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Hiring Rockstars and Camping Buddies

by Phil Gerbyshak on July 25th, 2008

Sam Decker shared a fantastically helpful articled about the 5 stars of a Rockstar Employee.

1. Initiative
2. Integrity
3. Execution
4. Strategic Agility
5. Communication

Here’s a bit of background on why Sam is qualified to write this list:

In my career I’ve worked with hundreds of people, interviewed a few hundred, and hired over 100 people. A minority of these folks (say 10%) were rockstars, a minority I’d never hire or want to work with (another 10%), and the rest are in the middle. From my perspective, these are the characteristics I saw in the top 10% whom I’d be honored to work with anytime.

I find this 10-80-10 curve is VERY true in my hiring experience as well. Looking back, I realize I’ve hired mostly folks in the middle with few on either end of the curve. What I think about when I hire folks is one simple question:

Would I want to go camping with this person for a weekend?

This question helps me think about these key questions:

• Can this person do multiple things and prioritize them appropriately?
• Can this person adjust her/his expectation in case it rains, and we have to move the camp?
• Can this person be self-sufficient and yet willing to pitch in and help out if I’m struggling?
• Can this person be resourceful to solve unexpected problems?

I find that folks that stack up well in my camping analogy also do well on my team.

A few questions for you to answer or at least think about:

1. What are your top 5 qualities of rockstar employees?
2. How do YOU hire for these qualities?
3. What other things do you do to find your best 10% of employees?

Picture from the personal collection of Phil Gerbyshak.

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POSTED IN: Phil Gerbyshak, hiring