Hiring Scorecards Are The Path To GREAT GTM Hires
Hiring Scorecards Are The Path To GREAT GTM Hires
5 templates to get your started!
DEAR STAGE 2: We have 12 roles open across our organization right now and I’m spending the bulk of my time recruiting and interviewing. I’m noticing that referrals are surfacing some really interesting candidates but they often don’t match the role we originally scoped. We want to keep an open mind, but also know we need to hire the *right* folks for the needs we have in the short term. How can we best compare these candidates? ~HIRING MANAGERS EVERYWHERE
DEAR HIRING MANAGERS EVERYWHERE: Scorecards! There are a few topics embedded in this question from how to handle candidate referrals to how to compare a diverse landscape of candidates, but they boil down to the same thing. You need to get really clear on your hiring needs and build a system by which to evaluate candidates objectively.
Enter the scorecard.
At Stage 2 we are passionate about the use of scorecards in hiring processes and recommend that a scorecard is built for every role. I don’t want to bury the lead, so here are 5 templates that we include as part of our Catalyst program to get you started. Feel free to make a copy if it helps you get started!:
Now when it comes to putting these into practice, I reached out to Exec Recruiter, Sales Expert, and Stage 2 LP, Amy Volas, to share her perspective.
If you have done the work to assess the needs on your team and the competencies/skills/traits required to do it, take the time to formalize this work into a scorecard and make it a key part of your hiring process. Maximizing hiring ROI isn't about more people to interview. It’s about knowing what good looks like for your business and scoring smarter.
The “rules”:
Be honest with what is required v. nice to have. Absolute max of 10 competencies (and ideally more like 5-6).
Be Aware what is and isn’t trainable/teachable/coachable (this is the biggest driver of success in most businesses)
Be thoughtful in your preparation and take the time to write specific definitions for each competency and a rubric for the scoring to ensure alignment across the interview panel (example below)
Be consistent and fill the scorecard out after every single interview (ideally within a few hours while the interaction is fresh, max 24 hours). No one gets a pass.
Be thorough, but unique. Every interviewer rates on each competency, but is assigned specific ones to focus on to avoid having the same convo on repeat with the candidate and allowing you to dig deeper and learn more through the interview process
Be Realistic, there is no such thing as a perfect person. Refer back to what is truly required in your “must haves” and the weight each carries.
Candidate referrals can be an amazing way to source talent, but referrals can also take a lot of cycles that could be spent on more direct sourcing. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to say yes to every intro. Ask your network and cast a broad net, but then be thoughtful about where you go from there…we would encourage you to protect your time, create a filtering system, and assess each profile against your scorecard and in the context of where the candidate came from *before* taking the intro. If you decide an intro call/interview is warranted then trust your process and the scorecard you have implemented to determine fit!
Pro tip: While every referral may not be a fit, they could be a referral, potential customer, or future hire down the road. Keep the door open for the future and have language ready to use to respond to every referral.
We gave you a quick primer and some templates to get started here, but if you want to dig deeper into this topic, check out Amy’s deep dive for a VP of Sales here
Until next week!