Hiring Serenedipity
At an early startup (20 employees), nearly all key employees come through referrals. Startups grow through concentric circles - people the founders know, followed by people the investors and early employees know, followed by friends of friends, etc.
This type of hiring takes time and effort but yields trusted, committed team members that grow with the company. There are few better ways to hire, but every now and then hiring serendipity happens - a star finds you through an unexpected channel.
A great developer saw our Craigslist post and dropped us an email on Thursday. We phone screened on Thursday, did our first round of interviews on Friday. We gave him an offer on Monday, by Tuesday he accepted and today he started (Wednesday). I keep pinching myself - he is incredibly smart, very driven (gets things done) and a great fit with our team (not to mention that I was out Thursday and Friday and our dev team made sure this moved so quickly).
Which gets me to my second point. When a rockstar walks through your front door, get him in your company as fast as possible.
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[…] the stars align, the hiring decisions are obvious, but most are not as clear. Online recruitment channels are inherently noisy, phone interviews are […]