Ryan Daniel Moran outlines three requirements for hiring A-players: hands-on experience doing the job, an existing network you can tap, and genuine passion for your company's vision. You need to know your direction and role expectations before you even start interviewing.
Hiring a players. I mean, I only know this from making a lot of hiring mistakes. Three things all I care about, have they done it before? Do they come with a Rolodex of people to get us closer to where we want to be? Like, one of the things I like to ask in an interview is who's the first call gonna be to your network when you run into a challenge or you're building out this initiative or this marketing process? Who is the person you're gonna call? Who's the affiliate that you're gonna bring on board? So have they done it before? Not are they gonna grow into it, but have they done it before? And this is a layup to them, who's in their network that they're gonna call on? So do they have a Rolodex of people? And are they super passionate about what it is that we are up to? Which, by the way, requires me to. To be able to communicate where it is that we're going and what we're up to. So that, to me, some people call it culture fit. I don't look for culture fit. I look for are they super passionate about what it is that we are doing as far as the vision of the company? Because that is the culture. The culture is we are all on this boat moving forward together. So have they done it before? Not can they grow into this? Might they be okay? No, I'm looking for the person who's done it. Do they come with a Rolodex of people and are they super passionate about what we're up to? That is all I care about in terms of bringing on good people. And that requires me to have two things. To know where we are going and to know exactly what I want out of the role. What do I want out of the person? Too many people say I just need help, so I'm going to get somebody. If you're not clear before you ever interview somebody of what that role is going to be, who they need to know, what they need to be passionate about and what they need to have done before you are not ready to hire that person. So if you are making hires to me from somebody who has just gotten it wrong long enough to know what not to do, those are the only things I care about in terms of bringing on new players.
