to interview or not to interview...

when to punt and when to rush an interview when it falls on/around a holiday

open role: founding account executive

• repeat customer coming back for round 2

• hired their founding ae from me in q2 and now need another

• came out of stealth last week and already over the 7 figure mark

• solving seo for the modern era of generative search (geo)

interested? apply here

active candidate: vp of sales

• sf based vp of sales selling to revenue

• scaled his last org from 6 figures to over $35m in arr

• 15+ years of experience and 3 successful exits, all north of $10m

want to chat with them? email me

my 2 cents: to interview or not to interview

holiday weeks are always weird. half of my clients punt everything to next week, the other half want to get it done on the 4th at 6pm.

both are annoying and yet neither are wrong.

so, given that today is the 4th and i have 3 interviews between candidates and clients, i figured i’d highlight when to rush, when to delay, and how to do either the right way.

hiring managers:

the only pace that matters, is what the candidate feels.

do they feel rushed? do they feel like you’re dragging things out? either feeling can be a death note, even if you nail every other detail.

i get it. you need to hire and you need to hire fast. but if you’re not careful, rushing the interview process will only slow things down and cause the candidate to lose trust.

so how do you control their internal narrative? context

it’s not the pace of your interviews that rubs them the wrong way, it’s why you’re moving at that pace that matters most.

do they feel like you’re kicking tires or do they know you’re at a conference all week?

do they feel like you’re moving too fast or do they know you had 75 inbound meetings last week?

tell them what’s up and be clear about it. don’t be vague or sketchy. drowning and need help? tell them. on vacation with the family this week? let them know.

the pain point isn’t your pace it’s your lack of clarity.

what’s this look/sound like?

1. give them a reason: 
   “just a heads up we’re on a tight timeline here because of _______”
   

2. set expectations: 
   “realistically we’d love to have things wrapped by _______”
   

3. layout the plan:
   tell them exactly what to expect and when. be clear and stick to the plan.
   
   if you rush them and then change your plans, you’ve immediately lost trust.
   

4. call to action:
   make sure they’re on board. if they say yes, it’s full send. they’ve now opted into your timeline and you can capitalize on that excitement and energy.

for candidates:
same thing. rushed or delayed, context is everything.

if you’re trying to move faster because you have another offer, say so.

“i have another on the table and they need a response by tuesday. while your role is my first choice, i have a bit of a tight timeline i need to operate within. assuming things go well, is that a timeline your team can work with for an offer?”

they’re not mind-readers. they can’t compete with a clock they don’t know exists.

if they know the situation, they can adjust their pace/timeline.

if they’re kept in the dark, don’t be surprise when they can’t keep up.

on the flip side if they’re trying to rush you and feel uncomfortable with it, just ask for context.

“what’s an ideal timeline for this hire?”

“what’s the biggest pain point you’re seeing from this role being unfilled?”

are they rushing you? leverage it. i wrote about this recently in another post where i covered the “if/then” of offers

“if you can meet me here [salary, title etc] then i can [insert their ideal outcome].

tldr: the context of your timing is everything

time kills all deals, but context allows for both parties to get on the same page even at different speeds.

give context. provide clarity. stick to what you say. that’s all.

happy 4th of july.

how i imagine my candidates interviewing today are dressed….

music for your 4th of july