clarity > good news

open role: strategic account executive

• this is a repeat client of mine, recall.ai 

• they’re a series a, $50m in funding, $25m in arr

• working with an all-time hiring manager, justin bullock

• looking for technical reps, comfortable selling to dev leaders

• 5x a week onsite with a world-class team, $150k base, $300k ote

interested? email me

my 2 cents: clarity > good news

there's a lot of talk about how to win when interviewing.

how to interview well. how to schedule well. how to offer well.

all good things, but it leaves out the vast majority of situations that end in less than ideal outcomes (non-hires). you can’t just know how to “win" well, you also need to know how to “lose” well.

how to decline a candidate well. how to back out of an interview well. how to give less than ideal feedback well. how to tell someone that wants to talk to you again that the feeling isn’t mutual.

while winning is the ultimate goal, it’s important to note that how you lose in one game determines how you win (or even if you win) in another.

hiring managers:

i've written a few times about how to put together a good interview process. it’s a major key in making great hires. but it’s important that “good” isn’t just reserved for the candidates who accept job offers.

a truly great process leaves every candidate with clarity, a definitive answer and a baseline feeling of mutual respect. for hiring managers we can break this down into 3 key areas.

what you say: be clear and be kind. don't allow your own self-conscious fear to drive whether or not you give an honest and truthful update to a candidate that is actively pursuing an opp with your team.

when you say it: in my opinion, it shouldn’t take more than 48 hours to a) make a decision and b) provide an update. there really isn’t any scenario where this should happen.

how you say it: be clear and respectful. if you're unable to do both of those things, you haven’t earned the right to make hiring decisions.

these things aren’t complicated but they do require incredibly consistent intentionality in order to do them as well as you do them often.

when you tread a candidate with respect, regardless of how far they get in your interview cycle, it will only benefit you. but when your respect is predicated upon interview stage, not only will it come back to haunt you but you’ll end up creating a culture that reflects your own lack of respect.

candidates:

ghosting in any circumstance is unacceptable.

every relationship matters and the moment you treat one as lesser than the other, is the moment you leave your future-self’s relationships up to your present-self's ego.

when you treat every relationship like it matters, it allows you to have open doors and strong bridges across the market, not just where you think you want/need them today.

this isn’t to ignore the reality that some bridges carry more weight than others but even the smallest bridges can lead to the best destinations (i hate how cheesy that sounds. yuck).

now... what does this have to do with clear communication in the interview process.

when you ghost a hiring manager or a recruiter you’re telling them, “i don’t respect you enough to be honest with you.”

you can view it any way you want but if you’re just not responding to someone that is trying to get an update, response, pulse check etc from you after an interview, you simply don’t respect them. and it’s felt. and it will only come back to bite you in the long run.

tldr:

1) you do not owe anyone good news, but you do owe them clear communication.

2) if you were in their shoes, would you feel respected with how you’re communicating?

3) be honest. anything less than honesty, isn’t tight.

music for your friday