A few months back, we had a candidate for a front-end developer role who we loved. Self taught technologist, easy design sense, great academic pedigree. A work in progress technically, but his potential seemed solid and he met a core need for us at the time. He seemed to click with the team, sounded impressed with our company, and had great things to say.

We made him an offer, and we lost out. It had seemed destined to be. We were crestfallen. What went wrong? Why did he take the other offer (well, to be fair they offered him a lot more money- but we were ready for a fight, and he walked away from the table).

It was one of those galvanizing moments. We sat back, took a new look at our recruiting and interview process, our company culture, and how we sell who we are.

And I won’t say we’ve arrived yet, but I think we’re on a great path now. We’ve made several new (and exceptional) hires since. We’re starting to win people over on culture (and we’ve gone up against some of the best competition that the burgeoning NYC scene has to offer), and vision, and work environment.

How’d we do it? Discipline, or as we like to say here, “rinsing the cottage cheese” (Google it). A better recruiting plan, a better interviewing plan, clear priorities, a polished pitch, and many small ongoing efforts.

So now when I look back, The Candidate was just what we needed. A kick in the pants.