In my 20 years of working with founders on hiring, I have observed varying levels of their engagement in the recruitment process. This experience has taught me that hiring new employees is a crucial and human-first endeavor. It’s okay to have an extra set of eyes on it.
4 Tips for Stepping Away From the Hiring Process
- Decide which roles the founder will be more or less involved in and why.
- Communicate this to the new recruitment team and ask them to build a workflow accordingly.
- Evaluate the new process hire by hire to see what works and what doesn’t.
- Be prepared for the founder to conduct interviews for strategic hires.
At the same time, finding a reasonable balance is essential. Quality involvement from founders, rather than micromanagement, leads to more successful hires. Here are five things for founders to think about as they consider their role in the hiring process.
Should I Spend My Time on Hiring?
In the early stages of hiring, when building the founding team, the founder needs to personally hire to make sure the right people are brought on board. This approach is financially viable when the hiring needs are five to 10 people per year, particularly key talents like engineers and managers.
From an operational perspective, the founder’s task at this stage includes defining the company's cultural DNA, candidate profiles and onboarding steps.
If the founder starts to feel that recruitment is consuming most of their time, it’s essential to reassess the motivation behind such involvement. Does it bring operational or financial value? If not, it might be time to make a change.
What Happens When I Hire an HR Lead?
At this time, founders are faced with a question. Once an HR executive is on board, should you continue to participate in each decision-making process? Or should you delegate the full cycle, retaining the option to have final sign-off on each hire? It's important to answer this question honestly.
Stepping away from the recruitment process during a period of intensive growth could affect the quality of hires. Conversely, if the founder insists on being involved in every interview stage, the hiring process could take months or even years.
If the founder disconnects from the hiring process but still reserves the right to reject candidates at the final interview, it undermines the creation of an inclusive and diverse workplace.
In reality, the founder doesn’t need to take drastic steps, such as completely stepping back or taking control again. Instead, I recommend taking the time to build a unique and balanced process.
Who Understands My Vision for Team Building?
Misunderstandings can arise during interviews if the founder has been handling technical interviews personally for a long period and then steps back without clearly communicating the product's growth trajectory. Recruiters may follow standard procedures while the founder has a forward-looking perspective, especially for C-level positions.
The challenge is, then, to discern who can help convey the company strategy to candidates. Would it be the founder? CEO? COO? CTO? Teams should meet regularly to discuss the ongoing strategy. Recruitment teams should align their plans with the current market situation.
Does the Company Need My Help With Hiring?
Scaling and moving away from direct recruiting is the best time to ask recruiters: What can help us hire the best people on the market faster? My experience shows founders are exceptionally good at:
- Promoting employer brand values on social media and through public activities.
- Supporting the hunt for top talent using their network, referrals and personal touch. Founders often receive replies from candidates who don’t respond to anyone else.
- Setting informal meetings as part of the interview process. I have personally attended several interviews with founders in restaurants. This is a good practice to observe a candidate in a casual, everyday setting. Sometimes, the candidate’s life partner is invited, too. These meetings usually have a more relaxed atmosphere, allowing candidates to reveal unexpected sides of themselves.
- Sharing the story. Because no one can tell the company’s story better than the founder, storytelling by the founder is crucial when attracting important candidates. Additionally, creating a video about the company’s founding and sharing it with all candidates can help increase engagement.
Does My Company Have a Plan in Place?
A founder can’t step away from hiring unless the right mechanisms are in place. There needs to be dedicated HR and recruitment teams, and those teams must have sufficient networks and data. They need only report their work to the founder. Meanwhile, the founder will use this time to focus on new markets, fundraising, M&As and other business matters.
Planning these scenarios from the early years of the company will reduce difficulties, both personal and professional, when the founder steps away from hiring. When and if that happens is a call only the founder and their advisors can make.
