Recruiting and hiring for startups; an entrepreneur's guide. Prepared with love for Endicott College's entrepreneurship course in Boston, MA.

1. People,
Culture and Passion for
entrepreneurship
“No one told me I had to find, recruit, hire and lead teams after I started a company.”
Prepared with love for Endicott College’s Entrepreneurship Course
@MarieBurns: Startup Talent Management, People Ops, Org Dev & Founder at TalentAmp

2. Ready. Set. Braindump.
• INTROS: Who are you? Wait, who the heck am I?
• Opening rants.
• Exercise on VALUES (yep, you get to join).
• People & data. Does it match?
• Build before they come
• Tool-time (Shhhhh) - Secret Shhtuff
• Process
• Job Descriptions – or something like that
• The Candidate Experience
• Interviewing, Segmenting & Questions
I’ll be talking really fast. Interrupt at any time.
You’re entrepreneurs, you can handle it.

3. FOR THE LOVE of EXPERIENCE
Anyone hired employees or interns?
Been part of a hiring process as a team or decision maker?
How did you do it?
Did you define a strategy?
Was it as easy as you expected? Any examples of success?
Any challenges?
*Note, the class had little-no success with few ideas how to accomplish the
sourcing, recruiting and hiring process. (not shocking)*

4. EXERCISE:
THE RIGHT OF HIRING PASSGE
1. Take 10 minutes, pair up with the person sitting to your right.
2. You are both co-founders.
3. Together create and agree on 5 values you want your future
employees to embody.
2. These main values could also be your company values.
4. We’ll discuss traits and characteristics after task accomplished.
I’m here to help; no wrong answers.
This is internal to you and your future (or current company).

5. EXERCISE EVALUTION TIME…
1. Collectively write our values down.
2. How do you determine if someone has X?
3. If you want these traits, how do you ensure these people will stay?
What do you offer that no one else does? What is your “game-
changing factor” that NO ONE else can touch?
FIND THAT.
Ready. Set. Talk.

6. NEVER FORGET THIS SIMPLE FORMULA.
Identified market + strong team + product = success
Anything above – strong team =
failure.
This spans the time of history. Companies fail when they
forget about their people. Or lack one of the above pieces.
Who can think of some of the biggest doozies in history?
There are so many; let’s start with the first automobiles.

7. COST OF A BAD HIRE IN STARTUP - LAND
It’s not just losing the “ 20-55% of a first year salary” depending upon the data you’re
reading. It’s sadly much worse, especially for startups or smaller mid -sized sized
companies.
I’ve witnessed an IMPLOSION of too many startups: no additional
funding, never got the legs to grow, and employees left in despair.
Basically a “goodbye dream”. Over 50% could have been controlled
had they taken better care of their teams. Somehow people still
blame the hire, and don’t look in the mirror or today’s inefficient
management practices. I say a shift has occurred, but that’s my own
take (and I live in startup – land which is different than the rest). I can
easily say it’s at least 50/50 and something needs to change, so let’s
start now.
It’s sad to watch some of the most fascinating ideas take a nose dive because
companies can’t build teams, or don’t understand the value of their own people.
Luckily soon they’ll have to.

8. CULTURE
What is it?
Company Personality. Heart & Soul of a company. And...(your turn).
What does culture mean to you?
This is all you. Close your eyes and imagine what it looks like.
How do you maintain it?
What would you put in place to protect it? What lengths would you go to – to
keep it? Or do you strive for different values?
No wrong answer.
What is important to employees today?
What do people care about today? Money? Social good? What
do you want? What do your friends want?

9. HOW TO DO THIS THING CALLED
RECRUITING & HIRING STARTUP PEOPLE
(let’s start by finding ‘em)…
*Disclaimer*
I’m not going to give you the typical bs answer “Oh, we get
everyone through referrals”. I agree this works for a while,
but then why does everyone call me and my talent buddies
for referrals (for favors of course)? Things that make ya go
“hmmm”.

10. First Define the WHY & WHO
The Why
Core Values: What are key factors critical to the success of the organization? What behaviors will
we exemplify? What do we want to be known for?
Mission: What is our purpose? Why do we exist? What do we do and for whom?
Vision: Where are we headed? Our future purpose? What do we exist for?
BHAG: Anyone know what this is? Discuss. Overall, GO BIG OR GO HOME!
The Who
PEOPLE: Personas, profiles, characteristics, who you are, why you’re here, & meshing together.
Key Cultural Functions
Communication: 1:1’s, Stand-up, Town Halls, Weekly company gatherings. Environment: flex, in-
office, hours, casual, connected. Team structure: hierarchy, flat. Learning: Edx, Hacks,
Innovation days, Skillshare, GA, lunch-n-learns. Growth: career paths, cross department
opportunities. Fun: beer o’clock, ping pong, off-sites, social time, sports teams. MISC: employee
recognition, social good, nap time, yoga and so much more.
THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS – IT’S YOURS TO OWN. YOU WILL NEVER DO ANYTING MORE
FULFILLING THAN CREATING A CULTURE YOU’RE PROUD OF.
BUILD YOUR OWN MANIFESTO.

11. THEN, Holy Free Recruiting Shhtuff
Step 1: Sign up for Connectifier, & Prophet on RecruitingTools.com (A+), couldn’t live w/out
Some tried, some new (ok, many) Talent Management products I keep organized
on ProductHunt.com (slight obsession).
• Referrals folks! Pull at your networks’ heartstrings with the “I’m an entrepreneur with an
amazing idea” card. Tell your story (but be genuine and don’t bs your way through).
• LinkedIn for profile finding  Connectifier OR Prophet (locates their email). BOOM. Lippl,
gotta have it.
• Email Tracking: Streak or Sidekick (watch who opens/notate to follow up with cool content
in 3 days)
• Tweetdeck, Followerwonk, Socialbro, Riffle - FIND PEEPS ON TWITTER
• Social Hire (another A+) easy Boolean search on many sites (you’ll get the hang of it non-
recruiters)
• Sources for startupers: Angelist, Startuply, Alumni, Alumni Groups, Meetups for STARTUPS,
Wikipedia authors, Conferences for Entrepreneurs, Bootcamps, Incubators, Patents (online
databases), sharing economy (yes, there are groups that hang out w/other smarties)
• College: Internmatch, Looksharp, http://www.hiremastudents.com/ (Go Beantown)
• Collaborative: Elance, Odesk, Wonolo, HourlyNerd
AND THAT’S JUST A FEW. NO NEED TO OVERWHELM.

12. The Job Description Rules & Errrr…
1. Tell a story!
2. Be authentic. Be bold. Do something different.
3. Tell your audience why it will be interesting and challenging.
4. Make is less than 300 words
5. Content is king – add cool links.
6. Don’t ask for too much. Know what you need.
7. Add perks like flexibility, options, ANYTHING that is interesting to your target
audience.
8. Ask them questions. Cover letters are lame. Why don’t you actually get to know
things about them you want?
9. OR, go TOTALLY outside the box and do something different. Job descriptions are
pretty lame.

13. Hiring Process? Just Do It & Win vs Lose.
• ONE person should own each job and block 2 hours daily to focus on this if it’s urgent.
• Must optimize time with candidates. Keep up with today’s market!
• Develop core competencies, process and evaluation method.
• Evaluate their skills/craft first & foremost during phone interview; culture fit at 40%.
• Directly after first phone screen, give the candidate an assessment/exercise. *Do NOT
forget to assess their motivating factors for being the “right fit” (quick chat about
psychological motivating factors and profiling – to make sure they STAY)
• A candidate should never be in more than once if not a skills fit. **They shouldn’t actually
make it in the door if they don’t pass a quiz/assessment/test**
• There should be no more than 4 interviews in your process, including your phone screen.
Process should be no longer than 2 weeks. 1.5 weeks optimal.
• If candidate is not a cultural fit, they shouldn’t make it past the first in-person round.
EXAMPLE #1
• Phone Screen
• Exercise
• Interview 1
• Interview 2
EXAMPLE #2
• Phone Screen
• Interview 1
• Interview 2 + Exercise Presentation
• Interview 3 + Outing/lunch/drinks
AND MAKE THE
OFFER!
Win with timing,
or you’ll lose
almost every time
(don’t take my
word for it.

14. I know, details and process don’t always make us happy, but we want
success. Block the time and reap the rewards of the success you get by
building a great team….the one others didn’t have time for.
1. The Job Owner (determined early on) is in charge of dividing
interviewer responsibilities for each member of the interview
team.
2. Each member of the interview team should assess different:
skill sets related to the job, behavioral question answers and
cultural fit
3. This should be accomplished before anyone ever takes a
phone call with a candidate.
REMINDER: SKILLS, COMPETENCIES, CULTURE (CORE VALUES) = getting as
much info as possible from a potential hire in as short a time allotted.
& MORE Process: Segment Your Interviews.

15. • The way you treat a candidate (ie, a human being) from point A-
Z during an interview process is probably the most important
thing you can do to give yourself a leg up – and just to be a
decent human being. Hmmm….novel concept these days.
• Regardless if they are a fit, you want every person who comes in
your door to have a good experience.
DO IT: Get back to every candidate. I promise you, one day
you’ll have an epiphany – everyone does.
• Have to say it: interviewing is like dating. It’s the little things. I
would happily list out 10 things to try, but, you may be either
snoring or smiling inside yourself by now. Either way, be good
to all potential employees who cross your path.
XOXO (Ok, please don’t write that.).
The Candidate Experience

16. Disclaimer (hope that’s apparent by now): Create YOUR questions based on your values,
competencies and desired skills. I just like these so I can dig a little:
1. If you had a blank piece of paper and could create your ideal
career, what would it look like? What 3 things would you look to emphasize for
professional growth? (What do they really want & is it the job you’re discussing?)
2. What are you most passionate about professionally? Personally? (Passion. And, is
it in line with your criteria?)
3. What is the most difficult situation you’ve overcome recently either in your
professional or personal life? (Are they a little nutty? Might they ramble for 10+
min – HELLO therapy!)
4. What was your relationship like with your last boss? Stop and be silent until they
break it. What would you like to see different in your next manager relationship?
(Professional or not?)
5. If the world had an unknown future, and you could have any superpower, what
would you pick and why? (Humanity, creativity and thinking on feet)
BTW, www.sourcecon.com is a fantastic go-to for all things recruiting and “finding”
people. See these questions – and many more things to slide you down a rabbit hole.
My Top 5 Questions + Sourcecon Linkage

17. Prepare, take ownership & accountability, be respectful and
know what you want. Doesn’t sound all that bad, does it?
Last words of wisdom: don’t taking team building or
hiring for granted. It will be one of the hardest things
you ever do as a business owner.
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS? STRANGE LOOKS?
@marieburns
LinkedIn
Voila! I’ve heard my voice enough,
today. (Wait, did I say that?). Totally.