Hiring team

Hiring the Growth Team

The discipline of building an early marketing/growth team: choosing the archetype you actually need, sourcing the right candidates cheaply, and screening for how someone thinks and executes rather than how their resume reads.

When to use this

Reach for this when the user is adding marketing capacity:

• Deciding what the first (or next) marketing/growth hire should be.
• Choosing between a full-time hire, freelancer, agency, or consultant.
• Sourcing candidates and asking where to post the role.
• Screening applicants and comparing candidates against each other.
• Weighing an AI-fluent generalist against a senior exec or a junior specialist.
• Considering whether to train the existing team instead of hiring at all.

Symptoms that point here: "I need a marketer but don't know what kind", "should I hire or outsource", "how do I test a candidate", "our job post got no good applicants".

When NOT to use this (reach for instead)

• To define the growth strategy the hire will execute (stage, channels, operating model), use strategy-fundamentals first. Decide the strategy before you post, because it determines the archetype.
• To build the test project's subject-matter rubric (what good SEO, paid, or social work looks like), pull from the matching discipline skill (SEO, paid-acquisition, organic-social) for the standards you grade against.

How this works (decision path)

1. Define the strategy first. Stage, product type, and business model decide which 2 to 3 functions you most need. Do not hunt for a well-rounded generalist when you need two specific strengths.
2. Pick the archetype. The old binary (expensive senior exec with no hands-on execution vs narrow junior specialist) now has a third path: the Gen Marketer, an AI-fluent strategist who ships across SEO, ads, email, content, and analytics solo. Good default for a lean or early team, but verify AI fluency in a live task, never from a resume label.
3. Choose the contract type to the need: consultant for advisory, freelancer for single-channel work, agency for full account management, full-time for comprehensive or early-stage build.
4. Source on the board that matches the archetype. Different profiles cluster on different platforms; match board plus sourcing trick to the type you defined, and consider training the existing team as an alternative to hiring.
5. Screen with a paid, role-specific test project, not the resume. Scope it tightly, pay for it, and grade the deliverable against a clear rubric. This surfaces fit that resumes hide.

The plays

Choose the archetype

• Make the first hire a Gen Marketer: an AI-fluent generalist who executes across functions solo

Source candidates

• Match the job board and sourcing trick to the marketer type (with pricing)

Screen and evaluate

• Screen with role-specific paid test projects, not resumes; pick the right contract type

Key numbers and benchmarks

• Prioritize the 2 to 3 functions you most need over a well-rounded generalist; no candidate checks every box.
• Job boards by candidate type: We Work Remotely ~$299/listing (remote); AngelList free (startup experience); Glassdoor ~$65 to $250/listing (due-diligence-minded); LinkedIn Jobs pay-per-click, cap the daily budget (corporate backgrounds); Mashable Jobs ~$259/month (tech talent).
• Sourcing tricks: use LinkedIn "Find more people like" to clone an ideal profile; place ads on competitor Glassdoor profiles to reach talent already considering alternatives.
• Test-project screens by role: social manager = 4 ROI-ranked strategies + a fixed-rate sample implementation; SEO/content = a business-specific strategy + 2 sample articles + references; paid ads = read-only account access (post-NDA) + analysis, recommendations, and new test combos; generalist = break down current strategy and show big-picture plus implementation.
• Guardrail: candidates review your social presence before applying, so make sure it reflects the brand before you recruit. AI fluency is easy to fake on paper; verify it in a cross-functional task.

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Reference library

Every play above, in full.

Evaluate marketing hires with role-specific paid test projects, not résumés

The strategy

Before a full-time commitment, screen marketers with a small, role-specific paid test project that shows how they think and execute against your actual business. You won't find a candidate who checks every box, prioritize the 2-3 functions you most need over well-rounded generalists.

When to use it

Hiring your first or next marketer and deciding between candidates (or between a hire and a contractor). Define your growth strategy, stage, product type, business model, before you post.

How to execute (steps)

1. Social media manager: ask for 4 new strategies ranked by ROI, then assign a fixed-rate sample project to implement the top choice before committing.
2. SEO/content marketer: request an SEO strategy specific to your business plus 2 sample articles that show visitor appeal, organic product positioning, and keyword thinking. Require references (a 6-month ramp justifies scrutiny) and ask when they last used those skills (best practices evolve).
3. Paid ads specialist: after an NDA, grant read-only access to your ads account and ask for an analysis of current results, optimization recommendations, and new ad/targeting combos to test. Verify experience in your specific channels, Instagram ≠ LinkedIn.
4. Growth generalist (early-stage): have them break down your current strategy, identify improvement areas, and demonstrate both big-picture thinking and implementation ability.
5. Choose the right contract type:
   • Consultant/strategist → advisory needs.
   • Freelancer → single-channel work (e.g. Facebook ads).
   • Agency → full account management.
   • Full-time → comprehensive or early-stage build.

Notes / caveats / examples

• Test projects surface fit that résumés hide, pay for them and keep them scoped.
• Candidates review your social presence first, so make sure it reflects the brand before you recruit.

→ Skill conversion note

Becomes an interview-test-project prompt: input the role + business context, output a paid take-home brief with a clear rubric for scoring the deliverable.

Make your first growth hire a "Gen Marketer", an AI-fluent generalist strategist who executes across functions solo, a third path between senior exec and junior specialist

The strategy

The old first-marketing-hire choice was a false binary: an expensive senior exec (strategy but no hands-on execution, high cost) or a narrow junior specialist (executes one channel, needs direction). AI opens a third path, the "Gen Marketer": a strategist who uses AI to execute across many functions alone.

When to use it

Making your first (or early) growth/marketing hire at a startup, especially a lean or AI-native one.

How to execute (steps)

1. Consider the Gen Marketer archetype instead of defaulting to senior-exec or junior-specialist: someone who thinks strategically AND ships across SEO, ads, email, content, and analytics using AI as leverage.
2. Vet for real AI fluency, not resume labels: test whether they actually use AI to multiply their output across functions, a "prompt engineer" title or an AI course on the CV proves nothing.
3. Give a cross-functional test project (aligns with the existing evaluate-marketing-candidates card) to see them strategize and execute across multiple channels with AI, not just talk.
4. Set the expectation of breadth over depth: the Gen Marketer covers the whole funnel solo early on, then specializes hires later as you scale.

Notes / caveats / examples

• This is the hiring counterpart to the strategy-fundamentals "solo/AI-native operating model", the Gen Marketer is how a lean team gets full-funnel coverage from one person.
• Guardrail: AI fluency is the differentiator, and it's easy to fake on paper, verify it in a live, cross-functional task.

→ Skill conversion note

Lower skill value (a hiring-archetype guide); could become a "Gen Marketer scorecard" that defines the cross-functional test project and the AI-fluency signals to verify vs. resume claims.

Source marketing candidates by matching the job board and sourcing trick to the candidate type

The strategy

Different candidate profiles cluster on different platforms, so pick the board (and sourcing trick) that matches the marketer type you defined first. Includes a build-vs-buy alternative: train your existing team instead of hiring.

When to use it

Once you know the marketer type you need and are ready to source candidates cost-effectively.

How to execute (steps)

1. Match the board to the need (with pricing):
   • Remote roles → We Work Remotely (~$299/listing).
   • Startup experience → AngelList (free).
   • Due-diligence-minded candidates → Glassdoor (~$65, $250/listing).
   • Corporate backgrounds → LinkedIn Jobs (pay-per-click; set a daily budget cap, it's expensive).
   • Tech-focused talent → Mashable Jobs (~$259/month).
2. Use LinkedIn's "Find more people like" feature to clone an ideal profile you've already identified.
3. Target competitors on Glassdoor, place job ads on competitor company profiles to reach talent already considering alternatives.
4. Optimize the job description, use We Work Remotely's remote job-description template to lift response rates; enable remote applicants to widen the pool; post prominently on your own website (product-knowledgeable users apply); use hashtags like #marketingjobs on social.
5. Consider not hiring at all, train existing team members (via a growth training program) instead of an external hire.
6. Additional sourcing channels by use case: competitors (mid-level talent), your website (product-knowledgeable users), social posts (cost-effective outreach), and targeted Facebook/LinkedIn ads (specific demographics).

Notes / caveats / examples

• LinkedIn Ads are pricey, always cap the daily budget.
• Sister card evaluate-marketing-candidates.md covers the paid test-project screening once candidates apply.

→ Skill conversion note

Becomes a source-marketing-hire prompt: input the marketer type + budget, output the ranked board list with costs, a sourcing-trick checklist, and a job-description skeleton.

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From God of Skills: a curated, hand-tested directory of AI skills, prompts, templates and image style guides. Source: https://godofskills.com/skills/hiring-team?ref=claude-skill