you owe it to yourself

open role: enterprise account executive

• seed stage with $15M in funding, $1M in ARR

• CEO is a repeat founder and product/ICP expert

• CEO scaled last org from $0 to $500M as founder/COO

• SF based, 5x a week, some flex for right person

• $350k OTE with heavy incentives for more

• need exp. closing orgs w/ 5k+ employees

• exp carrying $1M quota and $100k+ ACV

interested? email me

my 2 cents: you owe it to yourself

whether you’re searching for a job or hiring for your team, it’s easy for it all to feel like a waste. so much time, energy and effort and often little to no fruit for your labor.

you get to the end of an interview cycle or extend an offer to the perfect candidate and then… poof. the candidate declines or the company goes with someone else and there’s often little to no explanation why.

if you’re consistently finding yourself back at the starting line, it might be time to step it up a notch.

hiring managers:

in most cases you’re starting with an advantage. it’s your role, your org, and your decision. you hold the cards and ultimately nearly all of the leverage. however, what most hiring managers forget is that throughout the interview process you start giving over bits of leverage to the candidate. once that first call is over and you decide you like them, the pendulum begins to swing.

their limited leverage becomes more and more impactful and although you may feel in control, you’re not.

sure you’re the one who decides to extend the offer but all that means if you’ve come to the conclusion that you want to hire them. ok. and i want a fully restored 78 bronco. you deciding you want to hire someone isn’t the end of the process, it’s really just the beginning.

as the leverage shifts from one side to the other, you have to continuously put in more and more work to ensure your opportunity stays ahead of the pack. doing the minimum because you think you’re great is only going to come back to bite you.

practically, this looks like:

• calling candidates after an interview to set up next steps and reiterating your excitement about them joining.

• keeping the interview from being ‘all grill, no cheese.’ you can’t just corner them on every call (grill) and expect excitement. keep it professional but be kind (cheese).

• SPOTAK (smart, passionate, optimistic, tenacious, adaptable, and kind). look for it and be it.

• ask yourself, “would this interview make me want to work here?” if the answer isn’t emphatically yes, then you, my friend, are the problem.

• answering all the questions you think are “dumb” because it matters to them and that matters to you. every candidate has different worries or nerves about their next steps and how they flesh them out is through small questions that feel insignificant but matter. “who cares about parking?” the employee who drives 90 minutes each way and wants one less thing to worry about.

• think through their lens. what are their worries or big ticket items and how can i address them in our conversation?

• if you’re excited about them, tell them. that excitement transfers and builds inertia. withholding interest is like middle school dating. it doesn’t work and YOU JUST WANNA KNOW IF YOUR CRUSH LIKES YOU CHECKTHEBOXPLEASE

effort goes a long way and at the end of the day it’s a two-way street. so play your part. you owe it to yourself.

candidates:

if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

your effort, preparation, research, etc. are all felt. when you show up to a call ready, the interviewer can feel it and they respond to it. when you show up unprepared, they can sense it and it makes them want to press harder.

it’s like a sales call.

when a prospect can sense that you know what you’re talking about, shorter responses suffice and complex questions can be addressed with simple answers. where they tend to drill down is in the areas you seem least knowledgeable. why? they’re looking for your failure points. where will your product (you) fail when the pressure really hits.

if you’re interviewing, you owe it to yourself to try.

practically, that looks like:

• “clear is kind” - clear ≠ blunt

• be concise - when you’re asked about availability, don’t reply with “Tuesday afternoon should be free.” communicating with you shouldn’t be difficult.

• be prepared - has your preparation earned you the job? be honest with yourself

• be SPOTAK (smart, passionate, optimistic, tenacious, adaptable, and kind).

• be-self aware and self-reflective - here are a few questions

  • would i hire myself after that interview?

  • has my preparation earned me the job?

  • would i want to work with that version of me?

  • am I playing hard to get? am i playing any games in the first place?

  • how am i standing out from other great candidates?

endless other questions you can ask yourself, but you get the point.

TLDR:

it’s all about effort and self awareness.

did your effort earn you the job or that candidate’s trust?

are you aware enough to know the part you played in a dropped ball?

music for your friday