Everything I Wish I Knew About Hiring

Here is how I hire, listed in priority order.Bandwidth. I'm a snob for intelligence. I like to surround myself with people who are much smarter and faster than me. People who can juggle ten things at once, and handle curve balls. This is a requirement in an entrepreneurial activity, as by definition you are doing something new, so you have to learn... See more

As the Manager explained it to me, the hiring process was comprised of several distinct components: 1. A scripted presentation communicating the Boss’s idea in a group meeting to all of the applicants at the same time. This presentation described not only the idea but also the business’s history and experience in successfully implementing that idea

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Hiring is all about probabilities. When we evaluate a candidate, we are basically just trying to predict whether that candidate will be a success in the position being filled. We're trying to know the future, but we have no prophets and no Oracle.

Here are some of the best hiring heuristics I discovered this year:

• Good people speak in specifics: They can simultaneously look at the big picture and put their boots to the ground. When they zoom into the work, they’ll mention details you never even thought to consider. Beware of charismatic people who only speak in lofty abstractions. 

• Excepti

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