Sarah FitzMorris Co-Founder and Director, Executives in Africa

What does a three-month talent gap actually cost a scaling company? For one Nigerian e-commerce business, the answer is at least $1 million.

When their CTO walked out at a critical growth moment, with no successor in place and a junior engineering team left holding the fort, the damage wasn’t just financial. The entire infrastructure of their business was exposed.

Most scaling companies fail not because they run out of capital, and not because their systems break down. They fail because they don’t have the right leadership in place at the right moment.

Yet hiring, even at the C-suite level, is still treated as an HR transaction by too many founders. A job description pulled together from a template, a couple of interviews, a gut feeling. Done.

The 20/80 principle most founders ignore

Ask yourself this single, focused question: What is the 20% of this role that will deliver 80% of the results?

The instinct when hiring is to build a wish list. Every skill, every capability, every aspiration for what this person might one day become. But a long job description is not the same as a focused one.

Why A-players won’t find you

At any given moment, only around 20% of the talent market is actively looking for a new role. The other 80%, where most of your A-players sit, are busy succeeding where they are. They are not browsing job boards. They will not respond to your LinkedIn post.

Which means if you’re only hiring from the visible pool, you are already working from an incomplete shortlist.

Accessing the talent that can truly transform your business requires a different strategy – one built on proactive mapping, a compelling value proposition, and a clear understanding of why an exceptional candidate would choose you.

At any given moment, only around 20% of the talent market is actively looking for a new role

So, before you start your next critical hire:  Follow this 4-Phase Strategic Hiring Checklist


PHASE 1: DIAGNOSE

Before you even write a job specification/description

What specific business outcome needs to change in the next 12/24/36 months?

How does this appointment contribute to achieving this?

What capabilities will actually deliver that outcome and how?

What does GOOD actually LOOK like?

What will be difficult about achieving what is needed?

What behaviours are needed to overcome challenges?

Red Flags: Rushing to write a job description before understanding what business outcome is required from this appointment.  Defaulting to lists of responsibilities rather than thinking about what good looks like.


PHASE 2: MARKET INTELLIGENCE

Which companies are delivering similar outcomes in comparable contexts?

How will we map the talent market; do we have capability in-house to do this?

A-players aren’t looking – how will we reach them?

What’s our value proposition to A-player candidates?

Are we being realistic about salary benchmarks for the quality we need?

Where can we compromise?  Where can’t we?

Red Flags: Do we understand what the talent market looks like and have we accessed the best talent?  How do we know this?


PHASE 3: ASSESSMENT DESIGN & AI TOOLS

Have we designed interview questions that test for results/outcomes and take candidates out of their comfort zones?

Do we have a process to separate candidates who interview well from those who will actually perform well once appointed?

Have we built in proper due diligence (behavioural profiling, references, track record verification) to give us confidence in our hiring decision?

Red Flags:  Having a process where the best interviewee gets the job rather than the best leader for the role.


PHASE 4: DECISION FRAMEWORK / MARKING SYSTEM

Have we created an objective marking system to evaluate candidates consistently?

Does this prioritise the areas we will get 80% of the results from?

Do we have internal capability to execute this rigor; are our interviewers capable of distinguishing between A and B candidates?

What’s our decision-making process, marking system, and who has final say?

How will we onboard this person to accelerate their impact?

Red Flags: Not having a consistent interview approach / marking system for all candidates.

Hiring is a strategic business decision, not an admin task