7 things I've learned about hiring
Happy Sunday!
I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and have gotten in at least one workout since your turkey coma.
One of my favorite parts about the holidays and extended time off is the time it affords for reflection. I always walk away with ideas for my business and renewed energy.
This week, I’ve written a few lessons that I’ve learned from placing several hundred freelancers in roles across the US. I hope you find them helpful.
☝️ But first … if you’re new here and found this interesting, please subscribe to this newsletter! I send one email weekly - no junk.
Before I get into it, I’ve linked Netflix’s culture deck here. This is a great example of what clear culture and expectation setting look like for new employees. We don’t have something this bonified at Bullpen yet, but I hope we do in the future.
7 Lessons I’ve learned about hiring
Deciding who to hire is hard but very important! Next to your spouse and children, you’ll spend more time with your co-workers than any other group of people. Who you hire will impact your happiness, stress, and financial success. Don’t take it lightly.
Culture matters a lot. Two of my personal values (and Bullpen’s corporate values) are openness and coachability. I’m a lover of deep, honest conversations, and I love when someone can teach me something new. This isn’t true of a lot of people, and these traits are hard to identify in an interview. People without these traits will fail in our organization.
Freelancers are not W2 employees and vice versa. A person who prefers to work on contracts will not last in a W2 role, and a person who prefers the comfort of employment won’t last in a contract role. These people are fundamentally different and bring different skill sets to your business. Treat them as such.
Poor performers rarely recover. Within the first few days of hiring someone, you’ll know if they have the potential of becoming an A-player in your business. However, nobody who has shown me they aren’t an A-player in the first few days has become an A-player in the future. It’s best to cut ties quickly and move on.
Reward the best - cut the rest. Both top performers and poor performers impact your culture equally. Reward top performers with public praise and financial compensation. When you know someone is not going to work out - offer them a generous severance package and move on.
Severanace is a great tool to guard your reputation as an employer AND minimize risk of legal action moving forward. Be the employer that offers generous severance. Netflix is famous for offering full severance for team members they release within a few days of hiring.
The quickest that I’ve released someone from our team is 31 days. I felt like I failed the person who was hired and was embarrassed that I made a “wrong” hiring decision. With the fortune of hindsight, I can confirm releasing this person was the right decision.
Top performers like good pay but NEED a great work environment. Some of the best talent in Bullpen’s network has offered to cut rates for the best roles. The culture and work environment that you create as an employer will determine your ability to retain top talent AND your payroll cost.
Beware of the job hopper. We’ve placed several job hoppers in roles, and 9 out of 10 times it has bitten us. Turnover is costly in both tangible and intangible ways.
That’s all for this week! If you’ve made it this far, do me a favor and share this with a friend who might like it - helps me out a great deal.
Let me know what you’ve learned about hiring in the comments.
✌️📤
Tyler
Founder @ Bullpen