William Wu Personal Blog

An entrepreneur’s initial challenge is to do two things: first, to envision the future and enroll people to make that future become reality, and second, to engage people in the business so that they see the organization’s success as the platform for their success.

To enroll people means that you need to recruit those who believe in your endeavor and can help you realize the dream. Anyone who has done a lot of recruiting knows that recruiting is really more of an art than a science; there is no hiring process that is going to be perfect all the time.  You have to develop your own ability and instinct by observing the success and failure of your past hires.  Some of your hires will be highly successful, but a few will not do that well. The goal is to consistent refine your effectiveness in screening candidates so you can continuously improve your hit rate.

Over the years, I have had many opportunities in hiring and recruiting people.  My early years at Microsoft gave me lots of practice about how to conduct good interviews and assess a person’s core skills.  Later when I became an “As Appropriate” (a term referring to the last hiring manager in the Microsoft Interview loop), I learned how to assess a candidate’s overall fitness for the company.

Recruiting at Microsoft, however, was very different from recruiting at a startup. At Microsoft, we had no shortage of people wanting to join.  Microsoft was and still is a top-rated, well-established company filled with exceptionally bright people and wonderful benefits. My success criterion as a Microsoft hiring manager was to hire only exceptionally qualified “A” players for the company.  My hiring philosophy is basically the classical “A + A = A.  Only Hire A’s” strategy.  Here, the first A is for “ability” and the second A is for “attitude.”  The right ability plus the right attitude adds up to an “A” player.  “A” players are smart, savvy, motivated, and hardworking, and, most importantly, they get the job done.   

David Ogilvy describes this type of hiring elegantly. “If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs.  But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.”

Later, when I started recruiting for our startup company, the simple “A + A = A” formula became necessary but not sufficient.  We cannot pretend that “A” players will naturally gravitate toward our little-known company, nor could we afford to hire all those “A” players at all cost.  Many A players don’t want to bet their careers on a small young company with lots of uncertainties and lesser benefits if job safety and the chance to work in a thousand-person team are at the top of their mind. We quickly realized that the people who will work for us are those like-minded people wanting to pursue an entrepreneurial career.  These people are confident in their own ability to succeed and are willing to take some risks for personal growth, financial upside and an environment where their efforts directly impact the success of the company. 

This realization has led me to come up with my own hiring philosophy now, one that caters more to the startup world.  I call this “the HAPPY Recruiting Principles”:

William Wu’s H.A.P.P.Y. Recruiting Principles

Here is a quick explanation of what the H.A.P.P.Y. stand for:

• “H” stands for “Hunger”.  This is the first thing that I look for to see if the candidate has an appetite for an entrepreneurial endeavor.  When animals go hunting together, those that are hungry tend to be in front of the pack.  Startups are all about hunting for new grounds, so we need those people who are willing to go all out to make things happen.  Our best employees are often those who have tried the hardest to convince us that they can do their jobs better than anyone else.  Their hunger and determination to join of our team often got me energized as well. 

Like Napolean Hill said, “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this in mind. Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small fire brings a small amount of heat.” We look for those with a lot of fires and desires.  Simply put, “No fire.  No hire!”

• “A” stands for candidate’s “Applicability”.  The applicability refers to the transferrable skills and knowledge possessed by a candidate that can be directly applied to the new job. Skills are the how-to’s of a role.  They are capabilities that can be transferred from one person to another. The knowledge is simply what a candidate is aware of.  There are 2 kinds of knowledge: factual – things a candidate knows; and experiential knowledge – a candidate past work experience.  Skills and knowledge can easily be taught. More applicability means less ramp-up time and easier adjustment into the role.   

• The first “P” is about a candidate’s natural talent which includes “Personality, Problem-solving and People Management”.
  • Personality reflects in a candidate’s striving talent. Some people are competitive in nature; others like to go with the flows.  Different roles require different types of personality to succeed.  Each personality comes with its strength and weakness. 
  • Problem solving reflects in a candidate’s thinking talent and the ability to navigate through tough technical challenges or business trade-offs daily.
  • People management reflects in a candidate’s ability to connect with other people and to work effectively with customers or other team members. 

These 3 P’s are neither trainable nor changeable. Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman’s excellent book First, Break All the Rules stressed on the importance of matching every role with the talents required to succeed. 

To quote from the book,
 “Great managers know:
People don’t change that much.
Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what was left in.
That is hard enough.”

As is often said by a basketball coach to his players, “I can teach you how to play great basketball, but I cannot make you taller.” 

What separates an “A” player from an ordinary player is that the player not only has the skills and knowledge, but also has the talent.  They are the Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods to their sports.  

• The 2nd “P” stands for “Passion”.  A truly outstanding candidate must love and be proud of his/her own profession. For example, great testers must enjoy the problem solving aspect of exercise that challenges them to break the system and find bugs before their target customers.

To quote E. M. Forster, “One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested.” Ralph Waldo Emerson also said, “Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.”  Passionate people are infectious people.  They raise the bar of excellence and lift the spirit of the entire organization.

• The final “Y” is about “YOU”, the candidate.  Yes, no one in the world can help a candidate to decide if he or she should join any company.  A candidate needs to ask himself or herself honestly:
  • “What’s unique requirement of the job that can stretch my ability and challenge me to grow out of my comfortable zone?”
  • “What is the culture of the organization and the key people that I will work with and can I learn from them?”
  • “Do I fundamentally believe in this company’s vision and where it is going?  Do I understand the marketing forces in this company’s industry, including competitions, eco-systems and trends?”
  • “Does this job uniquely reflect my interests, skills, talents, capacities and match my true passion?”
  • “Do I have the support of my loved ones to pursue this career path?”
  • “Does my conscience tell me this is a career pursuit worthy of being committed to?”

Only the candidate can truly answer these questions.

Like Andre Gide said, “Do you think your truth can be found by anyone else?”

The HAPPY framework allows a candidate and me to discuss frankly about the mutual interests and possibilities.  When we both feel right, it creates a win-win situation for everyone. 

HAPPY recruiting!