Welcoming Darius to DQ, and Unexpected Learnings from the Hiring Process
You know that interview you never got, or that job you were passed over for, despite being a great fit? …Here’s why you didn’t get it. 👇
The chap in the picture is Darius Safavi. He’s the guy we just hired as our latest team member at DQventures… out of an amazing 398 applicants.
But I’ll talk about Darius in future posts. This one is about the other 397 applicants we didn’t hire.
I’ve been one of these people myself.
I’ve applied for roles that I thought looked like a good fit for my skills, only to hear nothing. Tumbleweed.
When I closed my startup in 2017, I applied for dozens of jobs. I got one, solitary interview.
I never got a second.
At a time when my self-esteem and confidence were at an all-time low, this was hard to take.
“What’s wrong with me?”
“Are there really that many people who are better than me?!”
“I suck.”
Hiring Darius has shown me that I was wrong.
These people weren’t better than me.
They were just a better fit for the employer’s expectations.
Of the 398 applicants who applied for our role, 318 weren’t even close to what we wanted. Many of them could have done the job, probably, but they couldn’t have knocked it out of the park, or they’d have grown frustrated, or they’d have struggled.
We knew 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 what we were looking for. No matter how intelligent, accomplished, well-connected, educated, or experienced the candidate was… most of them just weren’t what we believed we required.
It’s that simple.
In the end, thanks to our tight brief and my colleague Leanne’s amazing interview process, my cofounders and I interviewed just 2 people.
Both were awesome, but Darius simply had the experience we—and more importantly our portfolio companies—need …by the bucketload.
So if you find yourself in this position—if you need a job but can’t get an interview—try not to be downhearted. The people who get those interviews aren’t better than you, they’re just a better match for what the hiring managers think they need.
To the 397 people we didn’t hire: thank you!
What next?
Keep applying for jobs that look perfect.
One of them has your name on it.
And don’t do what one of your peers did and write to the hiring manager telling them they’re making “a big mistake“.
I guarantee it won’t change their mind.
Good luck!
P.S. Darius is a zero-to-one startup expert, with a particular focus on lead-gen. He’s joined us to help our founders with their GTM, build sales pipelines and track down first customers.
Anyone who’s done this will know… it’s not easy.
Darius is the cofounder many startup founders 𝘄𝗶𝘀𝗵 they had [and no, you can’t have him]. I’m proud and excited that, of all the options available to him, he chose to help us build our next 984 startups here at DQ.
Welcome Darius!!
