This post is #3 in the series of “The ultimate guide to hiring PM’s”. Post #1 and #2.

Now that you have all the meat of what you want to do mapped out, it’s time to put the pieces together and orchestrate an execution plan.

Execution kickoff

We’re doing this!

Get the entire interview committee together and go through the process document. Ensure that everybody is aligned on what each interview is supposed to focus on and what the evaluation criteria are for each of the focus items. Get the team ready to get into execution mode, get them excited!

Kick off the search

Post the req, start getting some resumes

It is advisable to use some sort of system to track incoming resumes and phone screens. A simple google sheet or something advanced such as Jobvite is recommended. You need to make sure everything is tracked to help you track the stats of your hiring funnel.

Schedule phone screens and onsite’s

Systematize the scheduling

Make it easy on the recruiting team to schedule phone screens and onsite’s by setting aside blocks of time dedicated to recruiting activities. This enables the recruitment team to get everything scheduled in a speedy and predictable way. Always have a recruiter follow up personally with a candidate to set context for the onsite. I strongly believe that onsite’s should be a one day affair. Going back to our core principle outlined in the the first post, don’t make candidates go through hoops. Given a choice her time is more valuable than your time. Remember that she is your customer.

Most important rule — buy her lunch. Interviews are tiring, don’t starve the candidate! Starving her signifies that you really do not care about her well being. Don’t be that guy.

Post interview

Decide quick

As each interviewer finishes the interview they should immediately write down their feedback about the candidate. Document the areas they were supposed to test and their thoughts on how she did. At the end of the onsite interview , preferable the same day or early the next day, the entire interview team should meet to get an up/down vote on the candidate. The final hiring decision is still the hiring manager’s – but talk through concerns in this huddle. The hiring manager should take this feedback and make the hire/no hire decision immediately.

• if its no hire — let the candidate know immediately. Don’t waste her time.
• If its a hire — start working the offer and have it ready as soon as possible.

In the next post, I’ll talk about the offer and close process!