Step 1: Figure out what roles you need to hire

Meet frequently with your leaders to keep a pulse on what is going on across the business.

We suggest meeting once a week to discuss problems that surfaced during that week. Plus, monthly with People Ops and Finance to do a deeper dive into what each team needs and think critically (and cross-functionally) about the problems each team is trying to solve.

🔥 Tip: Look for patterns that emerge about similar issues facing various leaders or teams to find the problem's root. That way, you aren’t making a “snap-hire." Meaning, a hire that solves a symptom of a larger (and probably more complicated) problem.

Step 2: Write a specific job description

Once you’ve established what problem needs to be solved, it’s time to write a role description that will attract high-fit candidates. Work with the Hiring Manager to craft the right description that will attract your ideal candidates!

🔥 Tip: Be specific. Focus your efforts on attracting quality, highly aligned candidates over quantity.  

As you work with the Hiring Manager on crafting the job description, ask questions like:

• “What will the day-to-day look like for this new hire?”
• “What problem is this person trying to solve?”
• “What would success look like in this role?”
• “What KPIs/metrics will this person impact most dramatically?”
• “What processes will they improve?”
• “What are they taking off your plate?”

After taking tons of notes, craft a role description that will attract someone specifically suited for the problem this role is going to solve!

Example job description

Here’s an example of how to write a job description for Trainual’s Sales Specialist role.

TL;DR

You thrive in high-volume sales environments. Partnering with small and medium-sized businesses to create efficiencies in their business is your jam. And, you know how to hit the phones to close business.

What you will own & improve:

1. Converting leads in the free trial to paying customers: You will engage with leads during their free trial to help them convert to a paid account! You will achieve this by evangelizing the product through a consultative sales process.
2. Closing leads: You understand the value of playbook software. And you know how to position the unique value proposition for organizations.
3. Lead & customer experience: You will ensure all assigned leads and customers have an incredible experience with Trainual - regardless of whether they decide to use the product.

What you already know:

1. The art of storytelling & closing: You know how to tell a story that weaves buying reasons and objections into the narrative. You are compelling, yet consultative, always keeping the customer’s needs top of mind.
2. How to manage a quota: Trainual is a volume-based sales environment with ample opportunities to hit or exceed goals. But this high-volume environment requires an organized, hungry candidate that can manage their own pipeline and meet their goals.
3. How to collaborate as a team: At Trainual, our collaborative, team-based approach is critical to our internal and customer success.

What you will learn:

1. How to use our tools: You will get a crash course in Trainual (obviously), Hubspot, Aircall, SaaS Admin, and Stripe. Plus, you’ll learn to leverage technology for automation and efficiency.
2. How to prospect larger accounts: You will be able to grow into a position where you generate and engage with leads of a larger deal size in both an inbound and outbound capacity.
3. Everything about Trainual: You will gain a thorough understanding of the products and services Trainual offers to help every business have a playbook!

How success is measured:

This role is simple: Close assigned leads into paying customers. It’s a volume-based game, so more is better.

Step 3: Translate your job description into a scorecard

The job scorecard is a snapshot of each role. What you expect from the position, key responsibilities, and metrics to measure success included.

Translate the job description into the job scorecard using the job scorecard template.

🔥 Tip: Share this with your hiring team and your newly hired employee to set clear accurate expectations!  

Step 4: Interviewing to ensure role alignment

Determining the right role to hire, clearly articulating what they will do, and designing the proper evaluation process can take time. So, let’s walk through an example together!

Step 5: Create an interview guide based on your job description

Once you’ve determined the role your organization needs, built a specific and accurate job description, it’s time to align the role with specific questions so the interview squad is evaluating against the proper criteria to hire a high-fit candidate!

Example interview guide

Let’s use the Trainual Sales Specialist again as our example:

Interview #1: Pops (AKA HR) qualifying call (60-min interview)

Sample questions include:

1. Why Trainual? How would you describe our product to a potential customer in less than 30 seconds?
2. Why are you looking for a new role? Why right now? Why this role?
3. Have you ever had a quota before? Over the last year, how many months slash quarters were you on the plan or exceeded plan?
4. Where do you get your leads? How many do you usually get? And what is your current conversion rate?
5. Who decided what markets you would own?
6. Tell me your professional story…
7. What are three role-related tasks you are incredible at? (Ask for a specific example for each.)
8. What are three areas in which you need to grow? Or, What are three things slash responsibilities you don’t want to do in your next role & why? (Ask for a specific example for each.)
9. What is your superpower?
10. What do you never want to do again?
11. What is your favorite role? What is your least favorite role? And why?
12. Answer questions and pitch the Trainual team, growth path, culture, and more.
13. What are your compensation expectations? +Share our comp plan, benefits, culture

Interview #2: Zoom with their hiring manager (30-min interview)

This interview focuses on qualifying situational sales behaviors and skills. For example, how have they handled pricing objections or a high volume role with massive call lists at other companies?  

Sample questions include:

1. Each week we have approximately 250 prospects whose trial ends without converting to paid. We have emails for all and phone numbers for most. At a high level, what would your strategy and outreach look like to convert them?
2. Call campaigns often result in leaving a lot of voicemails. In your past experience, what voicemail messaging have you found successful in getting prospects to call you back?
3. Scenario 1: You connect with a prospect whose trial has ended, and they tell you they didn’t convert because they didn’t really have time to try the software. What is your response?
4. Scenario 2: You connect with a prospect whose trial has ended, and they tell you they didn’t convert because the cost was too high. What is your response?
5. Scenario 3: You get an inbound lead for a prospect interested in Trainual (they have not started a trial yet). What would your goals be for this first conversation? What questions would you ask them?
6. How would SMB customers measure the success of Trainual? What are the outcomes they are trying to achieve? How would they measure ROI?

Interview #3: Peer Zoom interview with a representative from Sales & CS (45-min interview)

The intention of this peer interview is twofold. One, sell them on Trainual. And two, ensure they can do the role by digging into the day in the life of their past experience with behavioral interview questions.

Sales-focused questions include:

1. Tell me about a time you missed quota and adjusted your strategy in the next quarter.
2. Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a rude customer.
3. Tell me about a time you had to deal with a complex sales deal and had to strategize a way to make something work through creative problem-solving.
4. Do you have experience in creating custom sales slash pitch decks? If so, what type of programs did you use for this?
5. Do you still have relationships with your past clients? Tell me about one of your favorite clients that you’ve worked with
6. Tell me about one time how you handled letting a prospect know that your solution is not the best fit to solve their immediate problems.
7. Are you familiar with a CRM system? Tell me about how you manage your time between prospect conversations, follow-up examples, and how many times you touch them throughout the sales process.
8. If you had a choice to be the most intelligent business professional or to be kind and curious, which would you choose and why?
9. When you feel overwhelmed, how do you re-shift and focus your mind?
10. Tell me about one of your favorite leadership or sales books slash movies that made a big impact on your professional development.

CS-focused questions include:

1. Tell me about ways that you have expressed empathy to sales prospects.
2. Based on your experience with SMBs, what are some daily challenges that you believe business owners and managers face?
3. Tell me about a time when a sales prospect gave you a bogus excuse or clearly fictional information. How did you handle the follow-up?
4. What sources of information have you used in the past to research a sales prospect? And what their needs might be?
5. Tell me about a time when you and one of your teammates disagreed about how to handle a sales prospect or deal? How did you resolve it? What would you do differently next time?

Step 6: Develop email communication for easy pipeline management

You secure the best candidates when you're thoughtful and deliberate with your candidate communication throughout their interview process. So, when a candidate submits their application to a role with Trainual, make sure they get an automated response to kick off the conversation. Then, keep the communication going!

Example email communication

Email 1: Auto response to all Trainual applicants

Subject: Thank you for applying to Trainual!

Hi [applicant],

Thank you for your interest in Trainual! We appreciate the time you took to apply for [job posting title]. And we are delighted that you would consider joining our team.

We know applying for a job can be exciting and, at times, nerve-racking. Particularly when you find your dream job, click apply, and wait, and wait some more. We’ve been there too, so we want to give you some insight into what happens after you click that “submit” button.

Each application is read by our Head of People Operations and the Hiring Manager (all fantastic human beings). If your skills and experience are aligned with the role, we will reach out to schedule an introductory call. We're fortunate enough to have a lot of interest in joining the team here at Trainual, which means a competitive candidate interviewing and hiring process. People Operations will be in touch regardless of whether we choose to move forward with your application.  

We believe candidates should know what to expect and be fully prepared throughout their interview process. Check out what our recruiting experience looks like:

• If selected for an introductory call with People Operations, be prepared to tell your story and why you want to work at Trainual.
• Each role has a unique hiring process with anywhere from 2 to 5 additional interview steps (phone, video, and a department-specific presentation).
• People Operations will walk you through the entire process on your first call and provide more details before each interview step, don’t worry!  

Trainual interview best practices

• Please do not call our office for updates. We are working hard to provide an excellent candidate experience for everyone, and we will reply as soon as possible!
• Lean on People Operations as your point of contact throughout the process.
• We're committed to hiring the best talent for each role. So, our hiring timeline can vary from weeks to months. But we remain communicative throughout the process.
• Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

We are rapidly growing our team and will have plenty of opportunities to get involved in the coming months. Stay connected with Trainual on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram pages. We update it frequently with events, industry-related news, and other great content. Plus, check out our Glassdoor page to learn more about our employee experience and culture.

Thanks again for considering Trainual!  

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 2: Schedule sales specialist interview with Pops

Subject: [Name] + Trainual - Let’s talk!

Hi [applicant],

Thank you so much for your interest in working at Trainual. My name is Sasha, and I'm the Head of People Ops at Trainual. I've taken a look at your resume slash LinkedIn. And on paper, it looks like it could be a fit. I'd love to set up a 60-minute call with you to further discuss the role, your background, and dive into what it's like to work at Trainual!

Please, drop some time on my calendar here: [link]

Thank you so much for your continued interest in working at Trainual!

Talk soon!

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 3: What to expect before Pops interview

Subject: Preparing for your Interview with Trainual! 😊  

Hi, [applicant]!

I’m so excited about our chat! I know interviewing can be a little nerve-wracking, so here are a few tips to help you:  

• Review the job description on our careers page to understand the role and how your unique background and skillset would fit this position.
• Prepare scenarios of professional successes and failures within your relevant professional and personal development experience to use as examples for behavioral interviewing questions.
• Come prepared to tell your professional story.
• Your next career move is equal parts you finding the best role and company that fits you and us finding the right candidate to fill the needs of the business, so come prepared with questions for your interviewing team.

Talk soon!

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 4: Introduction to Trainual Subject for candidates

Subject: Interview next steps: Join us in our Trainual account!

Hi [applicant],

Thank you for spending time interviewing with us! It means so much that you’re interested in joining the Trainual team.

Before we do anything else, it’s time to get you inside our product! We are power users of our own product internally - and we want our candidates to have an inside look into how powerful our tool can be!

You will be getting an invite to the email we have on file, asking you to join our Trainual account and complete “Trainual Candidate Pre-Screening."

Let me know if you have any trouble logging into our Trainual account or if you have any questions once you’re in the subject!

We love Trainual, and we hope you do too!

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 5: What to expect before the hiring manager interview

Subject: Trainual interview next steps: Interview with the hiring manager!

Hi, [applicant]!

Thanks for completing the Trainual subject and sending over your introduction!

I would love to move you forward to the next stage in our interview process: a quick chat with the hiring manager for this role, [the hiring manager].

A little more about [the hiring manager]: [link to intro video]

Please send over your availability for a 30-minute interview over the next week or 2, so we can get something on the calendar!

As always, reach out with any questions!

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 6: What to expect before the peer interview

Subject: Trainual interview next steps: Interview with the CX Team!

Hi, [applicant]!

[Our hiring manager] really enjoyed their call with you! We’d love for you to get to know 2 of our team members a little better in a peer interview.

Please send over your availability for a 45-minute Zoom interview sometime over the next week!

We know talking with multiple people over zoom can be awkward, so here is a little introduction from [the team members you'll meet]. That way, you can get to know them a bit before jumping on your call!

Get to know [team member]: [link to intro video]

Get to know [team member]: [link to intro video]

We are so excited to have you meet with some of the team and get a feel for our culture!

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 7: Demo instructions

Subject: Trainaul interview final step: Demo for our hiring manager

Hi, [applicant]!

You’re almost there! The very last interview with Trainual!

For your final interview with [the hiring manager], you will be doing a demo…

The demo will be a 20-minute overview of the top benefits of Trainual for an SMB prospect, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A. The remaining 30 minutes of the interview will be other questions not necessarily related to the demo. Here are a few additional points to keep in mind as you prepare for the demo portion of the interview:

1. The demo audience is a business owner who is the decision-maker.
2. You can use whatever tools and format you feel are best to present the software.
3. We will not be asking in-depth functional questions in the Q&A. The goal is not to stump you on your product knowledge. Instead, we want to see how you would show the product to an interested prospect and how you handle common questions they may ask.
4. Please feel free to ask any clarifying questions you may have about this presentation!

We are excited to see how you present the value of Trainual!

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 8: Remote culture

Subject: What it's like to work remotely at Trainual!

Hi, [applicant]!

I think it’s fair to say that our world has been turned upside down these last few months. Working through a pandemic has been... weird? But we’ve embraced working remotely and fostered our incredible culture virtually! Don’t believe us?  

Then, check out some of the cool stuff going on behind the scenes here at Trainual:  

• Virtual Retreat (yes, we had a theme, and costumes were a must)
• Weekly Ding Dong Ditches!
• We’ve even managed to transition our dope onboarding experience to a fully remote experience!  

Our “normal day” may be different now, but we still like to have fun. Check out what a day in the WFH life looks like at Trainual!

Thanks for thinking of Trainual!  

Best,

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

Email 9: CX team and organization overview

Subject: Get to know the Customer Experience team! 😊

Hi, [applicant]!

You’re thinking about joining a team you’ve never met... that can be scary. So, we wanted to give you a little more insight into what the CX team does and who you’d be working with every day!

Customer Experience at Trainual is Sales and Customer Success - it spans the entire customer lifecycle. We start with lead conversions and end with customer renewals slash retention.

If you want to know who is on the CX team, [you can see them all here]!

Talk soon!

Sasha Robinson

Head of People Operations

🔥 Tip: Try to make candidate communication as personal as possible! Use video and interactive elements when possible!

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Have a question about this process? Reach out to a [member of our HR/contact person].