Tips From Jason Calacanis On Outsourcing

Having a nuanced approach and opinion on outsourcing can help you scale a bootstrapped startup

Photo by Eugenio Pastoral on Unsplash

Hiring Team Members, Not Contractors

Ways to screen for great candidates (both in Asia and in the States)

  1. ATS. Consider automated screening using applicant tracking systems (ATS) to store and manage your resumes. There is a wide variety of options for enterprise-sized companies, but if you’re a startup you may want to consider a tool like https://breezy.hr/
  2. Personality Tests. Personality tests are not as helpful in screening for good employees as they are in identifying bad ones. There are many different personality tests available online, but most are highly subjective and favor certain types of personalities over others. I’m currently using Wonscore which is helpful in understanding a candidates traits, but we don’t use it as the end-all-be-all factor in our hiring process.
  3. Screening using social networks. The fact that so many people have social media accounts means that they are willing to share a lot about themselves. This includes their education, location, industry, work history and other information that is useful when screening candidates. While some advise against using social networks as a screening tool, often times you’ll gain significant insight into a candidate that you otherwise wouldn’t if you were assessing them on resume and interview alone.
  4. Zoom interviews. Zoom interviews are absolutely critical for hiring remote employees, regardless of whether you’re hiring for a high-level/full-time job, or a task-based contract gig. Being able to see someone’s face and investing the time into assessing cultural fit and other intangibles will save you a lot of time and stress down the road. It is very tempting for new entrepreneurs to jump on Fiver or Upwork and simply hire the cheapest, highest-rated remote worker, but I’ve learned (the hard way) that this is a highly detrimental, ill-informed practice. On the other hand, in-person/Zoom interviews are time consuming and cannot be done with all potential candidates, so pre-screening with some of the tips above can certainly help save you time and money.
  5. Background checks. The results of a background check can help you determine if you want to interview a candidate or disqualify them based on certain criminal offenses. However, background checks will not tell you if a candidate is trustworthy, or if he or she will be a good fit for your company culture. Background checks may not always be necessary for remote employees; however, if you hire an employee who will be interacting with clients or working in an office setting, you should consider running a background check on the candidate before bringing them on board.

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CEO of Engaging.co - We make engaging customer experiences

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