I lead 321 Foundation for 10 years. I was often asked: We hear so much about 321’s culture. How did you build it ? The obvious answer: We put a lot of effort into it. The secret answer: Our recruitment process. Here are 3 things we did that that most organizations don’t:

1️⃣ Obsession with CX 2️⃣ Recruitment as a relay race 3️⃣ ‘Your share’ & Shadowing Let’s dig in…

1️⃣ OBSESSION WITH CX (Candidate Experience)

Like our users, we wanted the candidates to have a great experience. We listed things we hated when we were candidates & focussed on 3 aspects: (A) Clarity: we told the candidates exactly what was expected, # of rounds & duration

(B) Prompt communication: we made sure they heard from us regularly & their every message was answered

(C) Rigorous but pleasant: Our process was intense but we didn’t use any of the ‘pressure tactics’ that people often subject candidates to This led to 2 unexpected benefits:

→ Strengthened their desire to join us: The reason we got most of the candidates we wanted was that by the end of the process they really wanted us.

→ Word of mouth: People were applying to us just to experience the process. This made us a top recruiter in most places we went.

We obsessed with CX to live upto our principle: ‘if the roles were reversed how would we want to be treated’. We didn’t realise the many benefits it would bring us in a competitive recruitment market.

2️⃣ RECRUITMENT AS A RELAY RACE

Like many companies we had multiple rounds. But they were often siloed. Our process transformed when we stopped seeing the rounds as stages THEY had to clear but as legs of a relay race WE had to run. Let me explain:

Let’s say you applied to us. Here are the 5 rounds you would experience: #1: Written round #2: Technical round #3: Culture round #4: People team (HR) round #5: Final round (with me) A relay meant that it was our job to connect the rounds. For this we made many changes:

→ Earlier a candidate’s information was in several documents. We consolidated it all in 1 doc which became the baton in our relay race. The single doc had each round’s details: criteria, detailed notes, quantitative ratings, qualitative comments & a ‘things to probe’ section.

→ We added Prep time for interviewers. In it they would look at previous round’s details & accordingly select their questions. If needed, would also speak with previous interviewer. We had 1 aim: pass all relevant information across rounds & not let it be stuck in people’s heads.

This helped massively: (A) Each round became tailored to the candidate instead of being same for all (B) By the end, we had a good sense of their capabilities & most concerns had been probed (C) The 1 doc showed how our understanding had developed & helped with review-reflection

Earlier recruitment would sometimes seem like a gamble. There was a feeling that we had missed something. This changed after we became good at running the ‘recruitment relay race’. We developed high confidence in our final decisions & they overwhelmingly turned out to be great.

3️⃣ ‘YOUR SHARE’ & SHADOWING

But as the team grew, we struggled: • The volume grew more than what 3-4 people could handle • Everyone didn’t take recruitment as seriously • The judgement for recruitment was hard to build Trainings helped a bit. But 2 things helped even more:

(A) Your Share Before each recruitment cycle I would give a version of this speech: “At 10 people, each of us owns 10% of the org. Next year at 20, our share will be 5%. Who will you give your share to ?” This helped people see the responsibility & seriousness of recruitment.

(B) Shadowing Each new selector would 1st spend several interviews shadowing current selectors. They would see how the selectors prepped, interviewed, asked follow up questions & represented 321. Things that can be caught by shadowing but not taught by training.

Shadowing allowed new selectors to get a running start & this pool of selectors grew as we grew. So even in years of rapid growth, we were able to maintain the quality of our recruitment process & our team. We grew ‘better as we grew bigger.’

So that’s it.

All of this took lots of time & effort. But I prioritised it, as hiring the ‘right talent’ is one of the few long term things a CEO can meaningfully impact. This was led by Harsh, Nandita & Nikhat, Rima, Aadi, Laxmi & many others. These are the 3 things that helped us create a best in class recruitment process: 1️⃣ Obsession with CX 2️⃣ Recruitment as a relay race 3️⃣ ‘Your share’ & Shadowing

All of this has been bouncing in my head for the past 6 months since I stepped down as CEO of 321. There are many more things to add: setting the rounds, deciding questions, attracting candidates & building culture. Will write more if there is interest. Hope this was helpful.