Sweetness from Mark Suster at Both Sides of the Table (just replace company with team, and this could easily be all the hero hiring managers who don't have time to hire rather than startup tech wizards):
"Your number one priority isn’t any of these things. Your highest priority right now is hiring the 1 or 2 people that are going to join your company and make a difference. There’s you and your killer CTO co-founder. But who else is going to get out there and close your big biz dev deals with you? Who’s going to help you with improving your marketing / positioning to become a clear platform category leader like Twilio?
Are you going to do all of this? Evidence over the past year would suggest otherwise. You have too much on your plate.
A few key people really can make a huge difference.”
Him: “I know, I know. I will start recruiting soon. But I need to get our next release out the door. I just don’t have enough time to focus on it right now. It will be a bit easier when we have a little more progress to show.”
Me: “Bullshit. It never gets easier. There are always the next 20 tasks. The reason you’re not getting to the next level is that you’re not prioritizing the precise thing that could take you to the next level. I would say recruiting at least one superstar would be your priorities 1,2 & 3.”
Sound familiar?
This is so true. The kicker is that with the right team in place these companies could reach a whole new level of efficiency.
Posted by: SteveB | May 16, 2011 at 11:45 AM
Sure, hiring can be laborious, especially in the Hi-Tech field where you have a bunch of folks who may fear talking to people (or are at least uncomfortable with it). It involves a lot of context switching and requires great attention to detail.
I, too-also-as well, throw the bullshit flag on the "I don't have time to hire" thing. It's another manifestation of "I'm so busy I don't have time to stop and think" trap which may result in everyone working their ass off on the wrong thing. That's a sad one to watch.
and you can't just toss it over the wall to the recruiter, you have to be engaged.
--M
Posted by: Matt Landrum | May 16, 2011 at 01:32 PM
Great post - in our world this is the single biggest challenge when working with startups..recruiters need to get to know their managers and work one on one with them to find a solution that works...which takes time and patience. Lots of patience...
Posted by: Tara Gowland | May 19, 2011 at 01:01 AM
With this issue becoming more prevelant many organizations have turned to video interviewing as a solution.
Users of video interviewing have come to realize that video interviewing saves time and money. What they are also finding and most importantly is the fact that video interviewing provides the most effective tool to find the candidates who best fit the organizations and will enable growth and push the business forward.
To view research by The Aberdeen Group:
http://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=lobby.jsp&eventid=285283&sessionid=1&key=851FDC0B437067BCAC4612F837850C3D&eventuserid=47467536
For the premier provider in video interviews:
www.hirevue.com
Posted by: Leilani Ho | May 26, 2011 at 12:37 PM
The credit loans suppose to be important for people, which are willing to start their career. As a fact, that is very easy to get a student loan.
Posted by: Mack30Lora | March 23, 2012 at 12:48 AM