Scouting talent
Issue 243: Developing a rubric and scouting system for hiring talent
The end of April marks one of my favorite times of the year. Of course, I'm talking about the NFL Draft—the annual tradition of very large men in tiny suits waiting for their names to be called and achieve their dream of becoming a professional football player in the National Football League. In 1984, a 23-year-old man named Mel Kiper Jr. changed the coverage of the draft forever. Kiper Jr.'s early career brought a whole new enthusiasm to the broadcast with his in-depth analysis of each player, machine-gun vocal delivery of one-liners of players with "good hip flexibility" or "bursts off the snap." His first NFL draft guide was written on a typewriter and he mailed it to fans in exchange for a check.
Mel Kiper Jr.'s in-depth analysis is about the ability to scout great talent. Though tech companies don't run a talent draft like the NFL (though that would be extremely entertaining), there are a lot of common themes and skills. Whether you are a hiring manager, startup founder, or an individual contributor leading, the ability to find talent, evaluate, and have strong relationships with them are essential for building world-class companies.
The art of scouting
The top mistake hiring managers make is not spending enough time recruiting. This doesn't mean when the req opens for the role one needs to fill. My philosophy on recruiting talent is you should be thinking about the pipeline for your entire career; not only your current role, but the next one, and the one after that. NFL scouts begin tracking players as their high school careers. In some unsanctioned instances, scouts have looked at Middle School players. Players like Tate Martell, David Sills, and Dillon Sterling-Cole were famous as 13-year-olds because of highlight tapes on YouTube and MaxPreps.
Early scouting focuses on tracking growth, potential, and availability. Like the NFL draft, recruiting talent at tech companies is a competition with many other companies. Just because you want to pick someone doesn't mean they'll be available and other companies may get them. That's why it's important to keep a wide pipeline of people available.
Though it's part of a continuous pipeline, scouting is not necessarily a recruiting funnel. Scouting talent is about being familiar with a person's work: Their strengths and weaknesses, growth trajectory, and what environment they are successful in. In the NFL, being familiar with as many players as possible opens up other opportunities such as trades or making suggestions to other teams. People may not realize how often external recruiters and hiring managers share notes about talent to find a fit for them. Even if someone is not a fit for your current team, you want to help them land in a place that might be hiring and where they can be successful. The scouting phase should be the widest and earliest pipeline you should have.
I look at people to hire as early as their collegiate work. My access comes from many sources, with the most common being current and previous direct reports offering introductions to their alumni. It's not a surprise that I know so many interaction designers from CMU as a result of this.
Your scouting system
Now that you have a pipeline, let's look at your evaluation system. Of all the things Mel Kiper Jr. is famous for, beyond the slick hair, it's the big board; the artifact he uses to track players. The best CRM is the one you maintain. My big board is currently tracked in Airtable; something I've been maintaining since 2016.
In addition to building your scouting CRM, it's important to have a clear rubric on how you evaluate. You'd be surprised how many hiring managers can't answer that when a candidate asks them. Before I tell you my talent rubric for individuals, you have to know my hiring philosophy. First, I think about the system the person will be playing in. The NFL has many stories of Heisman Trophy winners in college who couldn't adapt to the league. In a similar, the role fit of a person has many contributing factors to the system. A few questions I ask myself are:
What are the important constructs of the company this person would have to navigate? Working at a publicly traded company with a professional CEO is a lot different than a founder-led CEO at a startup. Though people can always adapt and navigate it, these might be factors and risks in who you bring on.
Do they have industry-specific skills that might boost (or detract) the fit for the role? A Product Manager from Health Tech can onramp to Fin Tech quickly because of the online/offline experiences and working through regulations, but
How do they complement the rest of the roster? When hiring someone, consider how they fit with the rest of the roster construction.
Now I'll share my rubric on individuals. I refer to my Design philosophy as the first touchpoint because how I think of the org and run it will be the biggest factor they have to work with; more so than the company fit. Though this isn't a comprehensive list of my evaluation rubric, I'll provide a few examples:
Behavioral above all. Regardless of talent or ability, the prospect has to have the right behavioral attributes. Do they have a growth mindset? Can they have high conviction while being a team player?
Athletes instead of limiting specializations. Most of my operating experience has been at high-growth startups, therefore I optimize for the athletic abilities of generalists who have range. The reason isn't because specialists aren't important but because priorities can change and people who have high adaptability and learnability. In sports terms, these are people who can pick up any ball in any sport and perform well vs. only being able to play baseball.
Optimize for growth trajectory. Find high-ceiling people who haven't peaked. Not everyone on your team needs to be a first-round pick and may come in subsequent rounds. Through continued development they become hall-of-famers.
Individual agency over system success. I look for people who can be team players but also have agency and autonomy in their work. At times, people's success can be a byproduct of the system. One example is Danny Wuerffel, one of the best collegiate players hailing from Florida. Wuerffel's success came from running Steve Spurrier's offense and didn't last long in the NFL. It's important to build systems that maximize outcomes for people, but be mindful that's not the only reason the person is talented.
The environments and systems vary, but this has been consistent in my criteria.
Scouting is a continuous act
41 years in the business of scouting football players, Mel Kiper Jr.'s commitment to his craft is inspirational, and has been doing this (quite literally) my entire life. "Work harder than everyone else. Watch more films than everyone else." —Kiper Jr. says.
If you're looking for a new career opportunity or finding expansive opportunities, the best thing you can do is make your best work visible for scouts. There have been times I've found designers I hired or referred to other people because of a blog post they wrote or participated in a hackathon that showed nuggets of great potential. In any craft, writing about your work is a great way to broadcast your candidacy whether you're actively looking or not. In addition to writing, a few other suggestions of what you can do:
Participate in hackathons and other events such as portfolio reviews
Share your work at local meetups or be a guest at company offsites
Publish case studies, even informal ones, breaking down how you approached a project or problem
Record short walkthrough videos explaining your design or decision process and post them on platforms like LinkedIn or personal sites
Contribute to open-source projects, design communities, or startup incubators where your work can be seen by builders and founders
When designers reach out to me and say, "I don't know if you remember me," they are surprised I remember my hiring manager interview or informal chat with them when I was at Replit, Webflow, or even at One Medical nearly six years ago. I'm not saying I remember every single person, but I keep a good pulse on how people continue progressing in their careers. People grow, evolve, and also regress. Put your work out there. People are constantly scouting for great talent. At least I will.
Hyperlinks + notes
A collection of references for this post, updates, and weekly reads.
Mel Kiper Jr. Made $400 His First Year Covering the NFL Draft Before Making Bank
Agency is Eating the World by my brilliant former colleague Gian Segato
Figma's 2025 AI report: Perspectives from designers and developers
iOS 19 Rumored to Add Stage Manager Support to USB-C iPhones → If Apple does this, I hope to get a foldable iPhone that can be my iPad mini and connect it to Stage Manager; a beginning in the post-PC era
Bluesky Downtime by Manton Reece
Pope Francis on AI and ChatGPT's obsession with the Immaculate Conception of Mary by
Thanks so much for the mention!! <3
also... needed to hear this lol "If you're looking for a new career opportunity or finding expansive opportunities, the best thing you can do is make your best work visible..."