The Candidate Information Packet

What is in it

• Part A — the company briefFive prompts covering the problem, the approach, why it is different, who is behind it and where it is going. Written for someone outside your field deciding whether this is worth their next four years.
• Part B — at a glanceThe facts a candidate scans for first: role, location, team size, who it reports to, compensation range and equity.
• Part C — the roleTeam, mission, what this person will own, who you are looking for and what you offer. The mission prompt asks for the same answer the hiring manager would give.
• Part D — the hiring processEvery stage, who they meet and roughly how long it takes.
• Part E — questions worth asking usOptional, and unusually effective. Invites the questions you would want asked in the candidate’s position.

How to use it

1. Start from the blank template. Replace every bracketed prompt and delete the parts that do not apply.
2. Put a real compensation range in Part B. Omitting it is the most common reason a strong candidate does not reply.
3. Write Part C’s mission before you write the responsibilities. If you cannot describe success, the packet will not fix the role.
4. Show the candidate the process in Part D. A process someone can see is a process they will stay in.
5. Open the worked example if the blank sections are hard to picture. EcoSynth is a fictional company, labelled as such, written to demonstrate the standard rather than generic startup copy.

Who it is for

• Founders whose first call is spent explaining what the company does
• Teams competing for people who have other options
• Anyone whose job description is the only thing a candidate has to go on