Hire for strengths and not for weaknesses
I really like the quote from Ben Horowitz “Hire for strength, not lack of weaknesses”. Here is an instance on how I used this quote to choose between candidates for a senior position. A few days back I was in a dilemma in deciding between 4 good candidates for a senior position. Before we start interviewing for a position, we have a fair idea about the skill sets we are going to evaluate candidates on, so that we have a basis for objective comparison among candidates. Here is what we rated our candidates at the end of the interviewing process - Candidate A Candidate B Candidate C Candidate D Skill Set 1 9.5 8 6 5 Skill Set 2 6 8 9.5 9 Skill Set 3 7 8 7 7 Culture Fit 9 9 9 5 Sum Total 31.5 33 31.5 26 Some notes - We provide above table (score against skill sets) to the candidate whenever he/