15 Resources for Hiring an All-Star Team When building your business, every link added to the chain should be equally as strong as the one before.
By Paul Jun
This story originally appeared on Help Scout
When you're laser-focused on growing your company, you can't hire just anyone.
You need a team of all-stars -- people who can take your business to the next level and help shape the kind of organization you want to become.
"If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs," said the original "Mad Man," David Ogilvy. "But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants."
At Help Scout, we have a rigorous hiring process to ensure that everyone hired possesses both the skills and attitude for our overachiever culture. Ability and character must go hand-in-hand.
We know hiring isn't easy, but we believe it is fundamentally important to any company. Here are 15 resources to help you attract -- and hire -- the all-star employees you're looking for.
1. Recruiting -- the third crucial startup skill.
As a five-time entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, David Skok shares a generous deep-dive into the important components of hiring.
2. If you don't think you need it, you haven't seen greatness.
Possibly one of the truest statements I've ever read on hiring, Joe Kraus, two-time entrepreneur and partner at Google Ventures, shares a personal story about an experience that caused this revelation.
3. Your content strategy is also a recruiting strategy.
I knew I wanted to join the Help Scout team the moment I saw the blog. Publishing great content creates a positive impression on both customers and potential job candidates.
4. Crafting interviews.
Receiving resumes and filling the pipeline isn't the hard part; the interview process is where the magic may or may not happen. Cap Watkins, vice president of design at Buzzfeed, outlines some key steps that are helpful for interviewing.
5. I've worked with hundreds of recruiters -- here's what I've learned.
From the First Round Review, here's a guide to help you navigate the process of finding a great recruiter.
6. Imbalanced people.
Jason Cohen, author and founder of WP Engine, argues for quality over quantity: "A great developer, or a great designer, is better than 10x an average one — they're better than an infinite number. Because they'll come up with ideas and implementations that 100 others wouldn't."
7. How to make hiring less of a headache.
Help Scout's Greg Ciotti shares insights from entrepreneurs and helpful tips on job descriptions, interviews, culture, and remote work.
8. How to hire.
Sam Altman, entrepreneur and president of Y Combinator, gives generous advice on the multiple components of hiring and how to do all of them effectively.
9. Organizational bebt is like technical debt -- but worse.
Veteran entrepreneur Steve Blank explains why onboarding, training, and building a team requires a fresh approach and a careful look for a fast-growing company.
10. Hire less and hire later.
A chapter from 37signals, they admonish that even with access to a reservoir of talent, there is no need to get big fast. Take time to build your team thoughtfully, and your business will be better for it.
11. How to hire a remote team.
From a chapter out of Zapier's Ultimate Guide to Remote Work, here are fantastic insights for building a remote team.
12. Why we prioritize hiring people who use our product.
Leo Wildrich, CEO of Buffer, shares the four key components that he looks for when building his team.
Also worth reading: How We Hire at Buffer.
13. Focus on specifics when interviewing.
A short, punchy post by Sam Altman on why it's important to ask for specifics rather than generalities of expertise and knowledge.
14. Onboarding and the cost of team debt.
Team debt occurs when employees aren't properly onboarded, integrated, and managed. This essay by Kate Heddleston, a software engineer, is based on a talk that she gave at the RailsConf 2014.
15. The simple numbers that could change how you hire.
Eric Feng, CTO at Flipboard Inc., details how he led Hulu to draw 43 million unique viewers a month, not only through his leadership and technical skills, but also because of how he hired.
When building your business, every link added to the chain should be equally as strong as the one before. Spend time developing a method for hiring; it's of profound importance to building and growing your best team.
