Hiring for dummies

14 simple steps to hiring bliss

Transcript

1. Hiring for dummies 14 simple steps to marital hiring bliss Kyle Bragger @kylebragger on the twitter 10/20/11 Thursday, October 20, 2011
2. Who I am • Started Forrst in 2009 (and Tinyproj in 2011) • Engineering background • College dropout • Beard enthusiast Thursday, October 20, 2011
3. Why I know what I’m talking about (sort of) • I’ve been on all 3 sides of the table (the math checks out, I promise) • I’ve worked for others’ companies • I’ve hired folks for my companies • Via Forrst + Tinyproj I have been the middleman, too Thursday, October 20, 2011
4. Hiring is hard • Cheap to vet an idea & start a new co • Anyone with programming chops can build a (shitty) prototype of something • Way less supply than demand, so... • How do you stand out? Thursday, October 20, 2011
5. Don’t write a shitty job post, that’s how • I’m not a ninja, rockstar, guru, shapeshifter, übermensch, telepath, etc. • I don’t care about bubble baths and free puppy day • I have a limited attention span and a natural bullshit filter • Tons of demand + limited supply means you need to sell me. Hard. Thursday, October 20, 2011
6. Win me over • Be really clear and up-front about the product and position • What problems are you facing? I want to talk about how I think I can help solve them • Pitch me without exaggeration or hyperbole • Tell me about salary, shares, benefits up front • Culture is huge. So is being realistic. • Make me feel pretty real ownership Thursday, October 20, 2011
7. Job posts 2.0 (that’s “two-oh”) • “Job Description” is lame - we can do better than that... Thursday, October 20, 2011
8. Try this on for size • What are you working on? • Why are you awesome? • Who are you looking for? • How are you compensating them? Thursday, October 20, 2011
9. Light reading • Stripe - http://news.ycombinator.com/item? id=3099362 - Awesome • Anything on forrst.com/jobs </plug> • Also good: http://blog.hirelite.com/warning- signs-in-a-non-technical-cofounder-ca Thursday, October 20, 2011
10. Thanks aka Q&A time • @kylebragger • kyle@forrst.com Thursday, October 20, 2011