Questions you should ask before hiring someone
Many people think that they need to hire people for their team because they are buried with work. I have the privilege of working with different business partners to build their company and team. So, I am constantly learning from different industry leaders and business owners thoughtful questions they ask themselves before making a hire. Below are some of my findings:
1.) Do you have enough work and budget to make this hire?
Have you built a business case around your hire? When it comes to a business case, you should have an idea of either how much revenue you are losing or failed to capture as a result of not having this additional person on your team. If the position you have in mind is more tactical in nature, you may want to ask yourself if you will expand your business so this position can evolve into a more strategic role. If not, will it make more financial and business sense to hire a freelancer instead? You can use this as a reference.
2.) Can you talk numbers?
One of the questions a good candidate will ask - "how is my performance measured?” Are you able to walk the candidate through your definition of a strong performance? For a marketing role, are you able to discuss in details your expected marketing or sales qualified leads metrics? If it is a sales role, are you able to discuss the historical performance of the territory against your expectations? Are they realistic expectations? If it is an operations role, what are the 30, 60 and 90-day plans you need this new hire to achieve?
3.) What’s so exciting about this role?
In other words, what is so important about this position? What impact do you expect this person to make? How will this position elevate this person’s career?
4.) Why should anyone work for you?
Besides being a nice, fun manager, what else can you offer your new hire? Have you developed someone into a manager before? What are you good at? And how will your strength complement your new hire’s weaknesses?
There are many more questions one should ask before growing your team. What are some of the questions you consider before making a hire? Please share in the comment section below.
