What hiring land acquisition managers finally taught me.
Operator Notes · Issue 03 · Moves nobody else is making
I've hired hundreds of people at this point. Only recently did it fully click.
Hiring works exactly like lead generation. Finding candidates is easy. Finding good ones is not. The leverage isn't at the top of the funnel. It's in how you sort.
I don't look at resumes
I almost never look at resumes.
I'll skim one for 5 to 10 seconds at most. Long enough to see if there's a random skill or red flag.
I've hired hundreds of people without studying resumes or asking resume-based questions.
Resumes don't predict performance. They predict how good someone is at writing resumes.
I hire for traits, not history
Before I interview anyone, I define one thing: the traits someone needs to be great at this role.
Not experience. Not job titles. Not buzzwords.
Traits.
- How they think under pressure
- How clearly they communicate
- How they reason through unknowns
- How they handle ambiguity
That's the job.
Tell-me-about-a-time questions are useless
People rehearse them. They manufacture answers. You learn nothing.
Instead, I put people in situations.
"What would you do if this happened?" "How would you handle this?" "Walk me through your thinking."
The goal isn't the answer. It's how they think in real time.
Situational questions expose traits
Every situational question is designed to test a specific trait.
I'm watching how fast they organize their thoughts. Whether they ramble or get to the point. If they ask smart clarifying questions. How they explain tradeoffs.
Clarity of thought matters. Concise communication matters. If they can't explain their thinking clearly, they won't execute clearly.
I record every interview
I record the entire conversation. Then I review the transcript afterward.
I'm not going off vibes. I'm analyzing how their answers exposed the traits I was testing for.
This removes emotion and bias from the decision.
I often hire two people at once
For lower or mid-level roles, I'll often hire two people at the same time.
Both start part-time. Same role. Same expectations.
One almost always outperforms the other.
This works exceptionally well with acquisitions managers. If someone wants one acquisitions manager, I usually recommend two part-time instead of one full-time.
The reasons are built-in redundancy, healthy competition, better benchmarks, and no panic if one quits.
Your business shouldn't run on fumes because one person leaves.
I rarely start full-time
I'm careful with full-time hires.
Instead, I'll hire hourly for a specific project. 12 to 20 hours. Clear scope. Clear outcome.
The project tells you everything. How they work. How they communicate. How they deliver.
Many times, I finish the project and move on. No drama, no damage.
Other times, someone performs at a shockingly high level and I bring them on full-time immediately.
Testing saves headaches.
The old hiring model is broken
Reading resumes. Asking about the past. Guessing if someone will be good. That framework is absurd.
People are still stuck in it.
Hiring isn't about stories. It's about observed behavior under real conditions.
If you change how you sort, hiring gets dramatically easier.
Brandon.