The BEST Method of Hiring A Talent

Candidates can exaggerate or obscure details during interviews, and hiring managers often rely on outdated methods that fail to produce reliable information. In response to these challenges, Geoff Smart and Randy Street developed the A Method for Hiring, detailed in their book Who: The A Method for Hiring. Based on over 1,300 hours of interviews with 20 billionaires and 300 CEOs, the A Method provides a systematic approach to hiring the right people, or “A Players.” This approach ensures new hires possess the right skills, align with company culture, and are set for long-term success.

This short summary will walk you through the critical components of the A Method, how to avoid common hiring pitfalls, and actionable steps to build your A team.

Key Problems in Hiring

Hiring Challenges

Every manager faces the same challenge: the typical hiring success rate is only 50 percent. This means a coin flip has the same odds of selecting the right person for the job. Unfortunately, this lack of precision comes at a steep cost. According to studies performed by the authors, the average hiring mistake costs 15 times an employee’s base salary in hard costs and productivity loss.

When hiring mistakes occur, they often stem from:

• Lack of clarity: Managers aren’t clear about what they need in a job.
• Weak candidate flow: There aren’t enough strong candidates to choose from.
• Poor evaluation methods: Managers don’t trust their ability to identify the best candidate among seemingly similar options.
• Inability to close the deal: Managers fail to convince top candidates to join the team.

Common Mistakes: Voodoo Hiring

Hiring decisions often rely on flawed or outdated practices, collectively called “Voodoo Hiring” methods. These include:

1. The Art Critic: Believing you can assess candidates on gut instinct alone, as though evaluating a piece of art.
2. The Sponge: Allowing multiple interviewers to soak up impressions but failing to use a structured process to evaluate candidates systematically.
3. The Prosecutor: Using aggressive questioning or logic puzzles to trip up candidates, which reveals knowledge but not job-relevant skills.
4. The Suitor: Spending the interview trying to impress the candidate rather than assessing their fit for the role.
5. The Chatterbox: Focusing on casual conversation instead of evaluating specific skills and experiences.
6. The Trickster: Relying on gimmicks, like throwing paper on the floor to test behavior, which rarely correlates with job success.
7. The Psychological Tester: Using personality or psychological tests that candidates can easily manipulate.
8. The Aptitude Tester: Over-relying on aptitude tests without considering how the skills translate to the role.
9. The Fortune-Teller: Asking hypothetical questions about how candidates would handle situations instead of evaluating their past behavior.

The A Method for Hiring

The A Method provides a structured, four-step process to identify and secure top talent:

1. Scorecard: Defining Success

The scorecard is the foundation of the A Method. It serves as a blueprint for hiring by clarifying what success looks like in a specific role. A well-crafted scorecard contains three critical components:

• Mission: This is a clear and concise summary of the job’s purpose. It answers the question: “Why does this role exist?” A strong mission statement avoids corporate jargon and instead uses plain language. For example, instead of saying, “Leverage resources to optimize market position,” you could write, “Drive a 20% increase in market share over the next two years.”

• Outcomes: These are measurable goals that define what the person in the role needs to accomplish. They make expectations concrete. For instance, a sales manager’s outcome might be, “Increase annual revenue from $10 million to $15 million within 18 months.” Outcomes are the benchmarks against which performance will be judged.

• Competencies: Competencies describe the behavioral traits and skills required for success in the role. These might include qualities like “analytical thinking,” “persistence,” or “ability to hire and develop talent.” Competencies ensure the candidate not only has the technical skills but also aligns with the organization’s culture.

How the Scorecard HelpsThe scorecard aligns everyone involved in the hiring process. By defining success upfront, hiring managers, recruiters, and team members can evaluate candidates against the same set of criteria, reducing subjectivity. It also ensures candidates understand what is expected of them, fostering alignment and transparency from the start.

2. Source: Building a Talent Pipeline

A robust talent pipeline ensures a steady flow of qualified candidates, reducing the pressure to hire reactively. Building such a pipeline requires proactive strategies and consistent effort. Here’s how to create one:

• Referrals: Talented people know other talented people. Tap into your network by asking for recommendations. When seeking referrals, be specific about the competencies and outcomes defined in the scorecard. For example, instead of saying, “Do you know any good marketers?” you might ask, “Do you know a marketer who’s skilled at increasing digital ad conversion rates by 20%?”

• In-House Referrals: Encourage your employees to recommend candidates. Employees who already thrive in your organization understand its culture and are more likely to refer people who are a good fit. Incentivize referrals with financial rewards or perks like extra vacation days.

• External Recruiters: Partner with recruiters who specialize in your industry. Provide them with your scorecard to ensure they fully understand the role’s requirements. Great recruiters act as extensions of your team, helping to identify high-quality candidates quickly.

• Ongoing Nurturing: Building relationships with potential candidates before you need to hire is critical. Dedicate 30 minutes each week to reaching out to talented individuals in your field. This could include attending industry events, connecting with people on LinkedIn, or simply checking in with previous candidates who showed potential. Keeping these relationships warm ensures you have a pool of candidates ready when a role opens.

• Social Media and Networking Events: Platforms like LinkedIn can help you identify candidates who meet your scorecard criteria. Join relevant groups, participate in discussions, and share engaging content to position your organization as a desirable employer.

Where the Best Candidates Come FromThe best candidates often come from referrals, whether internal or external. Talented people tend to surround themselves with other high performers. Additionally, candidates sourced through relationships are more likely to align with your company’s culture and values. However, don’t overlook the importance of nurturing passive candidates—those who aren’t actively job hunting but may be open to the right opportunity. These individuals often represent the highest-caliber talent.

The Importance of Discipline in Pipeline BuildingCreating and maintaining a talent pipeline requires discipline. Schedule time regularly to focus on sourcing and nurturing potential candidates. By consistently prioritizing this effort, you’ll avoid the scramble of finding talent at the last minute and instead have access to a pool of A Players ready to join your team.

3. Select: A Structured Interview Process

Traditional interviews often fail to predict job performance. The A Method emphasizes structured interviews to gather reliable data at each stage. Here’s a deep dive into how each stage of the selection process reveals critical insights about candidates:

Screening Interview

The purpose of the screening interview is to quickly eliminate unqualified candidates through a concise, 30-minute phone call. The questions are designed to probe core aspects of a candidate’s fit:

1. What are your career goals?
   • This question reveals whether the candidate has clear aspirations and alignment with the role. Talented candidates often articulate well-defined goals that reflect ambition and direction.
2. What are you really good at professionally?
   • This helps uncover a candidate’s core strengths. Strong candidates will provide specific examples of skills or achievements that align with the scorecard’s requirements.
3. What are you not good at or not interested in?
   • Honest answers here can indicate self-awareness and willingness to focus on their strengths. Candidates who disguise weaknesses as strengths might lack authenticity.
4. Who were your last five bosses, and how will they rate your performance?
   • This question sets the stage for reference checks, encouraging honesty. Candidates who hesitate or give vague answers may be hiding issues in past roles.

Topgrading Interview

The Topgrading Interview is the cornerstone of the A Method. This in-depth, chronological review of the candidate’s career reveals patterns of success and challenges:

1. What were you hired to do?
   • This question assesses whether the candidate’s past roles align with their stated strengths and the scorecard’s mission.
2. What accomplishments are you most proud of?
   • A Players highlight measurable results and tie them to job expectations, while weaker candidates may focus on generalities.
3. What were some low points during that job?
   • Asking about challenges uncovers resilience and how candidates handle adversity.
4. Who were the people you worked with, and how would they rate your performance?
   • This reveals interpersonal skills and the candidate’s ability to work in a team. It also provides reference points for verification.
5. Why did you leave that job?
   • This helps identify push versus pull motivations. A Players often leave for better opportunities, while weaker candidates may leave due to performance issues.

Focused Interview

The focused interview hones in on the scorecard’s outcomes and competencies. By asking targeted behavioral questions, interviewers can evaluate how candidates have demonstrated specific traits in real-world scenarios. For example, if persistence is a required competency, the interviewer might ask: “Tell me about a time when you faced a significant obstacle and how you overcame it.”

This stage ensures alignment between the candidate’s past behavior and the role’s demands.

Reference Interview

The reference interview validates the findings from previous stages. It’s critical to:

1. Select references based on the candidate’s past roles and relationships.
2. Ask direct, open-ended questions like:
   • In what context did you work with the person?
   • What were the person’s biggest strengths?
   • What were their biggest areas for improvement?
   • How would you rate their overall performance?
   • The candidate mentioned they struggled with ____. Can you elaborate?‍

This process ensures consistency and helps identify discrepancies in the candidate’s narrative.

4. Sell: Closing the Deal

Convincing top candidates to join your team requires addressing the five F’s. These factors are crucial for attracting and retaining A Players:

1. Fit:
   • A Players need to see how their personal goals and values align with your organization’s mission, strategy, and culture. Demonstrating alignment builds trust and ensures the candidate envisions a future with your company. Highlight how their skills will directly contribute to the organization’s success.
2. Family:
   • Relocation or a career change impacts a candidate’s family as much as it affects them. By addressing family needs—such as housing, schools, and community integration—you show that you care about their well-being beyond the workplace. Providing resources or tours for families during the hiring process can be a deciding factor for candidates with families.
3. Freedom:
   • A Players thrive in environments where they have autonomy to innovate and make meaningful contributions. Micromanagement can drive away top talent, so it’s essential to communicate how your organization supports independent decision-making and leadership development.
4. Fortune:
   • While compensation alone rarely motivates A Players, they do expect fair and performance-based rewards. Linking bonuses, stock options, or other financial incentives to measurable outcomes from the scorecard ensures that they feel valued and motivated.
5. Fun:
   • The workplace environment and culture play a significant role in retaining top talent. A Players seek engaging and enjoyable work environments that foster collaboration, camaraderie, and shared success. Highlight team events, workplace perks, or opportunities for personal and professional growth.Every manager knows that hiring is a tricky process with little room for error. A single bad hire can lower productivity, drive away customers, and poison morale. The average hiring mistake costs a company $1.5 million or more in hard costs and countless wasted hours. Alarmingly, the estimated hiring success rate for the typical manager is only 50 percent.

By addressing these five F’s, you create an irresistible value proposition for A Players, ensuring they not only accept your offer but also remain committed for the long term.

Finding and Evaluating A Players

An A Player has at least a 90 percent chance of achieving outcomes that only the top 10 percent of candidates could accomplish. Identifying these high-caliber candidates requires a proactive and methodical approach:

• Use Referrals: The most effective way to find A Players is through referrals. Talented people typically associate with other high performers. Encourage your current employees, professional network, and trusted colleagues to recommend candidates who meet the role’s scorecard requirements.
• Structured Sourcing Processes: Go beyond job boards by leveraging professional organizations, LinkedIn, and industry events to connect with top talent. Clearly define your role and expectations in all outreach efforts to attract candidates who align with your needs.
• Conduct In-Depth Interviews: Use structured interviews to uncover patterns of past success and drive. For instance, Topgrading interviews help identify candidates who consistently deliver results, while focused interviews assess their alignment with the scorecard’s outcomes and competencies.
• Regularly Update Scorecards: Ensure your hiring benchmarks stay relevant by revisiting scorecards periodically. As company goals evolve, so too should the competencies and outcomes you prioritize for each role.

By prioritizing these practices, you can build a pipeline of A Players ready to step into key positions, ensuring a smoother and more effective hiring process.

The Impact of Good Hiring

Hiring A Players is transformative for organizations. These individuals do more than just meet expectations—they elevate entire teams and contribute to a thriving company culture. Here’s why hiring the right people matters:

• Alignment of Talent with Strategy: A Players not only excel in their roles but also align their efforts with the company’s strategic goals. They act as catalysts, driving projects and initiatives that have a meaningful impact.
• Improved Productivity and Innovation: High-performing employees consistently exceed expectations, inspire their colleagues, and foster innovation. Their drive and creativity often lead to breakthroughs that benefit the organization as a whole.
• Reduced Turnover and Costs: Hiring A Players reduces the need for constant rehiring and retraining. These employees are more likely to stay with the company, resulting in significant savings in recruitment and onboarding costs.
• Enhanced Culture and Morale: A Players elevate the workplace environment. Their presence motivates others, sets a higher standard for performance, and reinforces a culture of excellence.

The A Method ensures that organizations can reliably identify and secure these top performers, making hiring less of a gamble and more of a strategic advantage.

Legal Considerations

Navigating the legal aspects of hiring is critical to avoid costly mistakes and maintain fairness throughout the process. Here are key considerations to keep in mind:

1. Focus on Job-Related Criteria: Ensure that all hiring decisions are based on the competencies and outcomes defined in the scorecard. Avoid evaluating candidates on irrelevant factors that could lead to bias or discrimination.
2. Standardized Processes: Use a consistent hiring process for all candidates. This includes structured interviews, defined evaluation criteria, and uniform scoring methods. Standardization minimizes bias and ensures fairness.
3. Avoid Inappropriate Questions: Be mindful of legal restrictions on certain interview questions. For example, in the United States, avoid asking about marital status, age, religion, or other personal information that is unrelated to the job.
4. Consult HR and Legal Teams: Before implementing new hiring practices or making final decisions, seek guidance from HR and legal experts. They can help ensure compliance with local labor laws and best practices.

By adhering to these principles, organizations can protect themselves from legal risks while fostering an equitable hiring process.

Conclusion

Hiring is one of the most critical decisions a manager makes. Who: The A Method for Hiring provides a proven framework to build high-performing teams and avoid costly mistakes. By following the A Method, managers can ensure their organizations thrive with the right people in the right roles. The strategic use of scorecards, sourcing, structured interviews, and thoughtful selling creates a process that not only identifies top talent but also sets them up for long-term success.