Hire As If You Are A Startup

Every Friday, I check out the articles on ere.net.  There was an interesting article by Howard Adamsky called Finally, Your Essential Overview of Hiring for Startups.  While I don't read every ere.net article, this one seemed unique.  (While working with multiple industries and functions, small companies and start-ups are becoming a larger part of our work.)  What was unique about it was the fact that the 12 factors listed could easily be applied to all companies in all hiring situations.  Here is the list:

1. Look for startup experience.  This needs some explanation - the author explains that, "startups involve long days and impossible tasks combined with highs and lows that often require nerves of steel."  I would say this defines most of the management and executive positions we work on, regardless of organization stage and type.
2. Seek out risk takers.  
3. Hire no "yes" people.  
4. Hire doers.
5. Avoid prima donnas. 
6. Seek out passion.
7. Look for creativity.
8. Hire people who are engaged.  More explanation - the author talks about hiring people who read.  He states that, "if nothing new is going into the brain, I am not sure how anything new will be coming out."
9. Seek out the evangelists.  (People have to be champions of what they do in a start-up.)
10. Got drivers?  (Drivers push through obstacles to get things done.)
11. Look for the opportunity seeker.  
12. Hire minimalists.  

The article ends with 'one' final thought:

• "Hire the right people and let them do their job."
  • Do not micromanage.
  • Do not set up a bureaucracy.
  • Do not get in the way.

These seem like words to hire and manage by!