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When to recruit
I’d say once you can cover a salary and… one salary and three quarters, so the three quarters are left for you, even if you have to pinch pennies for a few months, I think you need to do it.

What profile
Try to look for “T” profiles. Profiles that have good overall knowledge of your line of work, and are specialized in one or two areas, for instance.

What contract
I only hire under permanent contract because since we have a small team, I really try to instill a culture where my team works with me and not for me. And that’s why I think the first sign of respect is a permanent contract, saying “you’re here to stay.”

Signs that it’s the right choice
First, to me, is curiosity. Second, it doesn’t take long to see if they’re a hard worker. And the third thing is their… the stance they take when faced with contradictions. On one hand, it’s important for your employee to say no when you’re wrong, to be able to talk things through, and it’s your role to accept that… but it’s also crucial for the employee to be able to accept when you ask them to do something other than what they had planned. And obviously it’s your job to explain why so they can understand and learn why you feel it’s more important to take one direction or another.

When it doesn’t work out
If after 3 or 4 months you’re not in admiration of your employee, it’s time to rip off the band-aid and move on.

Delegating
You need to give independence to your teams. It’s not easy to do, but the first rule to be able to work with an independent team is to take time at the beginning of a project to really explain why they’re doing what they’re doing.

Tools
It’s essential to have a tool. I don’t know which is the best tool because that depends on each one of your teams and their specificities. We’ve been using Asana in-house for several years.