Hire the People That People Pick
Win great hires over months by adding value first, long before there's a role
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 90%
A long-horizon recruiting philosophy: the best people are chosen by the people they already trust, so you cannot win them through a cold job posting. Instead, meet great people continuously, add genuine value to their lives with no immediate ask, and be upfront that you'd love to work together someday — so when an opportunity arises, you're a trusted acquaintance rather than 'some guy from a Zoom.'
Origin
Ayo Omojola's core hiring and networking philosophy, seeded by an early experience where a mentor declined to invest but generously connected him to many people who could help.
Core principles
- 01You hire the people that others pick — trusted relationships beat cold applications
- 02The gap between first meeting a great hire and them joining can be months or over a year
- 03Everybody wants something; often it's something you have or can connect them to
- 04If you can give someone what they want at no cost and don't, that's criminal
- 05Give value away and hold no cards close — over a long enough horizon it comes back
How to run it
- 1
Meet great people continuously, ahead of any opening
Constantly meet people you'd want to work with, independent of current hiring needs, so you build a pipeline of relationships rather than reacting to open roles.
Pro tip Some of the strongest hires join a year or more after the first meeting — start early.
Watch out Waiting until you have a req means the best people are already spoken for by those they trust.
- 2
Find out what they want and provide it at no cost
Learn what each person actually wants. Most of the time it's something you have or can connect them to — an intro, an opportunity, advice. Give it freely.
Pro tip Omojola made ~600 intros in a year; the compounding goodwill drove advisors, jobs, and investments back to his network.
Watch out Withholding value you could give for free destroys the very trust you're trying to build.
- 3
Be explicitly honest about wanting to work together
Tell the person directly that you hope to work together one day, and in the meantime offer to connect them to what they currently want.
Pro tip Model it on the mentor who said 'I'm not going to invest, I think it's stupid, but here are all these people you should meet' — honesty plus generosity is transformational.
Watch out Being coy about your interest makes you forgettable when the opportunity finally comes.
In the wild
Omojola made roughly 600 introductions in a single year, treating it as a professional habit as an angel investor. He is upfront with people he wants to hire, tells them so, and in the meantime connects them to the categories of things they actually want.
→ At least one person signed on as an advisor, several took jobs, angel investors invested in companies, and companies found leads — value that flowed back over time.
Common mistakes
Recruiting only when a role opens
Great people are picked by those they already trust. Starting the relationship at the moment you have a req means you're competing as a stranger against trusted connections.
Withholding value you could give for free
If someone wants something you can provide at no cost and you don't give it, you forfeit trust. Omojola calls it 'criminal not to' — the generosity is what makes people want to work with you later.
Is it for you?
Best for
Hiring managers and founders who want to attract top, non-traditional talent over a long time horizon
Not ideal for
Urgent backfills that must be closed in days or weeks with no time to build relationships
From the transcript
“when you're hiring you pick the people that they pick”
“if I meet somebody I want to work with I'm like hey how can I like add value to your life so you will consider…”
“everybody wants something and most the time it's not something you have to give or you can connect them to but if it is something…”
“I probably made 600 intros last year”
“you just don't hold the cards close to Jeff just give them away”
From the episode
Frameworks for product differentiation, team building, and thinking from first principles
Ayo Omojola (Carbon Health, Cash App)