From our basis as an organization again in 2004, a potential worker’s cultural match has all the time been one of many key criterias on which we’ve primarily based recruitment selections. Now, we need to look past merely ‘becoming our tradition’ and ‘ok’. Now, we’re elevating the bar. 

Nevertheless, hiring proficient and skilled individuals is simpler stated than performed. That’s why we adopted the Bar Raiser method to how we recruit employees in January 2023.

Following the Highest Requirements  

“At Hostinger, we don’t merely fill seats with heat our bodies. We search to rent the very best for Hostinger’s success. We might be proud that now we have excessive requirements and push them even larger on the subject of hiring the appropriate individuals”, explains Benita Narkevičiūtė, Head of Expertise Acquisition at Hostinger. 

We now have enshrined our fixed push for prime requirements in our 10 Rules. These rules assist information every thing we do. On the subject of hiring, we’re on the lookout for individuals who can push our enterprise and our groups ahead by approaching our targets from a special approach or by bringing new experience.

When contemplating a possible Hostinger worker, we ask:

• Do you try to search out the very best options? 
• Do you lead by instance? 
• Do you set the shopper first? 
• Do you’re taking accountability to your duties?

The Bar Raiser course of is designed to reply such questions inside an interview loop.

Our aim is to lift the bar, which means that we need to rent people who find themselves 50% higher than the present crew. We are attempting to rent tradition peaks from completely different views: 

• They’re attempting to construct world-class options and handle our clients.
• They’re function fashions of our rules, they usually lead by instance. 
• They’re bringing competence and trade data to Hostinger, and it helps us transfer ahead and obtain future success. 

This generally is a prolonged course of, but when each particular person we recruit raises the bar, then the crew will get progressively stronger and produces more and more highly effective outcomes. We all know from our personal analysis that high-performing individuals thrive in high-performing groups. They can be demotivated if their crew isn’t performing to its capabilities.

“Some say it’s costly to have a number of interview steps; I imagine it’s a lot, far more costly to rent the unsuitable one that leaves the enterprise inside six months,” says Benita Narkevičiūtė. 

“After I discovered that I would like to rent the absolute best individuals, I used to be afraid and thought, what am I going to do if the particular person goes to be so a lot better than me. It took me just a few years to actually embrace this factor. When you’ve got somebody so a lot better in some dimension than your self, and also you see the way it adjustments issues, the entire organizational class, after which it hits you that there isn’t a different manner to do that,” shares Chief Product Officer at Hostinger, Giedrius Zakaitis. 

As Giedrius explains, at Hostinger, our aim is to lift our bar even larger, not as an entire, however largely in some dimensions. We normally ask if we’d rent this particular person and in what dimension this particular person can be a famous person.

Bar Elevating: The Beginnings at Amazon

Again in 1999, throughout a interval of explosive enterprise development, managers at Amazon have been hiring with out a structured interview course of or constant requirements to anchor their method and hiring selections.

As Bryce Hanson, Co-Founder / Senior Guide at Tradition Compass and an skilled international enterprise chief who spent almost 20 years at Amazon main and delivering outcomes with enterprise and HR groups, explains, hiring managers and interview groups have been simply led by private bias, groupthink, subjective interview suggestions, and an urgency to fill seats. 

“Tech groups observed that Amazon’s bar for expertise was really being lowered. So, the technical and recruiting management groups put collectively a repeatable, scalable, and simply teachable proposal that may drive a constant interview and hiring course of. Utilizing a standard scoring system in opposition to outlined and assigned competencies, this system referred to as for every rent to be higher than no less than 50% of the present crew in some particular method. An goal third social gathering, generally known as the Bar Raiser, would facilitate the method end-to-end and assist drive consensus on hiring selections to lift the expertise and efficiency bar for the corporate.” 

The identify Bar Raiser applies to each the method and the group of individuals – Bar Raisers – who make it occur. The method works by having a skilled Bar Raiser concerned within the course of however circuitously concerned with the hiring crew or the recruitment crew. Because of this, a Bar Raiser is free from the sense of urgency or unconscious bias that can lead to poor recruitment selections. 

In line with Bryce, the brand new interview and hiring course of added an goal stress to hiring, which, coupled with a company-wide philosophy, promoted and strengthened excessive hiring requirements. As a testomony to the success of that method, over 20 years later, Bar Raiser stays a key facet of recruitment at Amazon.

Implementing Bar Raiser at Hostinger 

A Bar Raiser is a skilled interviewer in our recruitment course of who ensures that the hiring choice has probably the most vital potential within the long-term perspective. That’s why at Hostinger, now we have just a few criterias for this particular person: 

• Should be a real ambassador of Hostinger rules and exhibit the power to judge expertise in opposition to our rules. 
• Should be nominated by their crew lead/colleagues. 
• Should be expert interviewer and full Bar Raiser coaching. 
• Should have sturdy analytical abilities, an goal mindset, and be passionate concerning the hiring course of. 

“As an formidable, international firm, we’re all the time open to taking inspiration and steering from the world round us, particularly from the very best firms on the planet. We take these instruments, strive them as they have been applied in different firms, after which make our personal changes to have the very best end result,” explains Giedrius Zakaitis.

One instance is the implementation of the Bar Raiser precept.

At first, we started with the identical mannequin as Amazon. Then, in mid-2023, we collaborated with Bryce Hanson to overview and revamp our personal course of, resulting in Bar Raiser 2.0.

Consequently, we expanded the Bar Raiser function. Now, it contains interview debrief facilitation, which beforehand was led by both the hiring supervisor or the recruiter. The difficulty was that hiring managers or recruiters weren’t all the time goal because of the stress to rent shortly or attain their sourcing and recruiting efficiency targets. 

“One other necessary change was the give attention to behavioral interview questions tied particularly to Hostinger rules. This allows interview groups to evaluate candidates for actions, behaviors, and former achievements that join with Hostinger rules. A important facet of the method is the idea of sustaining ‘vote’ confidentiality previous to the debrief, because it creates the potential danger of groupthink. This could result in poor hiring selections primarily based on particular person bias and the very human need for consensus and concord. Now, reasonably than having veto on the ultimate interview, Bar Raisers information, advise, give suggestions to, and help each the recruiter and the hiring supervisor at each stage of the interview course of,” says Bryce Hanson. 

Benita explains the roles:

• The hiring supervisor is the proprietor of the recruitment and, in the end, a call maker. 
• The recruiter brings day-to-day experience to coordinate the end-to-end recruitment course of.
• The Bar Raiser offers goal insights as they don’t really feel the urgency to fill a task.

Giedrius has skilled this primary hand: “As a hiring supervisor, it helps me cowl my blind spots and lift the bar by difficult me to why. If I needed to identify among the finest issues that I’m happiest about that we applied not too long ago, that may be Bar Raisers.”

We all know that each candidate is evaluating Hostinger as a lot as we’re evaluating them. Our hope is that the presence of a Bar Raiser improves the candidate’s interview expertise and exhibits them how significantly we take every function and the way a lot we put money into hiring and growing the very best individuals.

Misconceptions Concerning the Bar Raiser Course of

Having participated in properly over 1,000 interviews at Amazon and labored with the Bar Raiser over the past 20+ years, Bryce identifies the 2 major misconceptions concerning the course of: 

Bar Raisers Abuse Their Energy by Vetoing Hiring Selections Repeatedly

At Hostinger, hiring managers are the ultimate choice makers supported by the Bar Raiser and recruiter. Whereas Bar Raisers can veto a hiring supervisor’s choice in the event that they really feel it’s not in the very best curiosity of the corporate, this not often occurs. Merely put, veto energy is the exception, not the rule.

The Bar Raiser Interview Is the Most Troublesome Half for the Candidate

A candidate doesn’t have to organize moreover for the Bar Raiser interview – it’s a easy dialog about your values, rules, and beliefs. As well as, Bar Raisers are glorious interviewers who’ve a deep understanding of the tradition and are skilled for such calls.

Measuring the Peak of the Bar

On the time of writing, now we have recruited 136 individuals since implementing the Bar Raiser course of at Hostinger. 

Up to now, solely 9% of them labored shorter than 6 months. We’ll proceed to observe that determine and purpose for 0%. In the meanwhile, now we have launched Peak Efficiency indicators and Tradition Peak initiatives to measure the efficiency of our Bar Raiser recruits. They shine a lightweight on those that ship outcomes and exhibit excellent behaviors throughout one or a number of of our 10 rules.

“There’s nonetheless plenty of work to do,” insists Benita. “We’re working with bar raisers and hiring managers, as we see plenty of potential to strengthen our interviewing abilities, enhance our general understanding of recruitment, and guarantee enriching candidate expertise. We’re in a great place, however we might be in a a lot better place. Fortunately, we all know what we have to do to get there.” 

We would like each one that joins Hostinger to really feel proud and motivated to lift the bar even larger.

A part of Hostinger’s Communications Staff, Kotryna is liable for constructing and sustaining relationships with media retailers and making certain that the group’s achievements and initiatives obtain public recognition. In her free time, Kotryna likes to discover new locations and take pictures.