Hire and ramp

skills/hire-and-ramp/SKILL.mdView on GitHub

Goal: the right role, hired against a written scorecard, ramped on a plan with dates, and handed a function that is documented well enough that it does not depend on the person who built it. The usual sequence is marketing person number one (a senior generalist or a fractional lead) sets the foundations, then an operator or coordinator is hired to run them.

Before you start

This skill works on its own. If the person has their own marketing brain folder, read all of it; the handoff package is largely the brain. If they do not have one, ask: what the go‑to‑market work looks like week to week today and who does it, what is written down and where, what the next quarter’s goals are, the budget for the role, and whether the person is replacing someone, adding to a team, or is the first.

Tools this skill uses when the person has them. None are required.

Steps

1. Inventory the work. List every recurring go‑to‑market task from the last month with: how often, how long, who does it, whether it is written down, and whether it needs judgement or just execution. Group into strategy (deciding what to do), management (vendors, tools, reporting), execution (writing, building, posting, sending) and sales support.

2. Decide the role from the inventory. If most hours are execution and the strategy is set, hire an operator or coordinator. If nobody is deciding what to do, hire or contract a senior generalist first; an operator with no direction stalls. If the hours are mostly one specialty (paid, content, ops), consider a contractor or agency for that specialty instead of a hire. Write the decision and the reason in three lines.

3. Write the role scorecard before the job post. The mission in one sentence (what this person is accountable for), three to five outcomes for the first year with numbers (the key results they own), the competencies that predict success in this company (for an operator: ships weekly, writes clearly, comfortable with tools, follows a process and improves it, asks when stuck), and the deal-breakers. The scorecard is what every candidate is scored against.

4. Write the job post. From the scorecard, in plain words, in the company’s voice: what the company does and for whom, what this person will own, the first 90 days in four lines, what the first year looks like, what they need to have done before, how the company works (tools, meetings, remote or not, who they report to), the pay range, and how to apply. Under 500 words. No list of twenty requirements; the five that matter.

5. Set the screening. One short written question at application that tests the main competency (for an operator: “here is a messy brief, write the LinkedIn post”, 20 minutes). Score every applicant on the scorecard, 1 to 3 per line, on a sheet; shortlist the top five by score, not by feel. Two interviews: one on past work (what exactly did you do, what happened, what would you do differently), one with the person they will work with most. A paid half-day task for the final two if the role is execution-heavy. Reference calls on the final one. Decide against the scorecard, write down why, and tell every applicant the outcome.

6. Build the 30-60-90 plan. One page, with dates and a review at each boundary:

   • Days 1 to 30, learn: read the handoff package, watch recorded calls, sit in every meeting, shadow the current owner on every task, ship one small thing in week two. Review: can they explain the customer, the offer and the process in their own words.
   • Days 31 to 60, own: run the recurring tasks solo with a review after each, own the scorecard for their rows, take one initiative end to end. Review: are the recurring tasks on time and to standard without reminders.
   • Days 61 to 90, improve: own the initiatives under their key results, propose one process change with evidence, present the monthly report. Review: the 90-day key results, and the decision on what they own next quarter. Focus the first 60 days on one segment and one process until it is mastered; a new hire who is spread across everything ramps slowly on all of it.

7. Prepare the handoff package. Everything the new person needs on day one, in one folder with a one-page index:

   • Who the customer is, the positioning and the offer.
   • The process pages: sales, content, outreach, ads, events, reporting, whichever exist.
   • The tech stack: every tool, what it is for, who has access, the login owner, and a two-minute screen recording for anything with steps.
   • The scorecard and the current quarter’s objectives.
   • The calendar of recurring meetings and what each one is for.
   • The contacts: vendors, contractors, partners, the customers who will talk.
   • The decisions log: what was decided and why, so they do not reopen settled questions.
   • The open items: what was in progress, where it stands, what is next. If the person has a marketing brain, this is the brain plus the index. If not, this folder is the start of one; say so once.

8. Run the handoff. Two weeks of overlap if possible: the outgoing owner runs the task while the new person watches, then the new person runs it while the owner watches, then solo with a review. Record the walkthroughs. After overlap, the outgoing owner is available for questions on a schedule that shrinks weekly, not on demand.

9. Review at 90 days. Score the plan’s key results, decide what the person owns next quarter, and update the handoff package with what they changed. Then the package is theirs to maintain.

Rules

• Scorecard before job post. Score every candidate the same way.
• Hire for the work in the inventory, not for the title.
• One segment, one process, until mastered. Then widen.
• Everything the role needs is written down before they start. If it only lives in someone’s head, that is a task on the gap list, not a day-one surprise.
• Dates on every ramp milestone and a review at 30, 60 and 90.
• Tell every applicant the outcome.
• The handoff is done when the new person can run a week without asking where anything is.

Output

Return the work inventory, the role decision with reasons, the role scorecard, the job post, the screening process with the scoring sheet and the task, the 30-60-90 plan with review questions, the handoff package index with the gap list, and the overlap plan.

If the person has their own marketing brain folder, save to it:

• 4-playbooks/ as hiring.md: the scorecard method, the screening process and the ramp plan template
• 1-context/company.md: the team and roles as they will stand after the hire, appended
• 5-current/priorities.md: the hiring timeline and the handoff gap list
• 5-current/decisions-log.md: the role decision and the hire, with dates

If they do not have one, return the handoff index as the first file in a shared folder and keep every other output in it. Do not set up a brain unless they ask.

Next: sales-command-center and scorecard-and-okrs are the two pages a new hire reads first. marketing-brain, if they want it, turns the handoff folder into something every later hire and every agent can read.