So we asked this person to take a simple computing challenges test, loosely modeled along the challenges we had encountered.

Our doubts were more than confirmed - this candidate's responses were along the lines of "company so-and-so has done it ...", "so-and-so is researching it"; and we kid you not, even a response to the tune of "this is a well known problem and no need to explain".... yadda....yadda....Imagine taking an test and responding "... this is already solved, hence no need to answer it here". What grade would you have received in such a test? :-)

Not one of the responses were anything even close to being acceptable. When the obvious was pointed out in no uncertain terms, the applicant threw a hissy-fit: the details are unimportant but needless to say the applicant knew "game over!" .

This example brought up a number of questions in how we evaluate candidates, so we added the following points to evaluate applicants:

1. Originality Very Welcome: Most startups are looking for some innovative and original thinking and not copy-paste warriors. To be clear, we are not looking for theories of relativity to be developed, however we are looking for the beginnings of some out-of-the-box thinking. The proposed approach might not be workable at all, but it must demonstrate creativity and innovation. Startups need that kind of thinking to develop a competitive advantage wherever and whenever they can.

2. Prima Donnas Unwelcome: A startup is a very, very rough and tumble game. if one cannot handle being tackled and tackled hard, they are best advised staying away from the field. A fellow entrepreneur pointed out being in a startup is like being a quarterback without a defensive formation, and that is not far from the truth. Any employee with a chip on their shoulder is likely unsuited to work in entrepreneurial organizations.

Working for a startup requires more often than not, the ability to take some hard hits and remain standing. If that doesn't sit well with some.....oh well! Sorry!