Entrepreneurship

Finding and hiring great people is tough at the best of times and more challenging in this Corona induced pandemic era of social distancing and video job interviews. But by asking yourself the right questions, you can increase your chances of successful hires. The more we think about something, the more our minds will try to play tricks on us. We second-guess, we let doubt and fear creep in, we hesitate, we overthink.

To make the best hiring decisions, many companies ask five simple questions to help them decide whether to make someone an offer. The purpose of these questions is to get past all the unimportant detail and get down to the critical issue of the person you are interviewing:  

Here are five great questions to ask:

1. Is this a good person?

Steve Jobs said he wanted to hire pirates, and Uber founder Travis Kalanick valued "toe-stepping." But many great entrepreneurs believe that "if everyone we work with is a good person, we'll all be better off." They are looking to hire people who live by a set of ethical rules, want to give back, and genuinely care about other people. And so, during each job interview, they ask themselves, "Is this a good person?" And, if you have to take a long pause and struggle to answer this question, then they shouldn't be on your team."
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2. Does this person increase or decrease my energy?

We've all spent time around people who make us feel pumped up and enthusiastic about getting to work and others who seem to sap our energy, even though they may be friendly people. Achieving great success is all about energy, and you can usually get a strong sense of a person's energy during the job interview process. You'll dream bigger and move faster if the people you're collaborating with giving you energy rather than drain the energy out of you.
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3. Has this person produced measurable results in previous jobs?

You may like someone, and they might be a good person, but they should also have a track record of achievement and skills that your company needs. Otherwise, employing them could be a bad investment. To make sure a job candidate will be a solid contributor, find out if you're searching for a reason to hire them. If your crucial argument for someone is not related to actual results, you're probably trying to rationalize something you shouldn't be. An example might be saying that a job candidate "would be perfect for our culture." While culture is critical, if the candidate were valuable, you would say something more like this: "This person has had significant impact in their [current and/or] previous roles. They have done [X, Y, and Z]." When you can say that, it's crystal clear that someone would be an asset to your company. No rationalization, second-guessing, or overthinking is required.
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4. How would I feel if this candidate told me they had a good offer from another company?

If this person came to me tomorrow and told me they had an excellent offer from another company, would I fight to keep and win them over?

This test helps you admit that someone isn't excellent, and it originated from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings. He believes that extraordinary people are much better than "pretty good" people.

As the motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, "You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with." So if you want to be better — like I know all of us to do — one of the best ways is to do that is to make sure you're surrounding yourself with exceptional people.
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5. Does this person embody my personal and company values?

The idea of “culture fit” can be a code word for discrimination (be careful of only hiring people who are like you), but one should instead ask, “does this person embody my values and what I believe in”. Of course, if you have never articulated your personal or company values – it's high time you did (you should not be employing people if you cant tick box value matches).
 

Suppose your culture is about excellence or speed. In that case, whenever you're hiring or doing interviews, I evaluate people on how well they do tasks, move fast, show excellence in their personal lives, are solutions-driven, obsess about detail, maximize their environment and work with passion.