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Hiring Theses

Hiring exceptional candidates is hard. In previous posts I have written about how one might go about identifying and interviewing strong candidates consistently.

In this post I would like to share a technique at the final stage of the hiring process that I have seen used at Palantir and Protocol Labs, and have found to be quite effective - namely, the hiring thesis.

What is a Hiring Thesis?

A hiring thesis is a comprehensive document prepared by the hiring manager after making a decision to hire a candidate. It serves as a summary of why they chose this particular individual, highlighting their strengths and qualities that make them an ideal fit for the company.

This is not just a list of their strengths and weaknesses but a nuanced and thoughtful document.

Key components of a good Hiring Thesis

  • What projects or workstreams will this candidate have an outsized impact on? And what specific qualities will make that happen?
  • What is this candidate's ceiling? Is that an acceptable level and why?
  • What is this candidate's kryptonite? What projects/people should this candidate absolutely not work on/with?
  • What is the best case scenario?
  • What is the worst case scenario? How might we mitigate this?
  • Any advice for managers about what to look out for to help this person succeed?

Why is a Hiring Thesis important?

It might seem like a lot of overhead to write this document for every hire, however, it is a useful exercise for multiple reasons.

  • It increases confidence in the hiring decision by forcing you to consider multiple different scenarios
  • It provides as a guide for their manager for things to watch out for, staffing decisions etc.
  • It builds up a knowledge asset for the company and helps calibrate future interviewers/hiring managers.
  • Parts of the hiring thesis could also be used as a sell chat for the candidate!

Conclusion

The hiring thesis is a powerful tool that can significantly enhance your hiring process and set new team members up for success. By taking the time to articulate your thoughts and expectations for each new hire, you create a valuable resource that benefits not just the individual, but the entire organization.

Implementing a hiring thesis process may require some initial effort, but the long-term benefits far outweigh the investment. It promotes more thoughtful decision-making, provides a roadmap for employee development, and contributes to a culture of intentional growth within your company.

Ultimately, the hiring thesis is more than just a document—it's a commitment to nurturing talent and fostering an environment where both individuals and the company can thrive. By adopting this approach, you're not just filling positions; you're strategically building the future of your organization, one carefully considered hire at a time.

Get in touch by emailing me@anjor.xyz if you are an early stage startup looking to improve your hiring process.

How did Palantir hire so well?

I have written before about the Forward Deployed Engineer profile, and how hiring for that profile can be highly impactful for a company -- Palantir being a great example. In that blog post I also wrote a bit about how to hire FDEs. But honestly, re-reading that post I realised that the framework I wrote down though helpful to orient, does not give the means to assess whether or not your hiring is going well.

One Hiring Manager

That got me thinking -- how did Palantir do it so well? What was the secret? Unfortunately, the answer is not an easy one. Palantir did things that do not scale for their hiring. During the time I interviewed there, there was 1 hiring manager for all engineering hires. This one individual was responsible for:

  • Gathering feedback from all the on-site interviews a candidate has been through: 3 per candidate.
  • Based on the synthesised feedback, design a bespoke hiring manager interview for the candidate that would gather signal that was missed during the on-site interviews.
  • After the interview, if decided to hire the candidate, write a thorough hiring thesis for the candidate.

These were just the actual interviewing responsibilities. This same hiring manager was also the lead for the whole recruiting machinery:

  • Working with recruiters to put together top of the funnel strategy.
  • Working with leadership and resourcing to understand headcount and/or specific geographical/profile needs.
  • Designing and running the internship program.
  • And most importantly recruit and calibrate new interviewers.

Conclusion

By centralising the hiring function there was immense quality control over the hiring. But as you can imagine, it is hard work and can result in the individual burning out.

Like any other aspect of building a startup, this is a tradeoff. At early stage companies I do recommend founders and/or founding team to be involved in hiring as much as possible. You know your company and its culture better than anyone else. As you scale, if you can find an individual who is willing to take on the hiring function and keep it centralised as much as possible that is ideal for maintaining high quality bar.

Need Help with Your Hiring Strategy?

If you're looking to improve your company's hiring process, I can help. I offer:

  • Tailored hiring strategy development
  • Interviewer training and calibration
  • Guidance on building a hiring function

Whether you're a startup founder or an HR leader in a growing company, let's discuss how to elevate your hiring to the next level. Contact me for a free consultation.

Taking bets on candidates

Hiring for early stage companies is hard. You are competing for strong talent against a ton of other companies. As a founder or a hiring manager, your ability to identify candidates to take a bet on can be an asset.

I was a bet candidate

I was a bet hire at Palantir. I didn't have a standard background - since the age of 13 I had always wanted to study Physics and no one could have convinced me otherwise. Because of this I didn't even consider studying anything else. I learnt programming to simulate physics systems, and to analyse and visualise the simulation data. I did not work on side projects or build things for fun. I had done no internships. I had zero experience in tech before joining Palantir.

I still remember my interviews. I could tell that I didn't know enough, but I could also tell that I enjoyed engaging with the questions I was being asked, and I think my genuine interest and engagement with the problems came through.

I was lucky that the hiring manager could see my potential and decided to take a bet on me. Or maybe it had nothing to do with luck, and this was just a reflection of the high-trust high-autonomy culture at Palantir.

Relate to the candidate

Going back to the essentials from the FDE hiring post - those qualities have nothing to do with the tactical specifics of what the candidate knows, and everything to do with who they are as a person. During the interview, you need to relate to the candidate, get to know them as a person and only then you may find out what makes them tick. What are their spikes and what are their kryptonites.

If they are engaged and demonstrate first-principles understanding of the problem, they are probably going to be successful. On the other hand, if they are not engaged and keep trying to reverse-guess what you want to hear from them, maybe not.

An example of a good interview

There is this one interview I shadowed at Palantir that has stuck with me as a master-class in interviewing. The candidate was super passive and giving monosyllabic answers. It was really hard to break through. The interviewer kept asking different questions about their background persistently, trying to get to a topic they would enjoy talking about. Eventually, the interviewer succeeded - the candidate opened up when talking about their interest in foreign films and how that relates to them learning new languages.

It was an absolutely incredible interview. It took a lot of effort but the interviewer finally did manage to relate to the candidate, and understood a bit more about how they could be successful.

Don't shy away from going off-road

The key takeaway is to get to know the candidate. They are a person. They are going to have things that engage them, and things they struggle with. Guide the interview to a place where you find common ground to help the candidate open up. Don't worry about the tactical specifics of what you want to hear from them. Take copious notes or use a tool like Metaview1 and you can always synthesise later.

To conclude

Taking bets on candidates can be a powerful strategy for early-stage companies looking to build exceptional teams. By focusing on a candidate's potential, engagement, and personal qualities rather than just their technical skills or traditional qualifications, you can uncover hidden gems that others might overlook. Remember, the goal is to identify individuals who can grow with your company and contribute meaningfully to its success. As you interview, be willing to go off-script, relate to the candidate on a personal level, and look for signs of genuine interest and problem-solving ability. These "bet candidates" often bring fresh perspectives and a strong drive to succeed, potentially becoming some of your most valuable team members.

Get in touch if you would like to discuss this topic further, or if you think I could help with your hiring process.

  1. I know a cofounder of Metaview personally, but this post was not sponsored by them in any way. Nor do I know if they agree with the thoughts in this post. I genuinely think it's a great product! ↩↩

Forward Deployed Engineers and how to hire them

Hiring multi-faceted people who can straddle the boundaries of technical and business problems can be a huge asset for organizations. I met and worked with many such people during my time at Palantir. I also hired a lot of them. This post is about learnings from my time at Palantir as a Hiring Manager for FDEs.

What is an FDE?

A Forward Deployed Engineer is a unique role that Palantir has. The linked blog post is a great intro to the role and what a day in the life of an FDE looks like, but I want to share my perspective and my experience as an FDE, and an FDE hiring manager.

FDEs are generalist problem solvers with technical skills, with a focus on solving important problems. They are able to identify high value problem solving that will have immense business impact -- this requires strong business intuition as well as high user empathy. They are also unfazed by chaos and complexity. In fact, they thrive in environments where there is a lot of uncertainty.

As you can imagine FDEs are notoriously hard to hire. As an interviewer, you are looking for someone who is not set in their ways, but has a high ability to learn and grow. This individual may not necessarily be super experienced -- in fact, in a lot of cases, they will be just starting.

high slope

How to hire them?

I usually think about hiring in terms of Essentials and Unforgivables - qualities that the candidate must have and absolutely should not have.

Essentials:

  • Outcome Oriented: Always keep the goal in mind, always seek to solve problems.
  • Critical Thinker: Not afraid to question authority, and someone who can judge ideas on their own merits.
  • High Chaos Ceiling: Doesn't struggle with ambiguity and chaos.
  • Gritty: This isn't necessarily synonymous with hard worker, though there is a high correlation. Someone who isn't afraid to scale the mountain.

Unforgivables:

  • Goes after the shiny thing: This is the opposite of outcome oriented. Someone who doesn't tie their work to impact.
  • Passive: They tend to wait to be told what to do, and not seek out opportunities to solve problems.
  • Entitled: High maintenance and high ego.

I have found that trying to understand where a candidate stands with these qualities is a good way to get a sense of whether or not they will be successful.

Some questions I ask to suss this out:

  • How did you get from A→B→C and why? How was A→ B different than B→C , what would have happened if you went straight from A→ C?
  • What is the hardest thing you have done/worked on/learned so far? Why was this hard for you?
  • What was the hardest failure you have dealt with? Did you see it coming? How did you salvage the situation? Who did you ask for help?
  • Tell me about a time when you proactively did something outside your day to day responsibility.

But at the end of the day it's about getting to know the person. Understanding what makes them tick, what keeps them going, and why.

The Impact of FDEs

FDEs can be a highly impactful addition to your organization when hired correctly. Their ability to bridge technical solutions with real-world business challenges makes them invaluable in today's complex tech landscape.

FDEs have been a cornerstone of Palantir's success, acting as their "secret sauce" in delivering transformative solutions to their clients. Their versatility, coupled with their technical prowess and business acumen, allows them to drive significant value across various industries and problem domains.

However, identifying and hiring the right FDEs can be a challenging process. It requires a nuanced understanding of the role and a strategic approach to assessing candidates.

Get in touch!

If you're intrigued by the potential of FDEs but find yourself struggling with the hiring process, I'm here to help. Whether you need advice on interview techniques, assistance in defining the role for your organization, or strategies for assessing candidates, feel free to reach out.

Contact me at me@anjor.xyz to discuss how we can improve your hiring process and build a team of high-impact problem solvers. Let's work together to bring the transformative power of FDEs to your organization.