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Oct 1, 2021 · 16m · founders-journal

Building Your Team #6: Ask an HR Executive

Kate Noel · 8m spoken Alex Lieberman · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

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In this episode of Founders Journal, host Alex Lieberman interviews Morning Brew's Head of People, Kate Noel, to break down strategic approaches for sourcing, evaluating, and onboarding top talent.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Alex holds 48.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Alex as informed peer 3.0 Guest teaching 5.0 Guest disagreement 1.0 Alex pushing back 1.3
05100:0010:000:52–6:57 · Alex as informed peer 4/10 Recruiting Strategy: Sourcing, Recruiters, and Business Justification Lieberman asks structured questions about talent sourcing and when to switch from founder-led recruiting to internal or external recruiters. Noel educates on the strategic role of internal recruiters in maintaining company culture and interview scorecards, while Lieberman contributes his perspective on specialized external talent pipelines.7:03–13:34 · Alex as informed peer 3/10 The Interview Process: Culture, Compensation, and Reference Checking Lieberman challenges the traditional utility of reference checks and probes legal boundaries around salary inquiries. Noel provides strict HR guidance on salary history questions and offers a tiered reference structure to solve Lieberman's skepticism.13:34–15:18 · Alex as informed peer 2/10 Onboarding and Integrating New Hires Successfully The conversation shifts to post-hire onboarding in an entirely collaborative tone. Noel outlines best practices for new hire sponge weeks and highlights Morning Brew's automated coffee chat initiatives.0:52–6:57 · Guest teaching 5/10 Recruiting Strategy: Sourcing, Recruiters, and Business Justification Lieberman asks structured questions about talent sourcing and when to switch from founder-led recruiting to internal or external recruiters. Noel educates on the strategic role of internal recruiters in maintaining company culture and interview scorecards, while Lieberman contributes his perspective on specialized external talent pipelines.7:03–13:34 · Guest teaching 6/10 The Interview Process: Culture, Compensation, and Reference Checking Lieberman challenges the traditional utility of reference checks and probes legal boundaries around salary inquiries. Noel provides strict HR guidance on salary history questions and offers a tiered reference structure to solve Lieberman's skepticism.13:34–15:18 · Guest teaching 4/10 Onboarding and Integrating New Hires Successfully The conversation shifts to post-hire onboarding in an entirely collaborative tone. Noel outlines best practices for new hire sponge weeks and highlights Morning Brew's automated coffee chat initiatives.0:52–6:57 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Recruiting Strategy: Sourcing, Recruiters, and Business Justification Lieberman asks structured questions about talent sourcing and when to switch from founder-led recruiting to internal or external recruiters. Noel educates on the strategic role of internal recruiters in maintaining company culture and interview scorecards, while Lieberman contributes his perspective on specialized external talent pipelines.7:03–13:34 · Guest disagreement 2/10 The Interview Process: Culture, Compensation, and Reference Checking Lieberman challenges the traditional utility of reference checks and probes legal boundaries around salary inquiries. Noel provides strict HR guidance on salary history questions and offers a tiered reference structure to solve Lieberman's skepticism.13:34–15:18 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Onboarding and Integrating New Hires Successfully The conversation shifts to post-hire onboarding in an entirely collaborative tone. Noel outlines best practices for new hire sponge weeks and highlights Morning Brew's automated coffee chat initiatives.0:52–6:57 · Alex pushing back 1/10 Recruiting Strategy: Sourcing, Recruiters, and Business Justification Lieberman asks structured questions about talent sourcing and when to switch from founder-led recruiting to internal or external recruiters. Noel educates on the strategic role of internal recruiters in maintaining company culture and interview scorecards, while Lieberman contributes his perspective on specialized external talent pipelines.7:03–13:34 · Alex pushing back 3/10 The Interview Process: Culture, Compensation, and Reference Checking Lieberman challenges the traditional utility of reference checks and probes legal boundaries around salary inquiries. Noel provides strict HR guidance on salary history questions and offers a tiered reference structure to solve Lieberman's skepticism.13:34–15:18 · Alex pushing back 0/10 Onboarding and Integrating New Hires Successfully The conversation shifts to post-hire onboarding in an entirely collaborative tone. Noel outlines best practices for new hire sponge weeks and highlights Morning Brew's automated coffee chat initiatives.

speaking balance: gold is Alex, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Alex 60.7% · guest 39.3%0:00 · Alex 60.7% · guest 39.3%3:00 · Alex 24.4% · guest 75.6%3:00 · Alex 24.4% · guest 75.6%6:00 · Alex 57.5% · guest 42.5%6:00 · Alex 57.5% · guest 42.5%9:00 · Alex 51.5% · guest 48.5%9:00 · Alex 51.5% · guest 48.5%12:00 · Alex 28.1% · guest 71.9%12:00 · Alex 28.1% · guest 71.9%15:00 · Alex 81.9% · guest 18.1%15:00 · Alex 81.9% · guest 18.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:23 Noel refuses to validate backchannel reference checking

Noel humorously but firmly declines to condone backchannel reference checks on the record, invoking her professional HR obligations.

 Hardest push from Alex ▶ 11:09 Lieberman challenges the value of reference checks

Lieberman pushes back on the standard interview playbook, arguing that candidate-provided reference checks are inherently biased and offer little genuine insight.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 10:35 Noel explains illegal compensation questioning

Noel instructs Lieberman on the strict legal prohibition against asking candidates about their current compensation package, directing managers to ask for future requirements instead.

 Alex holds their own ▶ 5:40 Lieberman highlights external recruiter specializations

Lieberman synthesizes the discussion on recruitment strategy by outlining how external agencies provide targeted pipelines for technical and executive positions that internal teams lack.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicAlex as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementAlex pushing backWhy
Recruiting Strategy: Sourcing, Recruiters, and Business Justification 4511 Lieberman asks structured questions about talent sourcing and when to switch from founder-led recruiting to internal or external recruiters. Noel educates on the strategic role of internal recruiters in maintaining company culture and interview scorecards, while Lieberman contributes his perspective on specialized external talent pipelines.
The Interview Process: Culture, Compensation, and Reference Checking 3623 Lieberman challenges the traditional utility of reference checks and probes legal boundaries around salary inquiries. Noel provides strict HR guidance on salary history questions and offers a tiered reference structure to solve Lieberman's skepticism.
Onboarding and Integrating New Hires Successfully 2400 The conversation shifts to post-hire onboarding in an entirely collaborative tone. Noel outlines best practices for new hire sponge weeks and highlights Morning Brew's automated coffee chat initiatives.

Statements from this episode (5)

Insight
Noel: Companies prioritizing culture should rely on internal over external recruiters
“I would strongly recommend doing internal recruiting if you have a big emphasis on culture. Because at the end of the day, an external recruiter will probably have multiple clients. So the same type of attention an internal recruiter will be able to give to ju…”
Kate Noel Oct 1, 2021 ▶ 3:25
Insight
Lieberman: External recruiters offer deeper specialized talent pipelines than internal teams
“Oftentimes, external recruiters may also have, like, more specialized talent pools that they can pull from. So right, if you're hiring executive talent, or say you're focusing on, like, development or engineering talent, external recruiters may just have a mor…”
Alex Lieberman Oct 1, 2021 ▶ 5:45
Assertion Supported
Kate Noel: Employers cannot legally ask candidates for their past compensation
“So you can ask what their salary requirements are. You Your package. That, that is not allowed. Listen to your HR person. Do not ask that. But what you can say, what are the salary requirements based on your understanding of this role and what we're looking fo…”
Kate Noel Oct 1, 2021 ▶ 10:36
Insight
Kate Noel: Reference checks should mandate contacts across multiple professional levels
“So for me, I feel like if we do have an opportunity to ask for referrals and we want something insightful to come from it, I like to give the task if it's applicable for people to give referrals at different levels. So instead of just saying, can you provide t…”
Kate Noel Oct 1, 2021 ▶ 12:23
Disclosure
Morning Brew uses Donut to randomly pair cross-department employees
“Well, actually, we created a moment called Coffee Chats which is, oh, actually, it's Donut. It's a Slack channel that allows new hires to be included in the Slack where they're just randomly grouped up with, like, five other people outside of their department.…”
Kate Noel Oct 1, 2021 ▶ 14:39
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