Notes on hiring

Interviews and Hiring Hiring involves all the managerial body parts: heart, soul, nose and gut (but mostly gut). Don’t try to do it alone — two guts are more than twice as good as one. Ask new hires to undertake one project at exactly the level of competence they have already proved, to defer real stretch goals till the next time. Ask for pointers:

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As I said, most companies and most interviews focus more on the question: can this person do what we need? But if you’re trying to recruit the best talent in the world, it needs to start with them. Who are they? What do they love doing? What are their ambitions? How does their past shape what they want for their future? What are they insecure about... See more

They looked for first principles thinkers, so not necessarily your experience, but how do you approach problems, how do you know the right questions to ask? And then create your own framework around that.

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Dropbox also hired for people that were just really humble, collaborative and team oriented. And the combination of those two things, p... See more

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.

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