Unconventional Experiments during Hiring@rishabhkaul kaul@belong.co

Based on true stories

● Friends didn’t want to join early on.● Executive Search firms either didn’t work for

us, or didn’t want to work with us● Job boards mostly sent in irrelevant

candidates and a lot of time was spent in filtering this noise.

We were pushed to the corner and had to try different things to be able to attract good guys

As a startup, the odds are against you

#1 Didn’t hire a HR/TA early on...

When Exotel wanted to build the early team they hired a smart BITS grad who was active on Twitter and Hackernews as an intern to help lead hiring and engage candidates.

Today he’s our Co-founder @ Belong

#2 Didn’t have a job description...

Job descriptions haven’t changed since 1947

Have personas instead.

- Personality traits- Places that this person

might come from (colleges, companies)

- Career growth with multiple options

#3 Embraced Extreme Referencing

http://www.forentrepreneurs.com/extreme-referencing/

- Often, an interview is not enough to give confidence about a great hire

- 3-5 Reference Checks for junior hires.

- 7-12 References for senior/executive hires

Every congregation of people (online + offline) is a potential source to identify great folks. Not limited to professional social networks.

#4 Always be sourcing

We’re all humans at the end of the day.- Post interview feedbacks- We kept an alumni page to remember

those who helped us come this far- Personalization in every interaction

with anyone (no copy paste templates)

- Keeping in touch with folks who we wanted to hire

#5 #HBnotHRIf there’s a doubt, then there’s no doubt