Hire the athlete, not the resume

Frank Slootman was the former CEO of Data Domain. His track record speaks for itself and he recently took on the same role at Service-now (Service-Now Names Software Industry Veteran Frank Slootman as CEO). During some down time between ventures, Frank wrote this excellent book recapping his experience taking Data Domain from $0 in revenue to a $2.2 billion acquisition by EMC. The book is called "TAPE SUCKS: Inside Data Domain, A Silicon Valley Growth Story" (available in Kindle here and paperback here). 

Although this entire book is solid, one chapter in particular jumped out at me and helped me with my recent career transition - "Chapter 9 - Hire Athletes, not resumes".

Hiring can be very challenging for early stage ventures because they are unproven and high risk. New hires often have to take pay cuts. Looking for the perfect resume is a bit like a man looking for the perfect woman - when he finds her, it turns out she is looking for the perfect man, and he ain't it! Moral of the story: it is hard to land a candidate who meets your resume criteria, as you are not that good a catch yet yourself.


After suffering through a few instances of this mismatch at Data Domain, we adjusted our search algorithm and began looking for candidates who did not have the resume yet but did have the potential and desire for a career break to get to the next level. We call them "athletes": candidates with the right aptitude and behavior for your profile but without the prerequisite experience.


Put differently, we started looking for people who we thought had their best work still in front of them, rather than behind them. How did we know? You can't just rely on the resume or references - you are making a bet that they can become what you need them to be. We looked for energy, pedigree, passion, ambition, intelligence, intensity, and desire for the job. We staffed many (if not most) of our executive and key managerial roles that way.


Our approach worked so well that we started to prefer this style of hiring even later on when could attract "resumes." In fact, it drove a vital ingredient of the Data Domain culture: everybody had something to prove. 


The thinking to "hire athletes, not resumes" has grown more accepted in recent years, and startups have adjusted to this style of hiring. But there was a time when it was hard to get past the "resume mentality," e.g. just looking for all the boxes to be checked. We stumbled upon our way of thinking by sheer necessity, yet it grew into a key component of the Data Domain success formula.

My thoughts...

The challenge is most companies do not think this way (no one ever gets fired for buying IBM, right?). You probably won't change their thinking either. What you can change is your positioning in the market place... try this instead (regardless of your age/experience).

"If you're looking for someone who can check the boxes; I'm not your guy. If you're looking for the best athlete. You found him."

Whether you're looking for a new job, career/industry, or promotion - Don't lead with experience (or lack there of)... lead with value, passion, intelligence, and excitement. The rest will fall into place.

New Job? Don’t Give Up Too Soon

This is an old article from SalesGravy.com; the website is labeled as the "fastest growing international community for sales professionals". Jeb Blount is the guy running the show over there - I had the pleasure of meeting him in person a few years ago at the National Collegiate Sales Competition.

Not that any of my readers are quitters, but this is a good article to get you fired up no matter what you are starting....

New Sales Job? Don’t Give Up Too Soon
by Jeb Blount

Most people when faced with challenges quit too soon; most often right as they are on the cusp of success. This is especially true with salespeople in new sales jobs. Starting a new sales job and taking on new challenges is frustratingly hard. There are many dark days when you feel like all you do is fail and there is no hope. As you get closer to success things actually seem bleaker. You are tired, beat-up and worn down. It is at this point that faith and persistence have to take you the last mile.

Faith is crucial - faith that by doing the right things every day the cumulative impact of these actions will pay-off.

In sales this means consistently prospecting, qualifying, presenting and following up. Faith is an internal belief system that you create that helps you remain focused on working towards your goal when no tangible evidence exists that the hard work you are doing will get you there.

Persistence is the fuel of winners. Persistence is determination to win in spite of self-doubt, roadblocks, failure, embarrassment, and setbacks. Persistence picks you up off the ground, dusts you off, and sends you back into the game. Persistence is the last, final push that sends you across the finish line.

If you have just started a new sales job I promise that the first few months will be miserable. It won’t be easy to learn new behaviors. Each day you will be given a dozen reasons to quit. Don’t do it. Don’t quit! Instead get up every day, reflect on your past success, and consistently do the sales activities that build your funnel. I guarantee that if you do the right things, have faith that your efforts will pay off and persevere when you are ready to quit, you will be rewarded.