No matter how careful and methodical you are in the interview process, you can’t expect to be right 100% of the time. In fact, trying too hard to be perfect can actually lead to corporate paralysis. At least, that’s what Alan Etterman of JDS Uniphase thinks. I have to agree. No matter how careful you are you will still make mistakes from time-to-time, and you shouldn’t get “paralysis of analysis.”

Nevertheless, I think the tendency for most entrepreneurs is to not be methodical enough and go too quickly through the hiring process. Slow down and  wait until the best candidate is revealed by a thorough and methodical process.

Etterman shares other useful tips, you should read the article. One in particular I liked was this:

I have two other rules I follow when I’m hiring: Hire people who do what you don’t like to do, and hire people who have passion for what they do. When I look at the good hires or the great hires, they are people that I hired who were smarter than me to start with or people who have surpassed my ability in a specific area.

I definitely agree with him on these two tips. There are many areas in business and technology where I do not excel, but I recognize that these are important skills or categories where a successful venture needs talent, leadership, and dutiful attention applied consistently. For example, if you are not an organized person, try to look for people with strong organizational skills.

As I wrote last time, your next hire is supremely important. Last question was “ Does she care deeply about the end-user or the customer?” Here is the last of five questions I ask, as a technical entrepreneur, when I am considering whether or not to hire someone.

[5] Does he know when to ask for help?
This is one of those questions you need to find an answer for, but sometimes is hard to ferret out during an interview. If you ask the question if the candidate, most likely the answer will be “Yes.” It is a question of balance and can be subjective. It is definitely one to ask of references for the candidate. I have had hard and diligent workers who work independently to a fault. He doesn’t ever ask for help until he is well down the wrong road and beating his head against the wall. I have also had dependent personalities that stop by my office 15 times a day to update me on what they are doing and to ask a question. Neither extreme is healthy. I want someone who is always ready to give me a status when I stop by or shoot me an email looking for my input on the path they are taking and the challenges they are encountering. That is when I feel most productive as a manager: making it easier on my employees by sharing a tip or a bit of wisdom with them because I know the answer or how to find it. Or, if I don’t know, I can pay to get them in touch with someone who can help them. Another of my favorite interview questions: “How do you like to keep your manager informed about the status of your projects?” and “How did your last manager help you the most?” or “How do you like to be helped?”

These are questions I ask prospective employees and their references. I hope it helps you hire someone who helps your business grow and be ever more successful!

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As I wrote last time, the small business owner cannot afford to make too many hiring mistakes. The first place to start is with your next hire. Last question was “Is he ever in doubt?” Here is the fourth of five questions I ask, as a technical entrepreneur, when I am considering whether or not to hire someone.

[4] Does she care deeply about the end-user or the customer?

This is a tremendous question, especially for technical hires. Of course, if you ask almost anyone this question they will answer “Oh, of course!” However, we all know that the character trait of empathy is not so prevalent - especially among smart geeks. Here is why it is so important: companies who do not care about their customers typically don’t stay around too long. Certainly small companies don’t. Small businesses struggle when key people have no empathy for the customer or end users of their products. If you care enough about your next hire to have read this far, then I bet your next hire is key. At one time, I had several programmers who I discovered (after I had hired them) that they really wanted to just stay in their office like a cocoon and be sent tickets or tasks to accomplish and didn’t really want to deal with listening to a griping salesperson or customer. That might be okay for some companies, but not mine. I make my programmers deal with their customers and get on the phone with end users. There is nothing that will clear your sinuses quite like dealing with someone who uses your software or product in her day-to-day workflow and is hating that new feature you just released. Conversely, there is nothing so exhilirating and personally rewarding as getting kudos on the telephone from someone who loves the way you fixed that new feature and how it helps her so much in her day-to-day tasks! Every programmer should spend a day or two twice a year, at least, at a customer site. It does wonders for their attitude and usually is well worth the time and expense. I want someone who cares about the customer as much as I do. I will let other managers hire the ones that don’t. Another of my favorite interview questions: “Do you enjoy rolling up your sleeves and working side-by-side with end users?” Again, the answer itself and the body language will tell you all you need to know about this candidate.

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As I wrote last time, for entrepreneurs, the next hire might represent and inordinately large percentage of his staff (perhaps up to 50%). Each hire is crucial. Last question was “Is she in love with learning?” Here is the third of five questions I ask, as a technical entrepreneur, when I am considering whether or not to hire someone.

[3] Is he ever in doubt?

My father always had a clever way a describing someone that is hard to be around, much less hard to work with. He used to say: “That guy may be wrong, but he is never in doubt.” If I detect this in a candidate, it elicits an immediate “Next!” (in my thoughts) and I will not spend another moment thinking of hiring him. Humility really is a virtue in business, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I am not talking about constant self-deprecation, or passivity, or quietness. Only the person with a good self image and who is secure about himself is able to admit he might be wrong and not be too worried about the rest of us discovering it. A favorite question I like to ask in an interview is “Tell me about the last mistake you made as an employee.” The answer itself, and the body language employed while delivering it, tells me everything I need to know about his humility and self confidence.

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Questions 1 , 2 , 3, 4 , 5

As I wrote last time, for entrepreneurs, the next hire might represent and inordinately large percentage of his staff (perhaps up to 50%). The small business owner cannot afford to make too many hiring mistakes. The first place to start is with your next hire. Last question was “How much will I have to manage him?” Here is the second of five questions I ask, as a technical entrepreneur, when I am considering whether or not to hire someone.

[2] Is she in love with learning?

I am looking for a “hungry” worker. One with an insatiable appetite for learning new and better ways to do things. She needs to demonstrate a desire to constantly keep up with the trends in her discipline. If I get the idea that she is not supremely interested in her field or discipline, I know that she will never be a great employee. She might make a fine, solid, employee at company X, but not at my company. I want someone who strives to be the best they can be and takes real pride in their work. I want avid learners. I love to learn, and I want an employee who is constantly teaching me new and interesting things as well. An employee who is not constantly trying to learn will never make you much money, and might even cost you money. A favorite interview question I have is: “What are you reading these days in your field?” or “What websites, newsgroups, blogs, etc., are bookmarked in your favorites?”

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One of the most critical decisions you can make that will, more than just about anything else, determine the success (or lack thereof) of your company or department is who you surround yourself with. For entrepreneurs, the next hire might represent and inordinately large percentage of his staff (perhaps up to 50%). The small business owner cannot afford to make too many hiring mistakes. To use a baseball analogy - you really need to be hitting doubles, triples, and home runs with your hires as opposed to mere singles, or worse: strikeouts.

The first place to start, if you aim to do better, is with your next hire. If you are on the other side of this, and are looking to land a great job, this time you invest in reading this article will be worth your while. What follows are the top 5 questions I ask, as a technical entrepreneur, when I am considering whether or not to hire someone.

[1] How much will I have to manage him?

Time is money, and the more time I believe I will have to invest in making sure he is productive, the less likely I am to hire him. Earlier in my career, I doubt I would have hired myself. I truly am thankful a few kind souls did take a chance and were patient with me. Looking back, I had to be managed prescriptively. If you told me what to do next, then next, then next, I would happily set about doing that and usually had enough ability to either accomplish it on my own or with a little help get it done. Write me a prescription, and I would fill the order. If you have too many employees like the early career me, though, all you will do is spend your time saying “Are you finished, let’s see what you’ve done…Go back and fix this and then come back to me when you are finished. Or, good work, now the next thing you need to do is this.” So, what’s wrong with that? I would much rather manage someone who can take a task and not only complete it, but also

• Work efficiently, taking care to be rigorous and thorough.
• Double-check his own work and doesn’t leave it to others (e.g. his manager, the QA department, or the customer).
• Avidly look for productive things to do to try to help the business in the meantime while waiting for a chance to review his work with his manager.

When I was a still living at home as a young teenager, my dad would ask me to help him with yard work. He knew he couldn’t load me up with several tasks in my queue, because I would merely forget what he said after task #1 left his mouth. But if he didn’t watch carefully and check often on me to see if I was done, or working diligently, then I might just operate at 10% efficiency. Or, I might finish the task and then start shooting hoops rather than coming to get the next task in the queue. As a father of four, I now understand the frustration he went through! Some people never graduate beyond this early teenager mode. Oh, they get a little more polished in their approach, but if they get their work done they are busy surfing the net or doing something unproductive until you make the time to check on them. Here are the questions I ask the prospect that helps me determine the answer to my underlying question: “Can you show me some of your previous work (or describe it) and describe how it evolved over time and through iterations?” If he doesn’t have a good answer here filled with interest and passion then he might still be a good employee - for someone else. This can work even for new graduates. I look for people constantly working on their own projects or excited about projects they did at school. The answers and the body language tell quite a tale to me.

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