TalentPair Candidate shortlist Role-to-Talent Match · USD 149
Five people worth an hour, and the role brief that got you here
A calibrated brief, five profiles scored against it, and the gap in each that the interview has to close.
Your brief asked for a Head of Sales. Calibrated against your stage, your deal size and the fact that nobody has ever sold this product except a founder, the role you can actually fill is a senior individual contributor who will build the function. Those are different people and they read different job adverts.
Five candidates match the recalibrated brief. None of them match the original one, because a Head of Sales with a team to lead will not join a company with no sales team and no pipeline to inherit. Retitling this role is what made a shortlist possible.
Calibration
The brief, corrected
Your original criteria against what the market will actually supply at your stage and budget. Three criteria were unrealistic together, and dropping the right one made the search possible.
| Criterion | As briefed | Calibrated | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title | Head of Sales | Senior Account Executive, founding | Changed |
| Team management | Manage 3 reps | None in year one | Dropped |
| Sector experience | Industrial software | Industrial software or adjacent hardware | Widened |
| Deal size | USD 40k to 120k | Unchanged | Kept |
| Full cycle, self sourced | Required | Unchanged. This is the real must-have | Kept |
| Base salary | USD 85,000 | USD 95,000 to 105,000 | Raised |
| On site 3 days | Required | Unchanged | Kept |
Managing three reps that do not exist yet is the criterion that was making this unfillable. Candidates who want to manage want a team; candidates who want to build want the first two years of this job. You cannot have both in one person at this price.
Shortlist
Five, scored against the calibrated brief
| Full cycle | Sector | Deal size | On site | Notice | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate A | 8 years | Direct | Matches | Yes | 3 months |
| Candidate B | 6 years | Adjacent | Smaller | Yes | 4 weeks |
| Candidate C | 11 years | Direct | Larger | 2 days only | 6 weeks |
| Candidate D | 4 years | Direct | Matches | Yes | 2 weeks |
| Candidate E | 9 years | Adjacent | Matches | Yes | 8 weeks |
Nobody has founding experience at a company under 20 people. That is the must-have none of them meet, it was not in your brief, and it is the single best predictor of whether this hire works. Section 04 turns it into interview questions instead.
Candidate A
Eight years full cycle in exactly your sector, deal sizes that match, wants the build rather than the team. Three month notice is the only problem and it is a real one if you need pipeline before Q2.
Candidate D
Two weeks notice, right sector, right deal size, four years rather than eight. Less proven and available now, which at your stage may matter more than the four years.
Candidate C
Eleven years and the best track record here, selling larger deals inside a 400 person company with an SDR feeding them. The step down to self sourcing at a 14 person company is the thing to probe hardest.
Money
What they expect
Expectations are what each candidate stated, not what they would accept. Two of the five sit inside your original USD 85,000 and both are the less experienced pair, which is the trade in front of you.
Interview
What to ask, and what each one has to prove
| Candidate | The gap | Ask this |
|---|---|---|
| A | Three month notice | Is any part of it buyable, and would they start part time? |
| B | Adjacent sector, smaller deals | Walk me through the largest deal you sourced yourself, end to end |
| C | Had an SDR and a brand behind them | Tell me about a quarter where you generated all your own pipeline |
| D | Four years, less proven | What did you do in your first 90 days at the last company? |
| E | Eight weeks and adjacent sector | What would you need from us in month one to be useful in month three? |
- Every candidate asked the same founding-team question
- One reference who managed them, one who worked alongside them
- Commission plan shown at first interview, not at offer
- The on-site requirement stated before the second conversation
- A written 90 day expectation, shared with them
- Decide the notice-period trade before you meet anyone