How to Hire a Great Developer

Your digital advantage tim@praxent.com | @TimMarkHamilton
Hiring a Great
Developer

Your digital advantage
Tim Hamilton
Founder & CEO Praxent
• Web
• Mobile
• Desktop
• IoT
Background:
Originally from South Africa

Studied Economics & MIS at
UT Austin

Interviewed ~500 since 2009

Hired 50
Software products
& platforms for
aggressive growth.

Your digital advantage tim@praxent.com | @TimMarkHamilon
Why talk about hiring?
• 50% - 75% of hiring decisions are
mistakes according to Brad Smart and
Peter Drucker

• Only 14% of leaders are good at
making hiring decisions

• The wrong hire can cost upwards of
15X their annual salary

“According to 4,000 studies [and over
15,000 data points] we’ve examined,
traditional interviewing is not predictive
of job performance.”

– Geoﬀ Smart & Randy Street
Traditional Interviewing Doesn’t Work

SCORECARD (1-2+ hours)1
2
3
5
4
PHONE SCREENING INTERVIEW (30 min)
BIOGRAPHICAL INTERVIEW (1-2 hours)
FOCUSED INTERVIEW (1-2 hours)
REFERENCE CHECK INTERVIEW (10 min per)
Five Steps to Hiring A-Players

Scorecard Phone Screen Bio Interview Focused Interview Reference Check
Scorecard
• Mission Statement

• 3-8 Outcomes (in order)

• Competencies

• Required Skills

• Strengths & Risks

Hire the specialist, not the
generalist.

“Learning beats
knowing in the new
world of work.”

– Liz Wiseman
Scorecard
• Cultural ﬁt > skill ﬁt

• Learning > knowing

Clients First
Always Deliver
Never Settle
Do It Together
Own the Outcome
Scorecard
Built around your culture: core
values and brand promise

Intellectual
• Intelligence

• Analysis Skills

• Judgment /
Decision Making

• Conceptual Ability

• Creativity

• Strategic Skills

• Pragmatism

• Risk Taking

• Leading Edge

• Education

• Experience
Personal
• Integrity

• Resourcefulness

• Organization /
Planning

• Excellence

• Independence

• Stress
Management

• Self-Awareness

• Adaptability

• First Impression

• Self Conﬁdence
Interpersonal
• Likability

• Persuasion

• Assertiveness

• Communications –
Oral

• Communication –
Written

• Political Savvy

• Team Player

• Interpersonal
Awareness
Behavioral Competencies
Motivational
• Energy

• Passion

• Ambition

• Compatibility of
Needs

• Balance in Life

• Tenacity
Management
• Selecting A Players

• Training /
Development

• Goal Setting

• Empowerment

• Accountability

• Redeploying B/C
Players

• Team Building

• Diversity

• Running Meetings

Envision: What would a
resounding success look
like after 12 months?
Sample scorecard

Phone
screening
interview
• Filter out non-ﬁt
candidates

• 20 min for your
questions, 10 min for
theirs

• 15-30-minutes total

• Trust your gut

What are your
career goals?
• Candidate goes ﬁrst so you don’t
inﬂuence their response

• Look for authenticity, not a
regurgitation of content from your site

• Do their passions and energy align
with your company

• Are you looking for a manager or
individual contributor? What are they
looking for?

What are you
really good at?
• Look for at least 5 to start but

• Push for 8-12 so you can build a
complete picture of their aptitude

• Technical strengths or personal
strengths?

• Get examples to put strengths into
context

• Look for strengths that match your
scorecard

What are you
not good at or
not interested
in?
• Push for real weaknesses

• Say “that sounds like a strength to
me” if you get cookie-cutter
responses

• Look for 5-8 weaknesses

• How much self-awareness do you
need in the ideal candidate?

Who were your last ﬁve
bosses and how they
rate your performance?
• Threat of Reference Check (TORC) ask
“when” not “if”

• Ask for the spelling; this unlocks the truth

• Ask for details. “Why a 7?”

• 8’s, 9’s, 10’s positive,

• 7’s neutral

• 6 and below are bad

• What about the current boss?

What are your
salary expectations?
• Are we in the same ballpark?

• Remember: this step is all about
saving time by selecting the
candidates you’ll move to the next
step

Do you have any
questions for me?
• Look out for me-centered questions
ﬁrst.

• What would the ideal candidate ask
about the company? About the role?

• The questions they ask are as telling
as their answers.

Kicking off the
phone screen
• 20 min for me, 10 min for you

• Permission to be candid?

• Don’t overshare before you ask the
ﬁrst question

Getting curious with
dig deeper questions
• What, How and Tell me more

• What did you do?

• How did you feel?

• What happened next?

Biographical
interview
• 1-2 hours long

• Face to face or video

• Uncover patterns of the
candidate’s career history

• 15 years worth

• Look for facts and stories
not hypotheses

• Old habits die hard

• Curiosity > judgment

What accomplishments
are you most proud of?
• Outcomes > activities or learnings

• Do they line up with what they were
hired to do?

• Alignment with your scorecard?

Real Example:
What accomplishments are you most proud of?

What were some
low points?
• Could their frustrations from
the past recur in the future?

• Do they externalize blame?

• Do they talk negatively about
others?

Who were the people
you worked with?
What was it like
working together?
• Do they talk negatively about others?

• What kind of leadership do they
thrive under?

• What kind of leadership do they
struggle under?

• Do they give credit or take credit?

What will you boss
tell me were your
strengths & areas
for improvement?
• Do the strengths map to your
outcomes and competencies?

• Are the weaknesses create
signiﬁcant risks?

Why did you leave
that job?
Caution: if they are thinking of
leaving their current job because
of money (or other hygiene
factor) and they are an “A-
player” they will likely stay when
their current manager gives
them a counter-oﬀer.

Focused
interview
• Competency-
based questions

• Focused on the
scorecard

• Still focused on
the past
http://bit.ly/2a2eopd

Scorecard:
Strengths
& Risks

Reference
checking
interview
• 10-minutes per
reference

• Listen for what they
are not saying

Demo

Q&A
• How to work with recruiters to source candidates?

• How to stay engaged with A-players in a hectic market like Austin?

• Thoughts on beneﬁts and retention?

Thank you!
Slides available at: http://bit.ly/2azSlHo

How to Hire a Great Developer

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