Who by Geoff Smart, Randy Street

Geoff Smart and Randy Street run ghSMART, a management consulting company which maintains a database of thousands of business executives and which is then used to analyze different aspects of what makes executives and businesses successful. They noticed that unsuccessful hires are one of the most expensive mistakes ever made, costing, on average, 15 times the annual salary of the hired employee. Finding the right people is hard, and current average success rate in the industry is about 50%.

The main purpose of this book is to describe, in very practical terms, a step-by-step hiring process which is claimed to increase hiring success to 90%. Authors call it the “A Method for Hiring”, as opposed to the ad-hoc, unstructured, inconsistent “Voodoo Hiring” process which is usually used by companies.

The “A Method” consists of the following parts, which are described in great detail:

1. Scorecard: Structured definition of requirements which the current role has, and which define what does “being successful" means n this particular role. This is the primary tool for evaluation of candidates. It consist of three parts:
Mission: executive summary of the job’s purpose - why it exists
Outcomes: list of concrete, preferrably quantitative metrics which should be achieved in this role in order to be considered successful, e.g. “Achieve 25% annual growth during first year”, or “Deliver monthly forecasts that are 90% accurate”
Competencies: how the achievement of outcomes are expected to be fulfill, i.e. which qualities & skills the candidate must have in order to succeed.

2. Source: This part describes ways to find large enough pool of candidates through referrals, recruiters and researchers. One simple tip: when meeting talented people, ask “Who are the most talented people you know that I should hire?"

3. Select: Describes four interviews & which questions should be used in them:
The screening interview (phone screen), reduces pool to 2-5 candidates. 30min, 1 interviewer.
The Topgrading interview (f2f interview). Goes through the whole career in detail. 1,5-5h, 2 interviewers.
The focused interview. Interviews about specific competencies which are required in the role and described in the scorecard. 45min - 1h, 1-2 interviewers per topic.
The reference interview: conducting reference calls (bosses, peers, directs). About 7 calls.

4. Sell: Five ways to sell a deal to a candidate. Identifying and focusing on what’s the most important for particular candidate: Fit, Family, Freedom, Fortune or Fun.

This book has its fair share of hyperbole, but it also delivers some detailed, concrete content which can be readily applied to hiring process in companies both small and large. However, I feel that actually defining scorecard’s outcomes and competencies, especially in smaller companies and startups, might prove difficult in practice.