Hi Reader,
Today I'm hoping you either want to be one of our project managers, or you know someone who's a good fit. If not, never fear, I still have something for you this week: I'm also including advice for your own hiring strategy.
Web Project Manager Job
We’re looking for a Web Project Manager to help us with Shopify design and development projects at Aeolidia. The job is full time and salaried (for us, that’s a 32 hour, 4 day week). The team is all remote, in the US and Canada - we work in ClickUp, Slack, and Zoom. The pay will fall between $70,000 and $80,000 USD annually.
Please spread the word! You can share this link: https://aeolidia.com/careers/web-project-manager-job/
Apply by Friday, December 1, 2023.
What I've learned about hiring
While there are some openings that you can be more casual about (part time work, contract work, and others), there are times where you want to make a serious effort to find and evaluate a strong candidate. For leadership positions, critical roles, and people who we hope to have on the team for years, here's what has been working for us as far as hiring.
- Don't rush the process - When we need to hire, we re-prioritize all we're doing so we can focus on the hiring process. A skipped step now could lead to hiring someone who isn't a good fit.
- Cast a wide net - Most applications you get will be way off the mark, so you want to get enough so that you have a handful of great candidates to interview.
- Reach out to your inner circle - A person from our niche of colleagues and clients can make for an enthusiastic employee who already "gets it."
- Involve your team - Remember, a job interview goes both ways; you're selling yourself, too. Get happy employees to help spread the word, find candidates, and help with the interviewing process.
- Be clear in your job listing - We go into detail with "a day in the life" section, and list the skills and experience we expect the applicant to have, then pull a few questions about important factors into the application.
- Emphasize your core values - Aeolidia has a set of 5 core values that we feature in every job listing. We ask interview questions to illuminate whether our applicants have these qualities.
- Use a rubric - Have a standard set of things you evaluate for each person, so it doesn't all blur together. With a spreadsheet of scores, you don't have to remember how you felt about a person - you have data.
- Interview rigorgously - A casual chat or some googled interview questions may result in an employee who doesn't fit in or isn't capable of the job. We used the book Who to determine what interview questions would really work for us.
- Don't skip references - Some people can be very personable during interviews, but then you run into surprises after hiring them. Calling multiple references and asking specific questions helps uncover any red flags.
- Start with a trial period - Hiring and firing someone is a complicated affair. That's why we often start with a 3 month contract before switching to full time salaried work. This also gives you a chance to really evaluate someone's work, instead of continuing their employment by default.
- Use a scorecard for regular check-ins - You want to make sure all employees are excelling at their jobs. Our scorecards review each job's mission, the competencies needed, and the outcomes we're expecting.
