Although being named team captain was a thrill in elementary school, uncertainty always perplexed my seven year old self when I was forced to decide which of my peers would be best suited to capture the flag. 14 years later the shiny ‘C’ title no longer stands for captain and instead represents the CEOs Chase and I are fortunate to interview on 33Founders. After expanding Google’s Asia and Latin America presence to 103 countries, Sukhinder Singh Cassidy is an expert at growing teams and counts hiring as a CEOs most important task.
While outsourcing hiring can be beneficial for unknown domains, it’s impossible for a recruiter to pitch your vision with the same passion as you. Take Kevin Miller, the founder and CEO of LiveCode, who makes me smile each time he takes us back to his days coding as a 12 year old and dropping out of high school at 16 to start the company he’s still running today.
As she grows the team at her latest venture Joyus, Sukhinder relies on LinkedIn and references to target potential hires. By reaching out to individuals directly, on LinkedIn and through references, she demonstrates the high value she’s placed on an individual’s work and is likely to receive a response. Whether or not they accept your meeting, any individual will be flattered to be contacted by a founder or CEO of a company, not only due to the high level office but because the CEOs personal connection represents a company where the ownership mentality thrives.
Once she’s conducted the first meeting Sukhinder reaches out to a potential hire’s references, which she values as the top indicator of person’s work ethic. She shared that her best strategy to gauge it is asking a reference if the person resides in the top 1, 5 or 10 percent people they’ve hired – The answer will certainly inform your decision.
Sukhinder’s advice for startup CEOs to play an active role in hiring lends to Rytis Vitkauskas and Viktoras Jucikas fulfilling their commitment to meet each YPlan new hire, regardless of their rapid international expansion, and unveils the importance of valuing team members from day one. Whether she’s seeking a new host, designer or product manager, by the looks of the picture Sukhinder’s hiring strategies are bringing together a team that’s pretty happy to be there.
