Should Board Members and Investors Be Involved in Interviewing?
Your Title Goes Here
Transcript
Matt Lewers: Welcome to the Blueprint Round Table. I’ve got my business partners, Krissy Manzano and Chuck Brotman today. In today’s question, should board members and or investors be a part of the hiring process when hiring for individual contributors? Krissy, I’m gonna kick it to you first.
Krissy Manzano: So my, if I’m just to give a yes, no response right off the bat, it’s no. And I’ll explain why, although there’s always nothing is black and white, so it’s not a hundred percent no all the, or no a hundred percent of the time, but majority of the time. Just having experience with this and seeing it.
Krissy Manzano: So I think, like I understand when companies are small, we’ll go back to like why, this happens. When companies are smaller and they have less resources. You see this happen because they don’t have a team to interview, right? And so you’re wanting to get other people’s perspective, which is totally understandable and fair. And you have board members and investors who will often say like, one, they obviously know your company. They invested in it, they’re invested in its growth and it being successful. And many of them can often, have background of managing teams, or I hired all these people and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Krissy Manzano: Right? But having been through this multiple times, it almost never works. And the reason why is for a couple of reasons. One, board members and investors are not involved in the day-to-day, no matter how much they want the company to succeed, and no matter how much they have personally invested. There’s an emotional tie to it for them at another level that is very different than I’m managing a team. When I’m a board member or I’m an investor, it’s a very different position in how you interview and assess than as a hiring manager. And that’s one. Number two, what I find hiring managers, including CEOs that will even do this is the hi, the board member and the investor are often they’re not a part because they’re not a part of the day today.
Krissy Manzano: They’re not a part of the hiring process when it comes to like, okay, this is what you’re assessing for and you’re assessing for. So they just gotta kind of go with whatever questions they wanna ask. It’s around their schedule, which is very busy because it’s probably is not the only company that they’re investing in.
Krissy Manzano: Right. And so everyone else that’s a part of the hiring process ends up not really assessing. They’re assessing for what they think the board member will like or what the investor will like. And what I’ve told executives and what I told people going through that is listen, because they’re often not aligned in what they want.
Krissy Manzano: And it becomes like an ego power thing that’s happening. And what I’ve told them is like, listen, if you hire the wrong person, that doesn’t work out, they’re not going to care. The investor and board member, that they’re the ones that said yes to themy the responsibility and accountability still goes on you.
Krissy Manzano: And so it just becomes this dynamic where like the people that have the power and the final Yes, are the ones that are not gonna be onboarding them. They’re not gonna be overly investing in them. And so it just doesn’t, I get the reality of what it looks like on paper, but that’s not actually how it plays out.
Krissy Manzano: And so, That’s why I don’t think they should be involved in the, in interview process for ICs for executives. Sure. You know, for senior leaders, sure. Because they can be a selling point. But when it comes to ICs, I think it is incredibly time consuming. There’s often a ton of misalignment and it’s not effective. Chuck?
Chuck Brotman: Yeah, I think you make some good points. Although I think, I also wonder if you’re sort of mixing, bad practice with the practice altogether. I certainly think it, it can be, so my answer is it depends, but in many cases I think it’s a great idea to invite, one of your investors to participate in the hiring process for even an individual contributor, particularly if you’re an early stage company, and this is a kind of a founding IC role, whether for sales or customer success, and these are really important hires, but I think to all of your good points, when you do this, it’s imperative that you treat them as an extension of your org and the process, and not simply as a heavyweight that you assume, right? Assumptions are bad in recruiting and hiring and in sales and everything else. So you can’t operate on assumptions. And if you’re bringing them in as an extension of your team to help assess and close candidates, you need to be clear and specific on what you expect from them, why, where you want their feedback before you go live with the search and bringing them in.
Chuck Brotman: And then you bring them in accordingly and as best as you can, hold them to the standards that you’ve set for that role in the process. And in some cases, maybe you’re inviting them, to simply help, sell a candidate because of their ability to talk about why they made an investment in your organization, where they see opportunity in the market.
Chuck Brotman: I mean, a lot of that can be, also super valuable for candidates as well, who often don’t get those opportunities. Right. So we’re talking about this as if it’s only about, you being rigorous and you know, and avoiding mistakes. But it can also be a great way to give candidates access to, senior influences on your business.
Chuck Brotman: Starting with your board members and your investors. So like, with everything it has to be done the right way. And we’ve talked about this in prior episodes and some of our content, similar to when you bring in an executive on to assess candid, it’s like, don’t assume that they’re just gonna to competently come up with their own assessment standards. You need to understand what they’re looking for and why. And if you’ve got concerns that it’s misaligned with, you know what you’re assessing for. You had that conversation early versus later. So I think the same concept applies here.
Krissy Manzano: Maybe
Chuck Brotman: you’re right Krissy, we’ve seen it the limited times we’ve seen, it tends to be some of the very early stage companies that we’ve recruited for, and it has more often than not, gone a little sideways. But I think that’s more a reflection of some kind of maturity considerations, I think. I think the practice itself can be great. Just needs to be done the right way.
Krissy Manzano: Well, I think, I mean, I even remember sending a candidate to a CEO, like, I mean, when I was a hiring manager and they didn’t like them, and even though I’d sent other great candidates and we got a ton of people hired, I remember feeling like so nervous to send the, like there is this kind of like power imbalance of, and, but what I would say is if you are, you feel like you have to bring in a board member or you have to bring in an investor. You need to make sure that you can own that process. If you
Chuck Brotman: Yeah.
Krissy Manzano: if you feel like their feedback is gonna change what you look for in a negative way, or that it’s gonna be hard to keep them aligned or they’re not really like, you know, like, sorry, Mr. CEO, but I’m not gonna like sit here and go over these four questions I’ve been interviewing forever and you can’t like reign, you don’t think you’re gonna be able to reign them in.
Krissy Manzano: Then I would say it is so much better to like, work with like a consultant that can come in an interview, a recruiter, whomever, than to use them because they will delay your process and they will absolutely like not strengthen your candidate pool of finding the right people.
Chuck Brotman: Yeah, you have, I mean, you have to have, you have to have upfront alignment on what are the competencies and behaviors that are being assessed and how they’re gonna go about that. And what they’re gonna look for. And then from there, right? I, you also have to be open to the fact that they may come back and call out some things that you hadn’t seen, right?
Chuck Brotman: It’s not always gonna be simply blessing, or can I do think at a certain level, It’s worth noting that, sometimes you will get feedback that we’ll call into question, your assessment to date, right? It may lead you to go in a different direction, that’s okay. But you need to know what they’re going in to assess and why.
Chuck Brotman: And there should be some alignment. There’s not, that’s a conversation that, you wanna have You know, whether it’s using executives as an intermediary or your direct manager, right? I mean, obviously you need to be respectful of, senior investors and the like, but you have to be aligned, right?
Krissy Manzano: Yep, totally.
Chuck Brotman: There you have it.
Matt Lewers: Well, thank you both for your time and your inputs. We’ll chat again next week.
Show Summary
In this thought-provoking podcast episode, Matt Lewers, Krissy Manzano, and Chuck Brotman delve into a pressing question that many businesses face: Should board members and investors be part of the hiring process for individual contributors? Join the conversation as they explore the pros and cons of involving high-level stakeholders in the hiring process.
Discover the nuances, challenges, and considerations surrounding this topic as the team engages in a lively discussion.
Whether you’re a hiring manager, a business owner, or simply interested in the dynamics of building a team, this episode offers valuable insights into the role of board members and investors in the hiring process for individual contributors.
Your Title Goes Here
Transcript
Matt Lewers: Welcome to the Blueprint Round Table. I’ve got my business partners, Krissy Manzano and Chuck Brotman today. In today’s question, should board members and or investors be a part of the hiring process when hiring for individual contributors? Krissy, I’m gonna kick it to you first.
Krissy Manzano: So my, if I’m just to give a yes, no response right off the bat, it’s no. And I’ll explain why, although there’s always nothing is black and white, so it’s not a hundred percent no all the, or no a hundred percent of the time, but majority of the time. Just having experience with this and seeing it.
Krissy Manzano: So I think, like I understand when companies are small, we’ll go back to like why, this happens. When companies are smaller and they have less resources. You see this happen because they don’t have a team to interview, right? And so you’re wanting to get other people’s perspective, which is totally understandable and fair. And you have board members and investors who will often say like, one, they obviously know your company. They invested in it, they’re invested in its growth and it being successful. And many of them can often, have background of managing teams, or I hired all these people and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Krissy Manzano: Right? But having been through this multiple times, it almost never works. And the reason why is for a couple of reasons. One, board members and investors are not involved in the day-to-day, no matter how much they want the company to succeed, and no matter how much they have personally invested. There’s an emotional tie to it for them at another level that is very different than I’m managing a team. When I’m a board member or I’m an investor, it’s a very different position in how you interview and assess than as a hiring manager. And that’s one. Number two, what I find hiring managers, including CEOs that will even do this is the hi, the board member and the investor are often they’re not a part because they’re not a part of the day today.
Krissy Manzano: They’re not a part of the hiring process when it comes to like, okay, this is what you’re assessing for and you’re assessing for. So they just gotta kind of go with whatever questions they wanna ask. It’s around their schedule, which is very busy because it’s probably is not the only company that they’re investing in.
Krissy Manzano: Right. And so everyone else that’s a part of the hiring process ends up not really assessing. They’re assessing for what they think the board member will like or what the investor will like. And what I’ve told executives and what I told people going through that is listen, because they’re often not aligned in what they want.
Krissy Manzano: And it becomes like an ego power thing that’s happening. And what I’ve told them is like, listen, if you hire the wrong person, that doesn’t work out, they’re not going to care. The investor and board member, that they’re the ones that said yes to themy the responsibility and accountability still goes on you.
Krissy Manzano: And so it just becomes this dynamic where like the people that have the power and the final Yes, are the ones that are not gonna be onboarding them. They’re not gonna be overly investing in them. And so it just doesn’t, I get the reality of what it looks like on paper, but that’s not actually how it plays out.
Krissy Manzano: And so, That’s why I don’t think they should be involved in the, in interview process for ICs for executives. Sure. You know, for senior leaders, sure. Because they can be a selling point. But when it comes to ICs, I think it is incredibly time consuming. There’s often a ton of misalignment and it’s not effective. Chuck?
Chuck Brotman: Yeah, I think you make some good points. Although I think, I also wonder if you’re sort of mixing, bad practice with the practice altogether. I certainly think it, it can be, so my answer is it depends, but in many cases I think it’s a great idea to invite, one of your investors to participate in the hiring process for even an individual contributor, particularly if you’re an early stage company, and this is a kind of a founding IC role, whether for sales or customer success, and these are really important hires, but I think to all of your good points, when you do this, it’s imperative that you treat them as an extension of your org and the process, and not simply as a heavyweight that you assume, right? Assumptions are bad in recruiting and hiring and in sales and everything else. So you can’t operate on assumptions. And if you’re bringing them in as an extension of your team to help assess and close candidates, you need to be clear and specific on what you expect from them, why, where you want their feedback before you go live with the search and bringing them in.
Chuck Brotman: And then you bring them in accordingly and as best as you can, hold them to the standards that you’ve set for that role in the process. And in some cases, maybe you’re inviting them, to simply help, sell a candidate because of their ability to talk about why they made an investment in your organization, where they see opportunity in the market.
Chuck Brotman: I mean, a lot of that can be, also super valuable for candidates as well, who often don’t get those opportunities. Right. So we’re talking about this as if it’s only about, you being rigorous and you know, and avoiding mistakes. But it can also be a great way to give candidates access to, senior influences on your business.
Chuck Brotman: Starting with your board members and your investors. So like, with everything it has to be done the right way. And we’ve talked about this in prior episodes and some of our content, similar to when you bring in an executive on to assess candid, it’s like, don’t assume that they’re just gonna to competently come up with their own assessment standards. You need to understand what they’re looking for and why. And if you’ve got concerns that it’s misaligned with, you know what you’re assessing for. You had that conversation early versus later. So I think the same concept applies here.
Krissy Manzano: Maybe
Chuck Brotman: you’re right Krissy, we’ve seen it the limited times we’ve seen, it tends to be some of the very early stage companies that we’ve recruited for, and it has more often than not, gone a little sideways. But I think that’s more a reflection of some kind of maturity considerations, I think. I think the practice itself can be great. Just needs to be done the right way.
Krissy Manzano: Well, I think, I mean, I even remember sending a candidate to a CEO, like, I mean, when I was a hiring manager and they didn’t like them, and even though I’d sent other great candidates and we got a ton of people hired, I remember feeling like so nervous to send the, like there is this kind of like power imbalance of, and, but what I would say is if you are, you feel like you have to bring in a board member or you have to bring in an investor. You need to make sure that you can own that process. If you
Chuck Brotman: Yeah.
Krissy Manzano: if you feel like their feedback is gonna change what you look for in a negative way, or that it’s gonna be hard to keep them aligned or they’re not really like, you know, like, sorry, Mr. CEO, but I’m not gonna like sit here and go over these four questions I’ve been interviewing forever and you can’t like reign, you don’t think you’re gonna be able to reign them in.
Krissy Manzano: Then I would say it is so much better to like, work with like a consultant that can come in an interview, a recruiter, whomever, than to use them because they will delay your process and they will absolutely like not strengthen your candidate pool of finding the right people.
Chuck Brotman: Yeah, you have, I mean, you have to have, you have to have upfront alignment on what are the competencies and behaviors that are being assessed and how they’re gonna go about that. And what they’re gonna look for. And then from there, right? I, you also have to be open to the fact that they may come back and call out some things that you hadn’t seen, right?
Chuck Brotman: It’s not always gonna be simply blessing, or can I do think at a certain level, It’s worth noting that, sometimes you will get feedback that we’ll call into question, your assessment to date, right? It may lead you to go in a different direction, that’s okay. But you need to know what they’re going in to assess and why.
Chuck Brotman: And there should be some alignment. There’s not, that’s a conversation that, you wanna have You know, whether it’s using executives as an intermediary or your direct manager, right? I mean, obviously you need to be respectful of, senior investors and the like, but you have to be aligned, right?
Krissy Manzano: Yep, totally.
Chuck Brotman: There you have it.
Matt Lewers: Well, thank you both for your time and your inputs. We’ll chat again next week.
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How do you charge for your services?
We have multiple services packages, depending on the needs of our clients. Please reach out to us for more information, and see our sales recruitment services page for a breakdown of our packages.
Do you recruit outside of the US and Canada?
What roles do you recruit?
- Customer Success: Standard, Senior, and Principal Customer Success Managers, Onboarding Specialists, Implementation Managers, Community, Customer Support, & Solutions Architects
- Marketing: Growth & Demand Generation Marketing, ABM, Events, and Content / SEO Marketing
- Sales: Sales Development, SMB, Commercial, Mid-Market, Enterprise, and Strategic Account Executives
- Account Management
- Revenue Operations and Enablement: Marketing, CS, and Sales Operations
- Solutions Engineering and Post-Sales Solutions Architects
- GTM Leadership: Front-line, second-line, VP, and SVP / C Level placements (CRO, CMO, COO)
I've worked with so many headhunters and recruiting firms. What makes you different?
Put simply, we aspire to be as proficient in articulating your business value prop as your internal employees. Exceptional talent does not want to speak with “head-hunters;” instead, they want to connect with educated ambassadors of your business and your brand about meaningful career opportunities.
We go deep on your business and into talent markets to foster connections that other recruiting firms tend to miss. And we work with our hiring clients to ensure excellence in their hiring process. Please reach out to us for more information!
Is SaaS experience important when hiring?
Hmm, what does this mean anyhow?! We recommend defining the skills and behaviors sought before running a search rather than using buzzwords or phrases from other people’s job descriptions. We help employees go beyond acronyms to ensure they develop robust job descriptions that tie to specific candidate profiles for targeting in the market. Need help? Let us know!