Step 1: Figure out what kind of people you want to have in your team/project/company
Culture can evolve, but 1-10 employees can really dictate how it is shaped in the early days. Consider the impact of hiring people that you wouldn't go for a beer with, or that work remotely.
Step 2: Figure out how to make those kind of people excited by what you're doing.
We start interviews by briefly telling people about what we're building and why it's important, and by explaining our work process and culture. Find out how to tell your story to the right audience at the right time.
Step 3: Define what you care about at a high level
- General
- Interest in what we do
- Communication
- Curiosity
- Tech
- Learning
- Problem Solving
- Knowledge sharing (e.g. open source contribution)
Step 4: Identify core skills/strengths/criteria you want to prioritize for the role
- Required
- Bonus
- Javascript (4/5)
- Angularjs (2/5) - focus
- Reactjs (3/5)
N.B consider what a candidate may want to focus on in next role.
Step 5: Figure out where you can find candidates that don't apply to you
e.g. For developers we like to use Angel List, along with contacting people directly through forums. For other roles, such as designers, posting jobs can be effective, but you can find great passive candidates in other places (e.g. Dribbble).
Step 6: Figure out the simplest way to start conversations with relevant candidates
e.g. a simple landing/jobs page, with Email/Apply with Linkedin (or check out what we at Seed.jobs do to make this easier)
Step 7: Come up with an interview process that sells you, and lets you comparatively assess them
For more info on that, click here.
