How to Find and Hire the Right SEO (Stephan Spencer and Jason Barnard)

Stephan Spencer talks with Jason Barnard about his 7-step hiring process.

Stephan Spencer has 25 years of experience in the SEO industry under his belt, having hired hundreds and hundreds of people. In this episode, he shares the process he has developed to make sure he hires the right people for his team.

He has 7 steps, each one designed to sort the wood from the chaff and hire the right person. The techniques range from Rock ‘n Roll (the “No Brown M&Ms” clause used by Van Halen’s David Lee Roth) to fun (riddles), to marketing (split testing job ads) and simply putting people on the spot.
Listen to then end to learn some of his riddles and trick questions!

What you’ll learn

1:04 Stephan’s Brand SERP and his image format system for Twitter
5:00 Step 1 – Stephan’s use of riddles and trick questions in his initial hiring process
8:57 The reason behind the “No Brown M&Ms” clause popularized by David Lee Roth, and how Stephan uses it to pre-select his employees
11:30 Step 2 – Checking a potential employee’s social media (tips and tricks)
12:50 – The importance of setting the culture for the entire team
15:16 Step 3 – A/B split testing job ads to see what performs better by platform and region
17:11 Step 4 – How to filter out unqualified candidates, and how to prepare a client to do the same
21:17 A look into Stephan’s vast experience in the hiring process and a couple of examples of his trick questions
26:19 Stephan’s method on withholding judgment towards a candidate during an interview
28:49 Question: Do you do online interviews?
30:35 Step 5 – Specific questions that can prove expertise on an interview
32:38 Step 6 – Bring in another interviewer for a second opinion
34:00 The importance of personality assessments for team members
34:46 Step 7 – Confirm the fit by having a trial period or a trial project
36:13 The finale: One of Stephan’s riddles