Geoff Smart

IDENTIFY A-PLAYERS USING 4 INTERVIEWS: The focused interview takes about 45-60 minutes, and the goal is to dig deeper for info on specific outcomes or competencies in the scorecard.

IDENTIFY A-PLAYERS USING 4 INTERVIEWS: Only move someone to the next phase of the interview if you’re truly excited about them and convinced that they could be the ideal candidate. After the 4 interviews, complete the scorecards and give each candidate an overall grade of A, B, or C. Only hire A-graders. If you have no A-graders, keep sourcing; if you have multiple A-graders then hire the best.

BUILDING A PIPELINE OF A PLAYERS: Sourcing is about systematically looking for and identifying potential talents before you actually need the people. The best way to find A Players is through referrals, not advertising.

IDENTIFY A-PLAYERS USING The reference interview: You’re now ready to test what you learned about the candidate through reference checks. Never skip this step.

IDENTIFY A-PLAYERS USING The screening interview: Sift out the B and C Players quickly using a short phone-based interview. You can potentially weed out 80-90% of the candidates at this phase, thus saving you lots of unnecessary time and energy later on.

IDENTIFY A-PLAYERS USING 4 The Top Grading Interview: This interview covers the candidate’s career in chronological order, using 5 questions to draw out specific facts and stories about each career phase. By the end of 3-5 hours, you’ll have a much clearer assessment of the candidate.

SECURE THE CANDIDATE: You can lose the person at any point in this process. Listen for concerns regarding the 5Fs and address them immediately. Do your best to maximize your A Player’s chances of success.

SECURE THE CANDIDATE You must sell across 5 phases of the hiring process: During sourcing, During interviews, While waiting for the candidate to accept your offer, After the offer has been accepted, Auring the new hire’s first 100 days on the job.

SECURE THE CANDIDATE: Your job is not done until the candidate is delivering results as your employee. To get them through the door, you must sell to them by sincerely appealing to the 5Fs that people care about: Fit, Family, Freedom, Fortune, and Fun.

IDENTIFY A-PLAYERS USING 4 INTERVIEWS: You need a structured approach to gather info and evaluate candidates against the Scorecard. You’re looking for A Players who have a history of delivering the desired outcomes, have competencies that fit the role and culture, and are passionate about the role.

SCORECARD: DEVELOPING YOUR SUCCESS BLUEPRINT You can only hire the right person with a scorecard. The scorecard is a job blueprint—it describes exactly what success in a role looks like, including the (i) mission (why the role exists) (ii) outcomes (what the person must deliver) (iii) competencies (how the job should be done given the job requirements and company culture).

We define an A Player this way: a candidate who has at least a 90 percent chance of achieving a set of outcomes that only the top 10 percent of possible candidates could achieve.

Outcomes, the second part of a scorecard, describe what a person needs to accomplish in a role. Most of the jobs for which we hire have three to eight outcomes, ranked by order of importance.

Scorecards describe the mission for the position, outcomes that must be accomplished, and competencies that fit with both the culture of the company and the role.