Indeed grew their headcount by 750% over my seven years there. We interviewed tens of thousands of people across hundreds of roles. Hiring was vital to the engineering leadership role when we were in hypergrowth from 2016 to 2020. I interviewed hundreds, maybe even a thousand people, but ultimately, hiring wasn’t personal. It was a part of building teams, finding the talent we needed, and unlocking new possibilities for the company. It’s just business.

Now that I’m working with early-stage startups, hiring is incredibly personal. These teams are going from founders to hiring their first employees. One of the startups I’m partnering with has hired a Lead UX Designer and a Head of Product and is actively recruiting a Founding Engineer and a few engineering contractors. We’re building the minimal product at the same time that we create the minimal team. 

Joining an early-stage startup is an entirely different proposition from joining a multi-billion dollar, profitable, established company. Convincing engineers and others to jump ship from the (relative) safety of a prominent organization in this climate has been challenging (to say the least.) The good news is that there continue to be people who want to test their mettle by jumping into the startup world. 

Get in the arena

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

This quote was something we used as a badge of honor for leaders of projects in the Indeed Incubator. It’s a good reminder, no matter what challenge you are facing, to face it head-on. I know startups are not for everyone, and that’s fine. But everyone has a challenge in front of them: personal, professional, or something else entirely. Challenging yourself and overcoming or learning from that challenge is what matters. 

Each one mentors one

Interviewing is time-consuming. A friend just mentioned getting 700 applicants for an unposted software opening. There’s a lot of work to go through 700 applicants, even if you don’t personally interview each one. One of the best techniques for scaling your recruiting efforts (in addition to many other areas of your business) is to have “each one teach one.” 

Implementing a mentorship program (apprenticeship, shadows, succession planning, all just different flavors of the same ice cream) is an incredible tool for providing growth, resiliency, and continued alignment within your organization. Hiring is a beneficial area for mentorship because it will give you two sets of eyes on key interviews and candidates. Often a second person in the room comes away with very different perception on the strengths, weaknesses, or biases of the candidate.

The key to any good mentorship program is to have clear goals and measures so that you know when the mentorship is complete (and to move in that direction with clarity and purpose.) For example, getting interviewers to a place where they can confidently lead interviews and evaluate talent is an excellent unlock to doubling your interview capacity. 

Fun