The Hiring Memo: Every hire we make has risk and upside, just like an investment. A Hiring Memo - similar to an Investment Memo - helps drive clear thinking, manage risk and activate upside. HERE IS HOW TO USE IT: --- Origin: The Investment Memo can be traced back to 1956 when a partner at Goldman Sachs submitted a memo to Sidney Weinberg - aka "Mr. Wall Street" - to advocate for the establishment of Wall Street's first marketing arm for investment banking. The idea itself was cutting edge at the time, but so was how it was presented. From here on, financial services firms started using memos to explain the details of and rationale behind their investments. Now, almost every investment has an Investment Memo associated with it. --- The Hiring Memo: Each hire we make is a bet. A bet requires us to stake something of value on the outcome of an uncertain event. When hiring, we are staking our time, money, culture and reputation in return for productivity. These are high stakes. But, leaders have to make these bets. The good ones make lots of them. So, it's important to be systematic and thoughtful about the bets we are making. Not to nullify risk, but to reduce it to an appropriate level. These are a few of the ways great leaders do that: 1. Make investments that enable you to engage top talent. Headhunting is one such investment, but GTM leaders have gotten similar upside from building their brands on LinkedIn. 2. Be systematic in how you analyze talent and experience. Use a scorecard. Clearly define the talent and experience that you need to qualify for a particular role, how to qualify them, when to qualify them in the process, who will be qualifying them at which stage and how to score for each element. Weigh the various elements based on importance. Most stop there. But, they shouldn't. Stopping there assumes that the scorecard gives us a binary answer. "If a person scores X or above X, then they are a good hire." But, many times, a 9 out 10 on the scorecard can end up not working out. Sometimes, a 7 out of 10 on a scorecard can end up being a great hire. The reason: A scorecard can indicate the most probable outcome, but it can't guarantee it. This is where the Hiring Memo can be quite useful. Just like with Investment Memos, it can help drive clear thinking by distilling the details of and rationale behind the bet we are making. It can also help us hedge against the risks and have a clear plan for activating the upside potential. --- Here are 5 questions worth including in the Hiring Memo: 1. What is the likelihood of this candidate being a great hire for this role? 2. What traits and experiences will help them succeed? 3. What factors could prevent them from being a great hire? 4. How can I ensure their success and minimize risks? 5. How quickly will they ramp up, and can I accelerate their development? Good luck with your next big bet!
This is great. Thanks for sharing Asad!
Solid -these should be required. Often times in fast growth orgs, process seems to go out of the window-how do you continously coach exec teams to drive adoption and implement this, no matter how good the growth?
I like this a lot - writing down and being specific about why we’re hiring this person and what issues could impede them from reaching success could focus coaching in a way a scorecard with notes never could. Thanks for sharing Asad
Love it!
Super helpful! Thanks for sharing Asad Zaman
Love the concept Asad Zaman, the hiring memo really solidifies the decision that is about to be made and creates a foundation/method for how employers can qualify for best fit (long-term).
This post is insightful! Hiring Memos are crucial for strategic decisions.
Go-to-Market Acceleration
3wThis is a great model Asad, thanks for laying this out. Every good investment memo starts with an investment thesis, so it seems reasonable that hiring should also start with that thesis, yes? What are the characteristics we believe are required for success and why do we believe that? And so on ... Josh Tolan you have a ton of experience here, what do you see?