I’ve written about the Right Person, Right Role, Right Stage model with hiring. I’ve broken down the Right Person element. Now Right Role.
The first step is defining the jobs to be done. So you can then match that role to the person, and vice versa: a person can match themselves to the role. A vague and/or inaccurate menu description is likely to result in a higher incidence of mis-ordering. The same applies to hiring. It’s critical to take the time to be as clear as possible, in as much detail as possible, on what you need the person to do.
How specific vs broad is the role? Generally speaking, the earlier stage you’re at and the smaller you are as a team, the broader the role. There may be uncertainty over what those jobs are going to be, past the immediate weeks. You may be testing a range of go to market channels, for example. The results of those tests will then determine the role(s) that you need medium term. Whilst the future of the role is uncertain, that uncertainty is still capable of being defined and communicated.
After generalist vs specialist comes the level of experience that is needed in the role. You’ll likely be capital constrained. Is this an area where it’s worth spending more to get experience? Or is it one where you can hire junior, conscious of the longer ramp time that will come with doing so? There will seldom be easy answers to these questions.
A few other things I’ve learnt:
Don’t sugercoat the role to the candidate(s). That can be first order beneficial, but always second and subsequent order (potentially very) costly;
You can’t successfully hire for a role if you don’t understand it. Meaning someone already in the team needs to have done it before. Even if that’s done it badly as you now move from amateur to pro in doing that role as a team with this hire;
Make sure you’re not having to unworkably reframe the role to fit the person. This has parallels with the first point. You’re sugercoating, but to yourself. Changing the role into one the busines doesn’t need in order to fit a person you’re excited by. Again, this can be first order beneficial, but always second and subsequent order (potentially very) costly.
You could argue that Right Role should come before Right Person in this model. That you shouldn’t even be contemplating Right Person until you’ve identified the need for a role and defined what it is. The vast majority of the time that will be the case. Some of my worst hiring decisions have come when I haven't done this well. But there are times, particularly at an early stage, where that isn’t the case. Paradoxically, some of my best hiring decisions have come when I met a Right Person first. I didn’t have a clear role at that stage. But hired on the high conviction that there would be a Right Role for them. That the upside was so high that it was worth the risk to hire first and then figure it out.