Anderee Berengian: Hiring Good People is Hard....Not if You Hire for Culture First

Here’s a shocker for you guys today… Hiring Good People is Hard! Or is it? Maybe we just make it hard on ourselves because we make compromises based on need.

Today we are going to take you on the hiring journey of one startup who have managed to beat the odds to build amazing teams.

Today’s Quote:

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” - Winston Churchill

Guest Bio:

Anderee Berengian is Co-Founder & CEO at Cie Digital Labs, an interactive development firm and Managing Partner at RezVen Partners.

With more than 20 years of experience steering corporate and product strategy, Anderee is an accomplished entrepreneur, technologist, and investor passionate about driving progress through digital innovation. At Cie, Berengian is responsible for building a world-class execution-focused team and growing Cie’s digital transformation ideas into sustainable, profitable companies.

 

Show highlights:

• What really makes hiring hard
• How to make hiring easier

Problem:

“Organism rejects the thing that doesn't belong”

• So why do we hire people that are wrong for our companies?
  • Used to screen - look at Skills first
• Are we truly interviewing and hiring for culture?
• *** Biggest pain point is time- Interview 10-12 to get a hire.
• Streamlining the process to save time

*The top dictates the culture

• Check for cultural & skills fit
• Make people comfortable .. Casual setting, get a much better sense of who they are and how they will fit.
• *** Bring back for social interaction
• Foster a lot of team-based interactions
• -heavy screening for culture
• Promoting people who propagate the way they think and execute

Rick’s Input

• Difference between Culture & Perks
• Culture is what happens when no one is looking- how people interact, treat others
• The icky stuff

 Solutions:

What needs to happen in the interview process?

• The shift in recruiting to tell the story very clearly.
• The person can self select very quickly if they want to join.
• A structured process, lead drives the process
• The interview process for onsite
• Technical- screened, test-
• Artistic-
• Recruiting team-
• Bring in to interact with people.
• Meet with people in their department, adjacent teams,
• Offer stage-
• Had one candidate they really wanted, lost to another offer

Rick’s Input:

• A deeper level of understanding/vetting on the front end… ie: phone screen, recruiting call, introduction
• Target no more than 3-5 people to bring onsite for an interview. If #1 is a fit, hire! no need to comparison shop

Key Takeaways

• Build right so the organism rejects what doesn’t belong. Look for the cultural fit first
• Take your time hiring. Hire slow and then if you need to make staffing changes, do it quickly.