Hiring Process

In 2018 I was contacted by John Ragsdale from TSIA as they had heard that our Customer Success team was doing some great things with employee engagement, we talked through a whole host of topics but something that stuck in his mind was our 3 stage hiring model. (4 stages for senior/leadership hires). The process is simple, but John liked it so much that he included a section of this in his keynote speech at that years TSIA conference. 

The model we use works well because it starts with getting the basics covered to thin the list of candidates immediately. The process then has the interviews become more detailed ending with a technical or experience assessment. 

Stage 1

The initial call 

Probably the most important step in the process, this gives both parties time to discuss the role & requirements as well as the candidates background. This should be there majority of drop outs happen. Even if you have a recruitment team or agency, this conversation needs to be owned by the hiring manager before we move to the more formal interview stages. This is a great chance to filter out candidates who dont understand the specific requirements, or dont meet exact criteria. Its also an opportunity for the candidate to get a true feel of what will be the day to day job and they can decide if this is still right for them. 

Stage 2

The interview

Face to face where-ever possible and with a panel of people that will be stakeholders to the role. The hiring manager should of course lead this but it could include Sales/Account management, Product teams or others in the Customer Success team. Anyone that will interact regularly with the hire. Each person provides yes/no feedback along with their reasons behind their decision. 

Stage 3

The capability test 

This is dependant on the role, but is effectively a test of their skills required to do the job. For Customer Success it could be a case study with a Success Plan, or Professional Service could be configuration on a product. Candidate is given a few days to go away to work on the test and then present back findings.

Stage 4 (for Leadership or senior roles) 

Meet the exec

This extra step is for leadership roles or very senior members of the team. The benefit of this step is to give the preferred candidate an opportunity to speak to the Executive leader to gain trust in their decision to join us. This stage is just as much about selling the role to the candidate as it is the candidate pitching to us. They can find out about the strategic direction, hear about the passion we have for Customer Success and innovation. The Exec will also be looking for further leadership potential in the hire. We want every person joining to be a future leader.