Standard reference checks yield generic praise. To identify true A-players, ask their former colleagues a high-stakes question: “Would you quit your current job to work for this person again?” An enthusiastic “yes” is the strongest hiring signal you can get.

Treat hiring as a compounding flywheel. A new employee should not only be a great contributor but also make the company more attractive to future A-players, whether through their network, reputation, or interview presence. This focus on recruiting potential ensures talent density increases over time.

To make a hire "weird if they didn't work," don't hire for potential or vibe. Instead, find candidates who have already succeeded in a nearly identical role—selling a similar product to a similar audience at a similar company stage. This drastically reduces performance variables.

Exceptional individuals often publish their thoughts online. By reading their content, you can assess their thinking, expertise, and confluence of ideas, making a traditional interview redundant. This allows you to move decisively when you find a match, as when the speaker hired his Opendoor cofounder on the spot.

Despite receiving hundreds of online applications for a single role, the majority of candidates ultimately hired at competitive companies like Google already have a connection inside the organization. This highlights that building a professional network to secure internal advocates is more critical for job seekers than simply optimizing a resume.

Hiring managers often dismiss strong candidates by making snap judgments based on a resume. Focusing on the person behind the paper—their drive, skills, and potential—frequently reveals that the initially overlooked individual is the perfect fit for the role, according to executive search partner Mitch McDermott.

An expensive mis-hire came from a friend's referral. The speaker realized that while she trusted her friends, they lacked the deep marketing expertise to properly evaluate the candidate's skills. This highlights the need to critically assess a referrer's own qualifications in the relevant domain, not just rely on the relationship.

Senior executives are, by definition, excellent at interviewing, making the process unreliable for signal. Instead of relying on a polished performance, ask to see the 360-degree performance reviews from their previous company. This provides a more honest, ground-truth assessment of their strengths and weaknesses.

Standard reference checks yield polite platitudes. To elicit honesty, frame the call around the high stakes for both your company and the candidate. Emphasize that a bad fit hurts the candidate's career and wastes everyone's time. This forces the reference to provide a more candid, risk-assessed answer.