Profiling guide: what to ask your hiring manager when starting a new search

When a recruiter gets a new job opening from the hiring manager, it's important that it’s crystal clear about what they're looking for in a candidate. Although it's the hiring manager's job to explain this, recruiters should do everything they can to make the process smoother.

We've put together a list of questions that we use with our clients to get a better idea of what they're after during the profiling meeting. If you're an in-house recruiter, just skip the first part of the questionnaire and use the rest to get all the details you need.

🦄 Company

• Product pitch. We ask our clients to pitch us their product as if we’re their candidates, so we can do the same during our screening calls.

• When founded

• Funding stage. When was the last investment round closed? This information is essential, especially in case of early stage startups.

• Number of employees

• Number of planned hires this year. This gives you an idea about the company’s growth ambitions.

• Offices and their locations.

• Clients. Is there any specific niche or geography the product is aiming at? Whose problems does it solve? Are there any well known names among the client’s list?

• Culture, nationalities, team events. All of those will give you a glimpse of how the company operates on a human level, more casually speaking - what’s the vibe.

💻 Tech

Team

• Total number of engineers and number of engineers in the hiring team, their roles. Crucial to know what kind of people the new person will be working with.

• Teams setup (cross-functional or any other), frequency of the meetings

• Who this person will be reporting to

Tech

• Stack and infrastructure

• Development methodology

🤓 The role

• Location

• Seniority. And what exactly does senior mean in this company / team?

• Minimal tech requirements

• What tasks the new hire will be working on. This will help to determine the most crucial skills.

• Roadmap: what is the product and company’s development plan?

• Career and professional growth opportunities

• What does a person need to do over the probation period to be considered successful? How is it measured? What is the feedback sessions structure?

• Examples of great profiles. Why are they great?

🤑 Conditions

• Salary

• Benefits. Can include various benefits like health, education, bonuses, stock options.

• Office or remote

• Office address

• Working hours. If flexible, what are the hours that the new person is supposed to overlap with the team?

• Relocation package (if applicable)

• Employment type (employee, contractor, EoR)

• Amount of holidays per year

🚀 Hiring process

• Potential donor companies. What companies have similar talent?

• Off-limits companies - clients, partners, or companies where the talent doesn’t match the profile.

• Geographical markets to target

• Interview process