The Art of the Start/Kawasaki 103-104

104 If the candidate isn’t coming to you as a proven believer, then use these techniques to determine if he “gets it.”

Someone who truly loves a product or service will be able to present it to its advantage

Measure the amount of time the candidate talks about compensation, benefits, and perks versus your product or service.

Analyze the candidate’s questions: Are they built on a strong foundation of knowledge about your organization?

Your goal, remember, is to make meaning and change the world.

It sometimes pays to ignore the lack of the perfect and relevant background, while at other times it pays to ignore the presence of the perfect and relevant background.

Experience in a Big, Successful Organization. The relevant question, again, is, “Did the candidate help create the success, or was he along for the ride?”

Experience in a Failed Organization. Failure, however, is usually a better teacher than success. The candidate to avoid, though, is on who has a consistent history of working with failures.

Educational Background
Experience in the Same Industry
Experience in the Same Function.

Find the candidate who lacks major weaknesses (but doesn’t have major strengths)
Find the candidate who has major strengths (even though he has major weaknesses