Category: Hiring

Categories
Distributed Teams Hiring Management

Hard Leadership Lesson

(Decorist : 11/18-12/19)

Challenge

In spite of multiple attempts to provide coaching over six months with repeated support and patience, realized team’s General Manager wasn’t working out as the technical peer/partner I needed for local representation.

Action

Given his importance, was wary of exiting him so did my best to coach him. After 6 months, realized the fit was never going to materialize and worked with local HR to exit him in an amicable fashion.

Then, worked with Manger’s line supervisor and Account Manager towards finding a replacement. Was delighted to find someone more technical, less traditionally represented in such roles, and seemingly eager to take on the challenge.

Worked with her for several months until she exited of her own accord.

Results

  • Replaced remote non-performant General Manager, twice.
Categories
Distributed Teams Hiring

Needle in a Haystack

(Decorist : 9/19-9/19)

Challenge

Kept receiving candidates sourced by onsite India HR more corporate than the startup profile actually needed for the team.

Action

Posted Technical Architect, Scrum Master, and Full-stack Django Engineer JDs to Linkedin India, then screened potential candidates.

Results

  • Paid ~$100 total for well-qualified Technical Architect (4/35) and Scrum Master (12/50+) applicants.
Categories
Hiring Management

Attracting Talent

(The RealReal : 9/16-9/17)

In the absence of a dedicated internal HR resource for technical recruiting, I led the initiative to attract Senior and Lead full-stack software engineers while carrying my multiple other responsbilities.

I turned to Hired, Indeed Prime, Hacker News, LinkedIn, Workable and third-party recruiters to source 100s of candidates. Given the sheer volume, I developed a keen eye to quickly screen and asess candidates for possible tech and culture fit (e.g. current/former titles, size of current org, number of years of experience, tech stack, etc.)

I developed code challenges for the roles, emphasizing frontend or full-stack skills as appropriate, and performed the initial phone screen (partly cultural fit, partly technical.) I then handed off to a Senior engineer for a further technical phone screen and if the candidate passed that, s/he was brought in for a full-day onsite with the team.

I coordinated the day’s pre-brief (who would ask about which topic area) and the de-brief (where the team would vote to move forward or not.) If there was consenus, I would begin the background check process while also working with HR and the CTO to determine the apporopriate amount of compensation and equity and get an offer letter drafted.

Lastly, I faciliated the team’s continual improvement around the interview process.

Results

  • Morphed generic job reqs into team-specific roles to attract candidates fitting tech stack and company culture; got to offer with six, closed one Sr. and one Lead Rails engineer, and kept team’s morale high when candidates declined.