The first candidate who best matches the profile received the offer and accepted it. The vacancy was closed quickly - about 2 months from the start of the job to the candidate's exit.
The most important for a successful result were:
1. We have developed the structure of interviews with product managers so that we can quickly understand if there is a similar experience (a call of up to 30 minutes).
2. We analyzed the first pool of candidates and adjusted the priority topics in the screening interview, supplemented them with questions.
3. Based on the results of the evaluation of the first pool of candidates, it became clear that the main difficulty of this position lies in the following areas::
- Many candidates either did not have significant business results (expressed in profit growth) or were not prepared to talk about them in terms of numbers and results.
- Communication difficulties and soft skills of candidates. This also includes the skills of interaction with top management (being able to present work results, manage changes and build partnerships), manage interaction in the development team and between teams.
- No experience or willingness to work as a full-stack product. This was usually the case for candidates from large companies.
4. Added a stage where the final candidate was asked for contacts to check recommendations.
Key requirements for the candidate
- There are real significant business results, expressed in the growth of profit from the product.
- Able and willing to engage in product analytics as part of their role.
- Knows how to build processes in a team and negotiate with teams and management.
- I have previous experience and a full-stack role is interesting.
Search for a Senior Product Manager to develop existing and new products in a medium-sized company. Usually, such companies have higher requirements for candidates, because the role implies full-stack tasks. The company has plans to enter new markets, so I was potentially interested in someone who has similar experience.
Case
structured assessment of key skills during screening interviews;
analytics during the job development process and setting the right priorities when searching for and conducting the first interview;
speed was also important, as it was critical for the client's plans to find a suitable candidate in the near future (not at the expense of quality).