Marc Cenedella, founder of Knozen, on "Recruiting Hacks"

Marc Cenedella

Recruiting Hack

I. How to source the right people

!

II. How to close the right person

Speaks native.

Memorable.

Connects with your audience.

Candidates are your audience.

Candidates are your customers.

Recruiting is a Marketing opportunity, not an HR problem.

1. Improve your lead funnel

• Visited your company’s own career page?

• Applied for a job on your own career page?

• Applied for your job on the public job sites?

• Applied for a job on your competitor’s site?

• Gone yourself (or your VP) to interview at your competitors?

Understand your customer’s experience to make it better.

2. Referrals

Word-of-mouth

50% of your hires

• We have an employee referral program.

• Celebrate each referral hire publicly.

• Reward HR for increasing referral success.

• Persistently ask each employee about their most recent referral.

• Ask reference checks for referrals.

Be shameless.

Candidates are your customers. How are you marketing to them?

!

I. How to source the right people

!

II. How to close the right person

“War”

Your most important position

Does your team agree on what you’re looking for from this hire?

“On the hiring side, we found that brainteasers are a complete waste of time. How many golf balls can you fit into an airplane? How many gas stations in Manhattan? A complete waste of time. They don’t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart.

Instead, what works well are structured behavioral interviews, where you have a consistent rubric for how you assess people, rather than having each interviewer just make stuff up.”

Laszlo BlockSVP, People Operations, Google

bit.ly/firstmark2014

@cenedella

Topgrading method

Topgrading CompetenciesIntelligence

Stress Management Likability

Accountability Selecting A Players

Vision Conflict Management

Resourcefulness Organization / Planning

& 42 more….

Prioritize

Make trade-offs

Topgrading CompetenciesIntelligence

Stress Management Likability

Accountability Selecting A Players

Vision Conflict Management

Resourcefulness Organization / Planning

& 42 more….

So that everybody is recruiting for the same behaviors.

Exclude the wrong candidates.

By never interviewing them.

Select the right people.

Past performance is the only guarantee of future success.

Interview specifically and deeply.

Interview behaviorally.

Not:

“Are you a team player?”

Instead:

“Tell me about a situation in which you felt others were

wrong and you were right.”

Not:

“Do you hire As?”

Instead:

“What have your two most recent teams looked like?

Grade each person A, B or C.”

Not:

“Are you a good leader?”

Instead:

“Which of your teams has been the biggest disappointment in terms of cohesiveness or effectiveness?”

Don’t ask about the attribute.

Ask about the moment of truth.

Ask about the behaviors.

Confirm they’ve done the stuff you all want them to do.

Live example: VP, Engineering

• Selecting A Players

• Tech Leadership

• Inspring Others

• Product Innovation

• Resourcefulness

• Team building

What’s your process for selecting technologies? !

When have you been burned by a technology choice?

For your last two products, what process did you use to build them? What was kept in / thrown

out? !

How did you manage feature requests from customers, developers, other executives? (Look

for prioritization and cut-offs)

What have your two most recent teams looked like? (A / B / C)

Exit

!

Candidates are customers. How are you marketing to

them? !

Confirm they’ve done the stuff you all want them to do.

Marc Cenedella

@cenedella