hiring people, plastic chips and hamIn the start up phases of a company it’s always important to make sure that you have the right team working with you. After all, the success of any startup relies on the first members of the team. If your team can’t make decisions and execute on them, then the company is doomed from the beginning. One of my rules of thumb is: “hire someone you like, that’s not like you.” I’ll go into this a bit more later on in the post. Granted I haven’t hired many people yet, whenever I meet someone I always ask myself “can this person be a part of my team?” That being said, I decided to put together a list of a few things that I look for when hiring people. Hire someone that you like, that is not like you This means hiring someone that you connect with, someone whose personality you can blend with, and someone who think you can work with for a long period of time. However, this also means hiring someone who has a different skill set then you do. For example, I am not a very structured person, my mind is always racing around and it’s hard to keep track of things that need to get done, not to mention focus on reasonable timeliness. Thus the designer we (myself and the CEO) hired was a very organized and structured person. Whenever we have meetings she keeps thing in perspective. I ramble and tell her about my ideas and she says, “ok, let’s start with this first, then in two weeks we can do this.” This is what I mean by hiring someone you like that is not like you.

Different point of view

This may just be personal preference but along I like meeting (and hiring) people that have a different point of view on…well…pretty much anything. I’m not saying that I want to consistently debate and argue. But I don’t want someone that is always going to agree with me. I want someone that can offer a different point of view, someone that will make me look at things differently.

Diverse background

This is important to me. I would say I have quite a diverse background. Throughout my life I have worked at places such as: grocery stores, movie theaters, community centers, large investment banks, marketing agencies, startups, etc. I also do consulting work, am launching my own company, hold tech events in San Francisco (search marketing salon) and I write for a large social media/marketing blog (bub.blicio.us). My educational background is in business management economics and psychology. I have tried to get exposure in various industries and I am always trying to learn new things. I don’t mind working outside of my comfort zone. Now compare this to someone who has spent most of their time at the same job. Some people may like that, personally I don’t care for it. I would much rather prefer someone who is well rounded, someone who has experience working in different industries with different people. It gives people a better perspective when it comes time to make decisions. You can understand a problem from various vantage points and then make decisions accordingly. Again, this my personal preference.

Understands that you can do anything

think people need to give themselves more credit for what they are capable of doing. I like people who understand that anything can be done with determination, confidence, and persistence. I remember when I was in college I took 30 units one quarter and one of the classes was a grad level econ class. The adviser’s at the school wouldn’t let me take the class. Only after speaking with several people (including the head adviser) was I finally allowed to enroll. I was told that I wouldn’t do well, that I am taking on too much work, etc. Sure enough I worked my ass off and was able to get 2 A+’s and 4 solid A’s. Don’t let anybody tell you that something is too hard or that something can’t be done. You can do anything, and that is the attitude I look for. I like people who understand that they can do anything…anything!

Positive attitude

It’s always easy to get down on yourself when something doesn’t go your way, heck I’ve done it many times. It’s much harder to look at the positive side of a negative situation, there is always something to learn and something you can use to benefit you in the long run. I like people who face adversary with a smile, people who don’t mind the possibility of failure as long as they tried their best. Because you know what? Even if you fail you learn something, and in my book, that counts as win. This is not something that is easy to do and I don’t claim that I can always do it either, but I try.

I will leave it here for now and will continue the list on my next post. Think about a few things that you look for in people, not just in coworkers or employees, but in people in general. What characteristics or qualities do you most admire and why?

Thanks for reading!

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