Mark Zuckerberg Ices people too

I'm amazed every time I meet with a hiring manager and they spend ten minutes breaking down the type of candidate they'd like to hire. It starts with "I'm looking for a good attitude" and ends with a list of accumulative traits and accomplishments to rival Mark Zuckerberg or Ajay Bhatt. It is okay to appreciate talent. It is okay to desire that talent for your team. It is not okay to maintain unrealistic expectations throughout a hiring process to the point of counter-productivity.

Essentially, expectations should be a statistical understanding where variables such as: current business needs, long-term business needs, culture, urgency, the available candidate market and budget can all be leveraged to manage expectations.

If statistics isn't your thing, then let's continue the previous example:

The Thought Process

When you sit down and start to think about your next hire, there are several ideas to process at once. There is a current project that needs to be finished. There is a new project that needs to be started and finished by an already-determined date. There is a project you want to do and know will be approved, but not until progress has been made on one of the other aforementioned projects. There's a lot.

Slow it down. Begin with, "What do I need for the current project?" and compile a list of specific skills that may or may not be ideal for the future projects.

The next step is, "I'd like them to be able to finish this project with XYZ, but the next project is already in preapproval phase, and I know I'll need ABC for that project, so it would be great if the candidate had that, too. 

Eventually, you reach the point of thinking "So if they can wrap this project up and have experience building the project we're about to start, they can get both projects done quicker so we can move onto my next big project. If they're that good then they've probably already worked with 123 and will be the quintessential engineer for the future. Then I'll look like the mastermind behind it."

That last part might not hold true for everyone, but I know some of you are definitely thinking that when I sit down with you.

Wishful thinking…

The Persuasion

If I hire someone who is only a specialist in the current project, that means they're a little outdated and does not bode well for the future project, and especially not for the future-future project.

If I hire someone that has worked with the current project technologies, and is currently working on the next project's technologies, then he'll have to learn more for the future-future project and that may slow down production. Since he'll be working on the other two projects back-to-back I'll need to hire another engineer for the team, which costs time and money.

So if I hire someone that has worked with the current project, already done the next project, and is already in the know about the future-future tech stack, that would solve it all. I'll hire that engineer. And I'll wait until I find that candidate. 

In theory, yes…

The Reality

If you do decide to go after the next game-changer, manage your expectations. In the current market, you will be one of at least seven companies interested in, advancing, and making an offer to this candidate. That is a conservative ratio and even then you'll have a 14% chance of successfully hiring the rockstar. Would you invest everything in a 14% success ratio? I think not. 

Hire for attitude and aptitude. If someone is self-motivated, interested in the business, the project and the people, they will add value to the team while remaining loyal and ultimately push themselves and the organization to greater heights. While every company could certainly benefit from a Tech Ninja, I've never heard of a one-person billion-dollar company. Hedge your bets. A good team will always produce more than the best player will alone.

Simple Ways to Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself

• Use a trusted resource to prequalify candidates for the position
• When interviewing, focus on strengths instead of weaknesses
• Be realistic about your organization, opportunity and long-term potential as an employer
• Hire what you need, not what you want
• Focus primarily on culture fit, attitude and aptitude, and secondarily on skills

Interviewing and Hiring Technology Professionals

There are many different approaches to interviewing technology professionals. Most companies have an approach that is formed from the many experiences their hiring managers and HR professionals have had throughout their careers. As a professional whose primary job is to facilitate interview processes, I have seen it all and while there is no perfect process there are approaches that increase efficiency and effectiveness.

Thorough Pre-Qualification

As a hiring manager it's important that every candidate you are presented is vetted for their technical qualification, communication skills and cultural fit before you even see a resume. The first step is to make sure that the first point of contact for a candidate has a detailed understanding of the technical skills needed for the job and knows how to sell the attractive qualities of the company and the role. Whether it's an internal HR professional or an outside agency, take the time to make sure the person qualifying candidates for you knows what you want and knows how to get the best people for the job excited to meet you. To do this well requires more than just sending someone a job description and should always include a detailed Q&A between you and whomever you've enlisted to help you.

First Impressions Matter

Although it's tempting to delegate the initial technical vetting to a trusted member of the team, as the hiring manger for the position it's important that you are the first point of contact for a candidate in order to establish a relationship with that person and to make sure you feel comfortable that they will mesh well with your management style and with the culture of your team. These initial interviews should be relatively short in duration and should have a clear agenda. You should have several key questions prepared including three to four standardized questions that you ask everyone and two to three candidate-specific questions tailored to the candidate's background. It's also important to make sure to allow time for natural dialogue to occur so that you can get a feel for the personal chemistry you have with each candidate. Ideally, there should also be a portion of the interview dedicated to why the candidate should want this job, which should include an "elevator pitch" of the company and some personal reasons you have chosen to work there. As a general rule, the candidate should be talking for about 60-70% of the interview. The rest of the time you should be answering their questions and selling the opportunity to work for you.

Momentum and Planning

If you choose to move forward with a candidate it's best to get the candidate in front of your team within 48 hours in order to keep their interest peaked. Make sure that the next steps are planned out and communicated effectively to the candidate. Ideally, set a period of time aside for the candidate to meet all of the essential members on your team and send out an itinerary so they can prepare for their meetings. Before the interviews, make sure to speak with each member of the interview team about what they will cover in their conversations. Everyone should have a clear understanding of what their role is in the interview process in order to minimize redundancies and to make sure your team gets all of their questions answered. One of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the second interview is the wrap-up. As the hiring manger, you should be the last person to meet the candidate in order to address any concerns that they have and to get your final questions answered. If you are planning on making them an offer, this is the time to set expectations of what it's like to work for you and to cover the cultural dynamic of your team.

Once you're ready to extend an offer, check out our post How to Extend Job Offers Successfully.

Hiring Managers: Say “I Do.”

Hiring takes time and commitment. Much like dating, momentum builds with each interaction until you reach a point when a pair decides to either continue on a path together or part ways. That, of course, is easier said than done.

These days, with a recovering economy and competitive market, time is not something often found lying around. Chances are, you're part of a team that has hunkered down the past couple years and already works 50-60 hours per week. Or maybe you're leading a fast-paced start-up while trying to build a team and still keep a deliverable on target for investors standing over your shoulder.

Either way, it feels like there is not enough time in the day and all you know about the market is that talent is thin, it takes time to find it and more likely than not you're in for a frustrating experience, right? It doesn't have to be that way.

Follow these simple steps to make your next hire feel more like Charlie Sheen (#winning) and less like a helpless child riding the emotional roller coaster of hiring:

1. Be Simon Baker the Mentalist. You have to mentally commit first and foremost. You are hiring. You have an open job which reports directly to you and is officially open and ready to be filled. You will fill this position in a timely manner.
2. Research and Development. Reach out to a trusted resource or two and ask them what they are seeing on the market relevant to your business needs.
3. Facebook, Google, YouTube and you. You have a specific project. You have a budget. If there is a team, then there is chemistry and internal equity to consider. Focus less on a job description that lists all of the skills you'd like the candidate to learn and thus add to your team, and more on the type of person and core fundamentals you want.
4. Use your iCal and Microsoft Outlook Calendar. You have to MAKE time to do interviews. You'll never have time, it has to be made.
5. Speed dating. Interview several candidates representing a cross-section of the available market, also allowing you to compare/contrast them against one another in a reasonable time frame.
6. Capitalism. Let your resources compete; after all, your goal is to hire the best talent, not to worry about the source of the candidate.
7. Momentum. If there is synergy, capture it and move forward. Create your own momentum.
8. Jerry Maguire's "Show me the money." Make an offer to your #1 immediately, keeping past advice from Hiring Juice in mind while extending said offer. Move quickly enough that your #2/#3 still feel like part of the process.
9. Be flexible, keep an open mind and stay positive. This is pretty much a philosophy of life, not just hiring.

If you follow these simple steps, like I did when marrying my wife Michaella, you too will find freedom through commitment.

Preparing the Right Offer

You did it! You successfully found someone you want to extend an offer to. The hard part is over… Or is it?

I’ve been working in the recruiting field for some time now, and I’ve found that the average hiring manager takes his foot off the gas right before extending an offer, sometimes messing up the entire process by explaining sloppily that they want the candidate to join the team.

Here are some pointers to remember once you’ve identified the right candidate for the job, to ensure that you don’t screw it all up at the end.

What Is the Candidate Worth?

Before you find out what the candidate wants you must first figure out what the candidate’s really worth to you. You’ve established that you would like to work with the candidate, but what is the cost? What is the rest of the team making and what skills does this person have? Keep in mind that you’ll think your team has more experience using a particular technology, simply because they’ve been using it under your supervision. Also be sure that you’re compensating your existing team appropriately and competitively with the current market conditions. It’s better for you to find out before they do, because they will eventually.

Know the Candidate’s Expectations

A candidate’s desired compensation is made up of three numbers: their “bottom line” number, their “happy” number and their “thrilled” number. The candidate would obviously like to get their thrilled number, but there’s only so much you can do with your budget and, let’s face it, their thrilled number might be completely unrealistic and could set the wrong dynamic. They might come in with a large ego and not respect anyone else’s decisions.

You’ll face a similar problem if you offer their “bottom line” number. The candidate knows you know their bottom line, so to offer that number implies you’re being cheap and aren’t willing to beat their bottom line, even by a small amount. How a company hires is usually an indication of how they will manage and is this how you want to set the stage before someone even starts with you? If the bottom line number is really is the best you can do, give the candidate some reasons why you made that offer.

The ideal salary, the candidate’s “happy” number, is somewhere in-between. The number that says, “I want to give you more than your bottom line, but you’ll need to work up to your thrilled number and here’s how we can get you there.” The happy number can be only marginally above their bottom line number; but that increase will make the candidate a little more excited to come on board and it will make them work harder and, more importantly, happier on day one.

DO Make an Offer This Way

When arriving at a number always make a verbal offer before putting together an offer package. The last thing you want to do is to send a candidate off with a package they’ll take a week to consider when the core numbers might not even work. If you’re working with an agency this process is ideal because the agent will deliver the “bottom line,” “happy,” and “thrilled” numbers to you and prepare the candidate to accept any of the three numbers when you come out with the verbal offer.

If you’re not using an agency, engage the candidate in a conversation to discover what salary will make the most sense. You don’t want to directly ask the candidate what their “bottom line” is, but you can usually gauge those numbers if you ask what they’re looking for and compare it to their most recent salary. Usually a 5%-7% increase will be a “happy” number, but circumstances are different based on who you’re making an offer to.

Always explain your offer to the candidate and what your short and long term vision for them is. People don’t choose to stay long term just because they’re getting an extra $100 slapped onto their paychecks. They skip to work because of what they’re doing on a daily basis, how they’re challenged and how their role contributes to a shared company vision.

DON’T Make an Offer This Way

Don’t ask what the candidate is looking for and what they’re currently making, and then make an offer below both numbers. You’ll run the risk of insulting the candidate even if you’re ready to come back with a higher counteroffer.

Always make your best offer first. Counteroffers rarely work.

Don’t Be a Loser

Any start date longer than two weeks from the hire date should be a red flag. When a start date is extended that far out without good reason you should question it. After all, you’re running a big risk by shutting down the position for three weeks while the candidate is getting counteroffers and tempting recruiting calls from your competitors every day. For some reason, once a candidate gets an offer, other opportunities tend to surface out of the woodwork. Don’t take any chances; candidates who start later than three weeks after accepting an offer are 20% less likely to stick with that job offer than candidates who start within two weeks.

I recently said this to a hiring manager who had told a candidate to start four weeks after accepting an offer. He replied, “If they end up accepting another position after accepting mine then I don’t want them anyway.” That’s like losing a basketball game and saying you weren’t trying to win anyway, or not going the extra mile to get the girl of your dreams and blaming it on destiny. If you want something, go get it! Don’t give excuses that are just a mental parachute to your disappointment when you lose. More importantly, don’t be a loser!

Interviewing Candidates: They’re Just Not That Into You

It happens all the time; you meet the person of your dreams and you fall all over them like you're at Junior Prom. This is the person for you! They're perfect! You've already made up your mind that any of the other men and women dressed in tuxes and ball gowns can't possibly compare. When you are with them everything is rainbows and butterflies. In your mind, it just couldn't get better. But what if they don't feel the same way?

Humans have struggled with rejection since the dawn of time. It's in our nature to want to be liked and more importantly needed. While our emotions can get the best of us when falling for that special someone, in a business setting we need to be honest with ourselves and focus on facts and logic.

Over the last year, the market for highly skilled software developers and IT professionals has outshined the macroeconomy with unemployment as low as 2% in some areas. This is great news for people in the technology industry, but it also means that great candidates are hard to find and in demand. Most importantly, these candidates have options. Just like the Prom King and Prom Queen, these A-players can have their pick of the litter when it comes to potential employers.

I'm not saying to give up on your dream candidate! But be honest with yourself about what you can offer, both tangibly and intangibly, and how you can best communicate this information to your candidates. That's right, you have to sell.

I know, I know: you didn't sign up for a sales gig when you were up until 3 AM working on computer science problem sets, but if you want to win talent in an increasingly competitive market, you need to know what makes your candidate tick and, just as importantly, when to walk away. Follow these three easy steps to land your ace:

1. Make a Good First Impression: What is your goal when doing a first interview? Is it simply to determine whether or not this candidate is worth your time, or is it a balanced give and take? You may be halfway through your technical phone screen when you suddenly realize that this candidate is the real deal. You may have had a dozen bad interviews, but this is the candidates' first interaction with you and you need to make sure that if they are the type of person you want, you started on the right foot. My suggestion: meet them in person and spend a few minutes telling them your story and what your company is all about. This still leaves plenty of time to tech them out. You don't have to spend any more time than you would on the phone, but if they are a viable candidate and you want to move forward it will be easier to do so once they have met you and have already began to "buy" you.
2. Get Ahead of Yourself: Whoever said "don't get ahead of yourself" didn't work in the fast-paced world of talent acquisition. It's imperative to start answering questions early and often. Figure out what makes your candidate tick and what motivates them. Are they most interested in cash/equity or are they primarily concerned with spending more time with their family? Do they want bleeding edge technology or proven systems? Knowing this before a second or final round will increase your chances of landing the candidate or cutting your losses before you're in too deep.
3. Introduce Them to the Right People: It's counterintuitive to have a senior developer doing the first round interviews. Unless you (the hiring manager) have complete faith in your staff to represent the company ideally, answer questions accurately and appropriately and communicate why in the world anyone would want to work there, then do the interview yourself. Once you have a candidate on the hook and they are willing to commit 2-3 hours for a second or final interview, have them meet the team and the senior executives. This will provide a balance of people for the candidate to meet with, from your skilled technical group to a strong and seasoned leadership team.

The most challenging obstacle to securing the best talent is to shift your mentality from "I am interviewing this candidate" to "this candidate is interviewing me." At the end of the day, you get to choose who you want to make an offer to. You just can't forget that they will choose whether or not to accept.

Giving Interview Feedback

Ask anyone who has ever looked for a job what their major gripe about the entire interview process would be and it would be centered around not getting feedback in a timely manner. It falls on your shoulders as a hiring manager to give them constructive feedback. When I give a candidate negative feedback about an interview I automatically worry I’m being brutally honest and even say “Don’t shoot the messenger” before I deliver the feedback. But every time I give a candidate negative feedback they thank me for letting them know how to improve on their next interview.

Giving negative feedback sometimes feels awkward and like you’re a jerk for telling them, but it’s a selfless act that helps only the candidate?after all, you really have nothing to immediately gain from it. So why do it? Well, hopefully you believe in the “greater good” or Karma, but at a minimum you can look at the reputation score of companies that never provide candidates with feedback at all. The fact is that word gets out on and it circulates in the industry that you're in and reaches the people that you typically hire for. Don’t take the chance of potentially scheduling your next “rockstar” developer to meet with you only to have the “rockstar” cancel the interview after consulting his developer friends and hearing negative opinions about your company that his friends formed based solely on never hearing back from you.

Don’t Wait

Feedback should be given immediately after an interview, or better yet, at the end of the interview. Waiting on giving feedback just kills your incentive to help and let the candidate know how they did. I’ve talked to many candidates who have gone on interviews, and even though they didn’t end up getting the job, they respect and admire the hiring manager for telling them, at the end of the interview, why they think the candidate wouldn’t be a fit for the position. After all, if you were interviewing for a position, wouldn’t you appreciate that as well?

There’s also the chance that you, as a hiring manager, may be completely off base in your assessment. When you tell a candidate his .NET skills are not appropriate for what you’re looking for and you tell him why, the candidate has the opportunity to touch on something you may have missed in the interview process. Recently I was faced with a similar situation during a sales interview when I said that the candidate didn’t possess an “edge” to him to be entrepreneurial enough for what I was looking for in my sales environment. Not only did I misassessthis candidate, the candidate responded in a way that was by far the most impressive part of the interview and I ended up hiring him. Had I just shaken his hand and said the typical: “I have more interviews to do this week and next, but will circle back with you if we’re interested,” I would have completely missed out on a successful hire.

When you know that you want to offer the candidate the position then give him an idea that you want to make him an offer. Why? In today’s market, especially for technology professionals, it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep good candidates in the “queue” while you put together an offer. Not providing positive feedback in a timely manner just runs the risk of the candidate accepting a job somewhere else. If you’re a mid-sized company that means you have red tape to go through before making an offer, and this red tape takes time to navigate through, so what’s the point of going through all the red tape when by the time you have something ready to offer there’s no candidate to offer the job to anyway?

Honesty

Be honest with the candidate, or better yet, if you’re using a recruiter be honest with them about your feedback. Talk through your concerns, surface them to see if they stick if they do, then you’re 100% sure that those concerns were valid. If they don’t stick, however, and you were off base with your assessment, not saying anything will ruin your chances of hiring the right person.

Lastly, from a recruiter’s perspective, having a company never give me feedback will usually result in me immediately dismissing the business relationship. While some have the mindset that there are a million recruiters and recruiting companies out there to choose from (which is correct), the chance of partnering with a good recruiter or recruiting firm long term is exceptionally rare. Feedback makes us get better as recruiters and get better candidates in the door to meet with you as a hiring manager. But don’t just give feedback solely for you to get something out of it give feedback because that’s what you’d want if the roles were reversed.

Today's Hiring Market

People often ask, "How's the hiring market these days?" Generally speaking, the question receives a good-news answer, especially in the area I specialize in, technology recruitment and hiring. The technology market really is "really hot" right now. But a truly accurate answer to the hiring-market question merits a little deeper exploration.

Let's start with a little hiring-market history:

The Boom/Bust

The Web's Golden Age (ca. 1995-1999): Everyone with a web-related business idea gets multi-million funding, easy, and kids with brand-new computer science degrees make six-figure starting salaries.

Artificial Demand (ca. 2000-2001): Things get tighter. The perceived demand for information technology has clearly outstripped reality. There is still activity in the market, but there is a real sense that the gold rush is starting to cool down.

The Infamous Bust (ca: 2001-2002): Sped by the horrible events on September 11th 2001, the technology bubble bursts and everyone decides that technology is a venture no longer worth the investment.

The Doldrums, part 1 (ca. 2001-2005)

We're all worried about investment in technology because we all got screwed with "we" marked not only by billionaire hedge fund managers, C-level executives, and high-risk day traders, but by every line manager at every company in America.

A dip-the-toe mentality takes over: "Remember the guy who put five large in socks.com and the fact that he buys his socks at TJ-MAXX now?"

Slowly but surely time begins to heal the wounds. Technology advancements make it possible for technology to again be a viable investment.

The Doldrums, part 2 (ca. 2005 – 2008)

This whole technology thing is pretty damn cool. I mean it really is. Real money-making/advancements and buy-in from society at large (i.e. Facebook hits 300M users). "Google" is a well-understood verb.

The Downfall (ca. 2008-2009)

Recession crushes the United States economy. Unemployment is at an all-time high. The Wall Street Journal prints an article claiming that it's the worst depression since the actual Great Depression. This is not good. Really, really not good.

Today

Okay, here we are… In the still-clearing smoke of our bomb of a tech recession, the financial recession has scared us to bits. But, believe it or not I have some good news.

Technology Recession is not equal to Financial Recession

The internet bust was a TECHNOLOGY driven recession. There was massive overinvestment in – among other things – dotcoms, which in an economic climate marked by frugality, made all things tech taboo.

This most recent "credit crisis" was a product of poor financial decision-making driven by – among other things – subprime lending, which created a ripple of financial collapse that made all things banking taboo.

Technology has advanced – It really has.

The advancement of technology has created a culture of acceptance. People at large and more importantly people who invest in technology realize a discernable return on investment when they drop funds into tech. We are no longer afraid of technology solutions. Instead, technology is viewed as a real answer to the significant problems that face the United States economy.

Experienced Technologists & Business Planning

Nowadays there are actually people with over 10 years of real world experience building and implementing technology solutions. People with documented successes (and just as importantly failures) can now be trusted at the helm of major technology projects.

Business folks often make big mistakes when it comes to decision-making. The upside is that when they lose lot and lots of money, they don't usually make those same mistakes again. In general, people have learned from their overindulgence in technology investment and plan their business accordingly.

Now, what does that mean for me, the one who is hiring? It means it's time to show that you understand the landscape of the technology hiring market as a whole.

To most people it all boils down to three things:

1. Strong Leadership – Who do you have on your team who has been through or understands all of these ups and downs? It's time to show that you have a solid base of management that will weather any future storms.
2. Company Growth – What's you plan for expansion?  It doesn't have to be the next Microsoft but it's time to show you have a vision that will set you apart.
3. Income Potential – People work for money. It's time to show that you value your employees and that there is a discernable return for performance.

The Unique Hiring Challenges of the Fortune 500

So let’s say you are Intel, Bank of America, or some other Fortune 500 Company with a plan to hire high-end software engineers in 2011. Only you’ve noticed recently that the acceptance rate of offers you’ve made has been less than ideal. You’re not alone.

Nonetheless, you ask yourself, “Why would an engineer turn down my offer?” On paper, you have offered them higher-than-average salaries, better benefits, ability to learn from a big team of engineers, stability, and after all, you’re [--insert Fortune 500 company name here--].

Maybe this will put your findings into perspective:

• An individual with a passion for technology, creativity, and engineering can mature an idea to a business in one week. Rapid evolution of the web, mobile, and technology spaces gives every good idea great potential.
• Startups that thrive off entrepreneurial-minded engineers are making competitive base salary offers, plus benefits, as well as equity that a Fortune 500 or late stage startup cannot compete with.
• Some startups have even started offering two-year vesting schedules to create instant gratification, and are trying to appeal to the self-motivated conceptual thinkers.” (See Daniel H. Pink’s A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.)
• 2010/2011 M&A market: Where traffic, conversion rates, and social influence are worth their weight in gold.

I saw this firsthand in 2010, while leading a team based out of Los Angeles that focused on building core engineering teams in the open source community. The result was a clientele portfolio, comprised of 80% startup endeavors, each hiring multitudes of said engineers. As of January 3, 2011, I’ve opened and now run an office based out of San Jose (Jobspring Partners Silicon Valley) that is seeing the same trend day in and day out. Despite a different geo-targeted market, we’re seeing the same high-tech space, and the same trend.

If you are a hiring manager in Fortune 500 Company, with a plan to hire high-end software engineers in 2011, implement this simple strategy to execute and move forward:

• Set and manage your expectations throughout the hiring process. Not everyone can hire the former lead engineer from Facebook.
• Know your audience. Ask questions that allow candidates to talk subjectively about their ideal role in your company. You are looking people with top talent, who are smart and calculated, so proactively address concerns you yourself would have when making a career move.
• Look to explore all options but be prepared to move swiftly when synergy exists. If you were impressed by their technical, interpersonal, and professional skills, know that you are not the only one feeling this way.
• Commit to the process. Set aside time. Accept the market as a candidate’s market.
• Remember that compensation comes in many forms other than cash (i.e. benefits, equity, flexible schedule, bonuses, sign on bonus, etc.

Lastly, keep your options open and maintain an open mind when hiring.