I recently spent 10 minutes and hired the perfect candidate for an open position I had. There was no need for recruiters, having multiple rounds of day-long interviews, testing to confirm knowledge of the concepts, etc. A simple, functional job description was all that was needed.

First, create a functional job description for the position. Think of the perfect person for the job, then start describing the things they know and do. Put that down as your job requirements. Here’s the technical support job requirements I recently used:

If you can answer “Yes” to any 5 or more of the following, WE WANT YOU!

• Be super comfortable explaining technical steps by phone, email, chat.
• Know the difference between a router and a switch.
• Have had your own hosting account with multiple web sites.
• Have set up a home network with multiples computers.
• Have set up a server on your own, just for fun.
• Can name at least three different Linux distributions.
• Don’t use 192.168.X.X in your own home network.
• Read Wikis and search on Google before asking questions.
• Think you type fast.

3 Minute Resume Review

Review all resumes received and reply to those who you feel are the best fit with the template email that includes an overview of the company philosophy, the ideals of your team or department and a typical day-to-day review of tasks associated with the position. This will give the candidate a better overview of the team they’re looking to join and the work that they would be doing day in, day out.

7 Minute Audition - The Actual In-Person Interview

The actual interview, by now, should really be just an audition to verify how well the candidate will fit in the company environment and the team in general. You already know their skills, abilities, qualifications. They should already know about the company, the job, and the overall philosophy of the team, so there’s no need to spend time on that. Give them 7 minutes to talk about themselves, their background, what excites them, projects they’ve loved working on, and how they feel about their field of work. At the end of 7 minutes you should be able get a good sense for the personality of the individual and how well they will fit in. You’re ready to either move forward with the hire of the candidate or move on to someone else.

That’s it. In the future, the job requirements are already in place, the template follow-up email is already created. Any new hires for that particular position take just 10 minutes of your time. 3 minutes of follow up with potential candidates, 7 minutes of actual candidate interview.

 

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