This documents how we recruit, interview, and hire people for ZibaSec. It’s imperative that we strive to hire the best possible candidate for a given job. The odds of success go up with a specific process aimed at evaluating folks in an objective and unbiased manner.

As with all pieces of our handbook, it’s expected that this document evolves as our company evolves and improves.

Identify a Need

We are a small company, and we hope to stay small in terms of headcount for as long as possible. We should only seek to hire new folks when it makes sense.

Questions that can help determine true need include:

• Is it becoming increasingly difficult for one or more current ZibaSec staff members to keep up with a subset of their responsibilities due to being overloaded with work?
• Do one or more team members have to work extra hours to deliver quality work consistently?
• Will the potential job have sufficient work? In other words, is the need consistent enough? If there is a time-bound burst of extra work, it might make sense to outsource the work for 3 to 6 months instead.

Generally, founders are responsible for identifying needs, but anyone at ZibaSec should feel free to identify a need. Equally, if a founder puts out an idea for a new position, anyone should feel free to challenge the requirement if it doesn’t make sense.

Job Ad

Once a need has been established, the next step is to write a job description for our jobs repository.

There are core sections needed for every ad:

• A descriptive explanation of what the person in this role will do. Specific examples are more helpful than a generic description. For example, it’s possible to speak to a senior software engineer’s responsibilities in broad terms. However, that’s not useful to candidates in figuring out if the job is interesting to them. Provide details without disclosing intellectual property or confidential information.
• Due to our dependency on a PEO for payroll, we are unable to hire non-US citizens at this time. We must also exclude people from US territories.
• Core requirements must be specified. These are things that a candidate must have experience with for the job. For example, we’re highly unlikely to hire a candidate who has no experience with Git.
• Include bonus elements that can boost a candidate’s profile. For example, we may have a requirement for a senior Python developer in the future with the bonus skill of previous experience with Django (a framework we use in our flagship product). If two senior Python developers apply, but only one has had previous experience with Django, our decision would favor the latter candidate with this bonus skill. Be sure to make it obvious when a skill is a bonus versus a hard requirement.

Finding Suitable Candidates

Generally, sourcing your network is best. The longer you’ve worked in the tech industry, the more people you’ve had an opportunity to work with, and you’ve likely come across folks you’d like to work with again.

Keep in mind that 100% of candidates go through the same vetting process regardless of how well you know them. This policy provides multiple benefits. It reduces any biases in our hiring process, giving all candidates the fairest chance possible; and serves as a safeguard against claims of unfair hiring practices. It’s also the right thing to do.

Generally, we prefer people who can contribute to the diversity of thought and perspectives in our organization. As a company, we benefit directly from having employees who have diverse backgrounds, beliefs, cultural norms, and other differences. This is not intended to ignore or disqualify anyone. It is intended to encourage us to make efforts to look for future colleagues in places where there is a high chance of finding someone who can contribute an aspect of additional diversity to our team. Here are some ideas: