Where to start when recruiting for the first time
I am a team leader in a small development team. In the winter of 2018, one of our strong developers went on maternity leave. And I was faced with the problem of recruitment. I didn’t have experience in conducting interviews and finding a suitable candidate. All the knowledge that I was at that time was obtained at conferences, meetings, from discussions with colleagues or training courses that were mainly focused on staff development.
As in any company, we have an HR department that searches for candidates. But unfortunately, in the first months of the search we were not given a single candidate for an in-person meeting. At that moment, the book “Solve Your Problem Number 1” came to me . Jeff Smart, Ridley Street . As they say, after reading smart books, I began to write to all my acquaintances with the question: “Do you have an acquaintance whom you could recommend to our team”. I have to say, I was a little scary / not comfortable when I sent the first messages. But having received adequate answers and even a few recommendations, I realized that this is an effective way and a very good tool.
The book reveals the tools of search and selection of personnel for the A-method . A-method is to find the person who will strengthen your team. I advise you to read it, including because it contains effective tools. I will highlight only a few key points that I fully share and use to find an employee and work with the team.
The team has already experienced stress due to the departure of one person, and now it has to go through another one when we introduce a new person into our work processes. The team will go through again partly through the development cycle stages. New communications will be formed, new communications will be built. A mentor will have less time to develop for a while. About building horizontal connections in the team when adding a new employee, there was a good report on CodeFest from Roman Kvartalnikov “The problem of scaling a team. How to grow and not kill the team ":
')
As a Timlid, I really wanted this process to go through with less destruction and as quickly as possible. Therefore, I looked at each candidate through a prism: how he can strengthen the team and how it will fit into it .
In order to strengthen the team, it is necessary to define and formulate: what tasks will the new employee face and what results are expected from him, what competencies he should have. In determining the competencies will help proper instructions / profile and matrix of competencies.
If you are just familiar with this tool, look at the Iponweb report “ Team Matrix of Competences as a Timlide Tool” from Saint TeamLeadConf 2018 from Iponweb.
The matrix of competencies and job description just lays down the basis of the sheet of goals of the employee we are looking for. The following items must be indicated in it:
This tool can be used not only in the selection of personnel, but also in its development. For example, by connecting an employee to a new project, on which he can increase his expertise, you say what result and in what time frame you expect from him. What qualities he needs to develop to successfully solve the problem.
At that moment we could not find an employee with suitable competencies for our vacancy and began to look for a juna. Junior search is like a lottery. I want to believe that after training you will receive an effective employee. Therefore, the main criterion for me was the style of thinking and the ability to learn, including self-learning. We looked at how he solved the test tasks, why he chose this way of solving, whether he performed the initial testing, and on what data. What difficulties did I encounter when solving test tasks and how I overcame them? Considering the resources invested in the training of a new employee, I don’t want to lose a person in a year and a half. To assess this probability, it is necessary to connect HR, and find out how often and why a person has changed previous jobs.
The authors of the book offer a wide range of instrementov that can be used at the interview.
Together with HR, the manager, we found the right person for our team. How successful this experience is, it will show the end of the probationary period, but already now you can see the active position of the new employee and good learning ability, and have already joined the team.
Some tips from practice (on the A-method) that helped me cope with the task of recruiting an employee for the first time:
Search and hire people, not a resume. Good luck.
As in any company, we have an HR department that searches for candidates. But unfortunately, in the first months of the search we were not given a single candidate for an in-person meeting. At that moment, the book “Solve Your Problem Number 1” came to me . Jeff Smart, Ridley Street . As they say, after reading smart books, I began to write to all my acquaintances with the question: “Do you have an acquaintance whom you could recommend to our team”. I have to say, I was a little scary / not comfortable when I sent the first messages. But having received adequate answers and even a few recommendations, I realized that this is an effective way and a very good tool.
The book reveals the tools of search and selection of personnel for the A-method . A-method is to find the person who will strengthen your team. I advise you to read it, including because it contains effective tools. I will highlight only a few key points that I fully share and use to find an employee and work with the team.
“What is your strategy, the product that you produce, the services you provide. ... Who are the people you trust to do what. ”D.Smart, R.StreetThis thesis, which made me look at an already existing team in a different way:
- who are these people: as professionals and as individuals
- how they interact as a team
- what and why do I trust them
The team has already experienced stress due to the departure of one person, and now it has to go through another one when we introduce a new person into our work processes. The team will go through again partly through the development cycle stages. New communications will be formed, new communications will be built. A mentor will have less time to develop for a while. About building horizontal connections in the team when adding a new employee, there was a good report on CodeFest from Roman Kvartalnikov “The problem of scaling a team. How to grow and not kill the team ":
')
As a Timlid, I really wanted this process to go through with less destruction and as quickly as possible. Therefore, I looked at each candidate through a prism: how he can strengthen the team and how it will fit into it .
In order to strengthen the team, it is necessary to define and formulate: what tasks will the new employee face and what results are expected from him, what competencies he should have. In determining the competencies will help proper instructions / profile and matrix of competencies.
If you are just familiar with this tool, look at the Iponweb report “ Team Matrix of Competences as a Timlide Tool” from Saint TeamLeadConf 2018 from Iponweb.
The matrix of competencies and job description just lays down the basis of the sheet of goals of the employee we are looking for. The following items must be indicated in it:
- The main task
- Description of the expected result
- Professional quality
This tool can be used not only in the selection of personnel, but also in its development. For example, by connecting an employee to a new project, on which he can increase his expertise, you say what result and in what time frame you expect from him. What qualities he needs to develop to successfully solve the problem.
At that moment we could not find an employee with suitable competencies for our vacancy and began to look for a juna. Junior search is like a lottery. I want to believe that after training you will receive an effective employee. Therefore, the main criterion for me was the style of thinking and the ability to learn, including self-learning. We looked at how he solved the test tasks, why he chose this way of solving, whether he performed the initial testing, and on what data. What difficulties did I encounter when solving test tasks and how I overcame them? Considering the resources invested in the training of a new employee, I don’t want to lose a person in a year and a half. To assess this probability, it is necessary to connect HR, and find out how often and why a person has changed previous jobs.
The authors of the book offer a wide range of instrementov that can be used at the interview.
Together with HR, the manager, we found the right person for our team. How successful this experience is, it will show the end of the probationary period, but already now you can see the active position of the new employee and good learning ability, and have already joined the team.
Some tips from practice (on the A-method) that helped me cope with the task of recruiting an employee for the first time:
- Ask your friends, maybe they will help you find exactly that person.
- Make a list of goals. Describe what tasks your new employee will have to solve and what result you expect from him. Prepare several variants of the list, if you look at future colleagues with different levels of expertise.
- Be ready to let go of the candidate, you may not be suitable for him. Do not rush to close the vacancy, look for a specialist who can strengthen your team.
- Feel free to ask questions about fakapy. Use principle 5 why? Rephrase the questions, get to the true cause. You recruit a person, not a perfect resume.
- Make yourself a checklist with theses / conversation plan broken down by time, which will help you to discuss all the questions in the allotted time.
- Prepare a short presentation of your team / department. What do you do, what tasks do you decide, how are the processes arranged, and what are the relations in your team.
- Keep the atmosphere of trust in the conversation.
Search and hire people, not a resume. Good luck.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/444000/
All Articles