How to Hire Low Experience, High Potential People

Here’s a quick outline of some of the things I’ve encountered: 1. Hiring T-shaped people versus specialists2. Try to get doers3. More candidate flow solves a lot of problems4. Interview for the actual work you’ll be doing, not skillset trivia5. Raw intelligence is just one factor – don’t overestimate it.

You want to find opportunities for talent arbitrage: for example, find people who are excellent at their craft but struggle at self-presentation or public speaking. Others will write them off before seeing what they have to offer — and you get to harness them for their skill while either hiding or improving their weaknesses.

You want to find opportunities for talent arbitrage: for example, find people who are excellent at their craft but struggle at self-presentation or public speaking. Others will write them off before seeing what they have to offer — and you get to harness them for their skill while either hiding or improving their weaknesses.

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