The first three months of a new hire are critical. If you can’t figure out whether or not someone is a good or bad fit for your startup within three months, you’re not spending enough time with them.
What happens if they’re a bad fit? You have to move on. A startup can’t afford to have even one bad fit for a long time. It’s also better for the person because they will grow increasingly frustrated at not being able to fit in yet not being able to do anything about it.
But it’s not good enough to simply say fire fast.
If you’re firing people fast, it means you made mistakes hiring. You need to go back and understand why you made the mistake. If you keep making the same kind of mistake over and over again in hiring, it means you don’t know how to hire. If you don’t know how to hire, your startup won’t succeed.
So what are the most common hiring mistakes?
Hiring people like yourself. Who you like. But who can’t help the company.
Hiring people with impressive resumes. Who look great on paper. But who can’t get the job done.
Hiring people who are cheap. Plenty of them. But they can’t deal with complexity and uncertainty.
Hiring people who say yes. They never argue. But they can’t think for themselves.
Hiring people who are superstars. They rock. But they can’t work with others.
The list of hiring mistakes is long.
Find your hiring mistakes. And then fix them so you won’t need to fire, slow or fast.
Tytus Michalski