HI. I'M JOE!

links

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

a remote team of 11

THE SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF HIRING

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

fatal assumption

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

If you understand the technical work of a business, you understand a business that does that technical work.

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

“Every person in your company is a vector. Your progress is determined by the sum of all vectors.” — Elon Musk

nick

honey

brenda

jason

helen

laraine

dean

rafael

marvin

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

nick

honey

brenda

jason

helen

laraine

dean

rafael

marvin

a

b

your job AFTER you decide to hire

(WATER BREAK)

we hire part-time  

(1099)

  • more affordable

  • TAXES ARE WAY EASIER

  • hard to expect you to be their priority

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

full-time employees

(w2)

and transition them to

  • more expensive

  • benefits, taxes +20%

  • easy to expect you to be their priority

  • looked for people with the best technical abilities

  • only hard skills were considered, not soft skills

  • main question was "can you get the work done well?"

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Effect: culture focused on individual performance, not team performance

Mistake #1: hiring wasn't value-driven 🚀

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Some interview questions

entrepreneurial: We need to cut our average resolution time by 2 hours. how would you help us accomplish this?

on-time: you have a task due today and realize you won't have time to get it done. what do you do?

knows wordpress: what % of the internet does wordpress power?

Mistake #2: I was hiring on 💩 job boards

  • UPWORK LOL

  • hiring based on what people said they could do

  • not effective for bigger, more complex work

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Effect: team always wanted to be told what to do

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

(water break

ing bad)

Mistake #3: i hired too late 🌝

  • i started looking to hire when work needed to be done

  • takes 1-3 months to get acclimated + reach 99% efficiency

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Effect: team was regularly over-worked and stressed

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

the reason is...

  • financial: try to move from one-time payments to mrr

  • you're just clueless (like i was): hire a part-time cfo

benmcadam.me

Mistake #4: relied too much on traditional hiring processes 😵

  • thought i could post and qualified candidates would rain down on me

  • really difficult when you're small / just starting out

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Effect: because we sucked at traditional hiring, our hiring process just sucked

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Mistake #5: hiring process not challenging enough 🎁

  • hiring process took 1-2 weeks on average

    • didn't challenge applicants enough

    • fast hiring process set wrong expectation

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

Effect: made it too easy to work for wp buffs

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

what we added

  • 1x technical interview + 1x culture-fit interview

  • technical Q&A (48-hour turnaround)

  • deep analysis (thank you email, written communication, etc)

(water break)

what's next

  • longer interview process

  • recruit for diversity

  • more women in leadership positions

  • more brand awareness in the wordpress space

  • make a serious investment

  • bigger focus on professional development

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

wpbuffs.com

@josephhhoward

THANK YOU!

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