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A brief algorithm for selecting a team for a startup

Made in collaboration with Anna Perova.


Due to the fact that in business often “one man in the field is not a warrior”, and in the IT field to create something meaningful the team (team) is the very tool and soul that create the product and allow it to live in life, each participant must share values ​​and strive for a common result. But these words are true, but the theory is available on the Internet and from the mouth of business development consultants. The important question here is "how." How exactly, with limited ability to quickly form a team? Why is he important? Yes, at least because ideas tend to grow old and leak to competitors, and without a team, fixed costs go, but there is no product generating income.


To solve this issue, we share a simple and practical scheme that works when collecting a team "to order" and, on the one hand, allows for a sufficient flow of candidates, and on the other hand, select the most suitable candidates among them, spending a reasonable amount of financial and mental forces.


Step one. Search for a leader


For a startup with a modest budget, it is especially important that the technology leader has more than five years of programming experience. You need a high-level professional with proven projects in this field and good recommendations.


Procedure. To get started, create a post about the position on social networks, send 5-7 to your friends and ask them to recommend someone to you. It worked? Fine! But do not hurry and hire the first good candidate. Be sure to compare it with 2-3 others. At the same time, it would be better if you make yourself an excel file with the parameters of each candidate and the results of the interviews - they will be guided by in the final selection and preparation of the proposal, and also help you select leading programmers.


Place your ad in Spark, as well as in thematic channels Slack. For example:



Using these methods, you will receive up to 10 resumes in the first week of the search.


And now, if the budget allows, it is useful to refer to the standard sites and place ads:



This method will allow you to receive up to 50 responses per week.


With a larger budget, you can turn to the help of recruitment agencies that specialize in the selection of IT specialists. Carefully choose an agency and recruiter. It is important that they have their own resume database, successful experience of closing similar positions, guarantees of free replacement, and of course - not too high price for closing a job in your startup. Please note that some agencies also make discounts on the selection of teams.


Step two. The choice of leader


Invite in one day to interview 3-5 interesting candidates for you.


Why in one day - the time limit organizes you yourself. During the interview, evaluate not only technical, but also personal qualities. You are not obliged to believe the word - during or after the interview, be sure to give a small technical task related to the real project.


If you have chosen the right search strategy, then 3-5 interviews should be enough to close the position. If you didn’t manage to make a choice after 3 interviews, it means that something went wrong. Review your selection criteria as well as your proposal. Who knows, you may not have reached the market wage level. Or maybe everything is very simple, and programmers just do not have enough graphics, shifted for 1 hour or corporate cookies?


According to standard statistics, after 5 interviews you will have 1-2 final candidates. We want to immediately warn you - do not waste your time, there are no ideal people. It is necessary to choose from the existing market, but carefully check the candidate, including, if possible, at previous places of work.


Make an offer and be sure to give the new Tech leader a task for a trial period. Fix it in writing. When the trial period comes to an end, it will help soberly assess the real level of the new employee and the work done. By the way, if you collaborated with the agency, then you can get a free replacement for 1 candidate, and save your time twice.


Step three. Search for candidates


As a literary but important digression, we can not fail to cite a passage from S. Parkinson on the rules for compiling announcements about the search for candidates:


If you think about it, you will see that the perfect ad will attract one person, and that one who is needed. Let's start with the extreme case:

"An acrobat is required, which can pass along a wire at a height of 200 m above the raging flame. You will have to walk twice a day, on Saturdays - three times. The fee is 25 pounds per week. Neither pensions nor compensation for injury will not happen. "Wild Cat" from 9 to 10 ".

Perhaps the syllable is not very good, but the goal is clear: you need to balance the risk of monetary gain so that more than one applicant does not appear. About the little things here do not have to ask. Those who are not very clever on the wire, the ad will not attract. There is no need to indicate that the applicant should be healthy, non-drinker and not prone to dizziness. It will understand without words. There is no need to say that people suffering from high altitude fear are not suitable. They will not come anyway. The art here is that the board matches the danger. 1000 pounds a week can lure ten people, 15 pounds will not lure anyone. Somewhere in the middle - the right amount, which will attract someone who suits. If two come, it means that we overestimated the figure.

The whole book "Parkinson Laws" is available on lib.ru.


The principle, I think, is clear. But let's return from jokes to our problems.


So, after you make sure that the technical leader understands the task, create a team selection plan with him (how many programmers do you need, with what technical skills; define 1-2 positions that should be closed as soon as possible). Be flexible, try to be considered professionals capable of performing cross-functional tasks.


Position descriptions should be as short as possible, clear and, of course, attractive to programmers.


An example of a working ad suitable for placement on Fb and Slack:


Hello! We are looking for Python developer / Data Scientist in a startup at an early stage, associated with Emotional Recognition. Machine learning / deep learning technologies. Investors from the Valley. CEO is an entrepreneur with good experience and experience in several projects.
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Conditions:
  • Remote work
  • Flexible schedule
  • 3-5 to $ / mo, options are possible

Be sure to leave your contact details.


If your proposal for z.p. below $ 3k - describe the possible reasons for choosing a job in your project.


Always keep in mind that good job search candidates consider 10-15 vacancies per day. Try to stand out from the crowd to get your ad noticed.


Step Four. Team gathering


When selecting candidates, you must follow a number of rules:



Step five. Productivity and productivity again


After your first three employees start working, you and the technical leader will need to make an effort to make the employees become a real team. The most important thing here is to realize that the team of programmers will become when they accept the general rules, they will understand the benefits that everyone will receive from the result of the work, and when everyone will act in accordance with the common goals.


It is difficult to select and organize a team of programmers. This is a difficult, but key process - without a team there will be no startup.


These 5 simple steps describe a simple algorithm, following which you can build a team with a minimum budget and bypass typical mistakes. Good luck!

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/322750/

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