The Capacity-Based Hiring System
Hire on behavior and values, verify hard, and only add people who raise the bar.
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 7
- Confidence
- 85%
Glazer's hiring system, built largely on Geoff Smart's 'Topgrading' work, starts before the job is posted: everyone must agree on the job description and what good looks like. Interviews are behavioral, because hypothetical questions get hypothetical answers, and are split 50% around core values and 50% around the actual job — including a realistic work-product exercise (like a client report seeded with errors) that mimics real work. Candidates are scored numerically so you can compare objectively, and a disinterested person wearing the 'company hat' sits in the decision to counter the hiring manager's desperation to fill the seat. References are verified by back-channeling beyond the two names offered, and the final gate is whether the person raises the bar above 90% of the existing team.
Origin
Glazer built much of his hiring approach around Geoff Smart, whom he calls the smartest person on hiring in the world and the author of Topgrading, and layered on his own tips for spotting high-aptitude, fast-learning people after years of scaling Acceleration Partners to over 300 people.
Core principles
- 01Agree on the job description and what good looks like before you post the role.
- 02Ask behavioral questions — hypothetical questions get you hypothetical answers.
- 03Score candidates numerically and split evaluation 50% aptitude, 50% values.
- 04Every hire must raise the bar — be better than 90% of the people already there.
- 05Verify claims through back-channel references, not just the two names offered.
How to run it
- 1
Align on the role before posting
Make sure everyone agrees on the job description and what good looks like before the job is posted, so stakeholders aren't secretly wanting different things.
Pro tip For blended roles like 'sales and marketing,' surface the conflicting expectations up front.
- 2
Ask behavioral questions
Use behavioral-based questions about what candidates actually did, since hypothetical questions only produce hypothetical answers.
Pro tip Build behavioral questions around each of your core values.
- 3
Give a realistic work exercise
Include an exercise or work product that mimics the real job — like a client report full of errors — and see which mistakes they catch.
Pro tip Make clear you're testing fit, not extracting free work.
- 4
Score 50/50 and objectively
Evaluate 50% on aptitude and 50% on values, scoring candidates numerically so you can compare them objectively rather than on gut feel.
Pro tip Don't ignore the little signals — were they hard to schedule, on time, did they send a thank-you note?
- 5
Verify through back-channels
Do real reference checks — use LinkedIn and back-channel people who worked with the candidate, not just the two references they hand you.
Pro tip People you know may have worked with the candidate and would give you a 'no comment' that saves you.
- 6
Add a disinterested company hat
Put someone in the hiring meeting who isn't on the hiring team and represents the company's interests, to counter the hiring manager's urgency to fill the seat.
Pro tip That person holds the line: 'you said detail orientation matters, and these scores are low.'
Watch out The person who needs the seat filled will overlook red flags.
- 7
Apply the raise-the-bar test
Ask whether this person is better than 90% of current staff and raises the bar for the company — everyone must answer yes.
Pro tip Favor people promoted in place and voracious learners as signals of high aptitude.
Watch out Mid-career candidates who left many jobs and have no one from their past willing to work with them again are a red flag.
In the wild
Glazer's team gives candidates a client report deliberately full of errors and watches which things they fix and which they miss, mirroring the real time pressure of getting work back to a client.
→ The people who are naturally strong at the actual work reveal themselves, separating real aptitude from interview polish.
To spot high-aptitude fast learners, Glazer looks for candidates who were promoted in place rather than lured away by a new job offering a title they weren't qualified for — reasoning that if the people who worked with them wouldn't promote them, that's telling.
→ It surfaces candidates whose own colleagues vouched for their growth, a stronger signal than a poached title.
Common mistakes
Hiring people like yourself
Using personality tests or gut feel in interviews biases you toward people similar to you, when you actually want a team that's different.
Letting the desperate hirer decide alone
The person who needs the seat filled will overlook red flags, which is why a disinterested company-hat voice must be in the room.
Is it for you?
Best for
Founders and hiring managers making high-stakes hires while scaling a fast-growing company.
Not ideal for
Casual or volunteer roles where a lightweight process is proportionate.
From the transcript
“make sure everyone has agreed on the job description and what good looks like before you post it”
“if you ask hypothetical questions you'll get hypothetical answers”
“adopting this question is the last thing is this person better than 90% of the people are they raise the bar for the company”
From the episode
Robert Glazer: How to Build a Winning Team and Culture
Robert Glazer