How to Hire the Right Team Member (She Failed 2 Interviews)
The single best hire I ever made bombed two interviews, had zero job experience, and an unfinished degree. On paper she was an easy no. Three years later she runs operations for my entire 50-plus person team. This is the story of Rhodora, and what it taught me about hiring.
Years ago, I was just starting to grow my virtual team. I put a few ads out - the wrong way, honestly - and got flooded with responses. I burned a lot of time interviewing the wrong people. And in the middle of all of it, one applicant would not stop emailing me. She told me she really wanted a job. When someone leads with that, my instinct is usually no, and that is exactly what I said.
She was not happy with that answer. Day after day, she asked for a shot. Eventually I got tired enough of the emails that I actually opened her resume. It did not help her case. Two years of unfinished schooling toward an IT degree. Zero job experience. A newborn baby, newly married, and she had dropped out of college to start her family. I told her to go get some experience and come back.
The Two Worst Interviews of My Career
She would not take no. She kept emailing until I finally gave her an interview - partly because I respected the determination, and partly because I wanted the emails to stop. I can summarize that first interview in one sentence: it was the worst interview I have ever had. Awkward silence. A crackling mic. I kindly told her it was not going to work.
Two days later, another email. She was nervous, she said. She would do better. Give her one more chance. I said no again - she needed experience. She kept at it until I caved and ran a second interview, which I can also summarize in a sentence: the second worst interview I have ever had. Quiet, broken English, a few "Yes Sir" and "OK Sir" and not much else. I told her it was not going to work, she needed experience, and she needed to practice her English.
The Email That Changed My Mind
An hour after that second call, another email landed. And this one stopped me cold. She wrote: "Sir, I need experience, and no one will give it to me. I will work for you for free, as long as it takes to prove my value, and you will want to hire me." That kind of drive you cannot teach. So I gave her a test.
Following the 90/10 Principle, I knew exactly which low-value work was eating my week - the stuff I should never have been doing myself in the first place.
- arrow_forwardData entry. The endless typing that has to happen and should never touch the owner's hands.
- arrow_forwardData mining. Digging up information one record at a time.
- arrow_forwardVerifying contact info. Finding web addresses, emails, and phone numbers for a list of a couple hundred contacts - work I estimated would take me a full week of nights.
I handed her the list and asked her to fill it in. In less than 24 hours, she emailed me back a completed worksheet. I do not think she slept. I hired her on the spot. She proved her value in a single day, which is more than most resumes ever do.
What Determination Built
Fast forward three years: eight raises and four positions later, Rhodora is my team manager, overseeing all operations for a 50-plus person team that genuinely runs itself. She has told me more than once that she is ready to power my operations for life. She even asked me to be the godfather to her children, which is a responsibility I am still not sure I am qualified for.
You can teach skills. You can teach English. You can teach a process. You cannot teach the refusal to give up. When you find that, the resume stops mattering.
This is the type of person you build a real virtual team around - and the right system around them is what lets it run without you. That is the same delegation engine I break down in the 90/10 Life, and it is the reason I could leave a corporate career to build this in the first place, a story I tell in full in why I quit my six-figure job. Hire for drive, document the system, and get out of the way.
