Outlier Signal Hiring
Treat exceptional initiative during the hiring process as evidence of future contribution.
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~weeks to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
Outlier Signal Hiring supplements standardized assessment with evidence of unusually relevant initiative. The company defines what meaningful differentiation looks like for the role and keeps the process open to demonstrations beyond a résumé. A marketing candidate might build a targeted campaign, publish a thoughtful analysis, or create another artifact that proves audience understanding and execution. Reviewers inspect the judgment, relevance, and capability behind the act rather than rewarding novelty alone. They also account for the candidate's available time and resources so spectacle does not become a hidden requirement. The output is a deliberate high-upside decision: an unconventional signal can offset limited conventional experience when it directly demonstrates the qualities needed to produce distinctive results.
Origin
Extracted from Marketing Against The Grain through the example of Sam Mallikarjunan's targeted “Hire Me HubSpot” campaign and other unconventional applications.
Core principles
- 01Outlier results often require people who depart from conventional behavior.
- 02A conformity-driven process can filter out the differentiation a company needs.
- 03Relevant initiative can demonstrate capability more strongly than claimed experience.
- 04Outlier candidates carry risk, but their upside can justify it.
How to run it
- 1
Define Relevant Outlier Behavior
Specify the forms of initiative, creativity, judgment, or persistence that would predict exceptional performance in the role.
Pro tip Tie each signal directly to actual work outcomes.
Watch out Unusual behavior is not inherently valuable.
- 2
Permit Demonstration
Give candidates optional ways to submit campaigns, analyses, artifacts, or other evidence beyond the formal application.
Pro tip Keep demonstrations optional so applicants with less free time are not automatically excluded.
Watch out Do not create an unpaid-work contest disguised as openness.
- 3
Inspect the Mechanism
Assess what the candidate understood, built, targeted, and learned rather than merely admiring the presentation.
Pro tip Ask the candidate to explain choices and trade-offs.
Watch out Polish can conceal weak reasoning or borrowed execution.
- 4
Separate Signal From Stunt
Determine whether the unconventional action demonstrates job-relevant skill and sound judgment or only attracts attention.
Pro tip Consider how the same instincts would operate with customers and colleagues.
Watch out Rewarding boundary violations can import harmful behavior into the team.
- 5
Make a Risk-Adjusted Bet
Compare the candidate's demonstrated upside with gaps in experience and the organization's capacity to support development.
Pro tip Use a structured score rather than allowing excitement to erase concerns.
Watch out Outlier candidates do not succeed every time.
In the wild
Sam Mallikarjunan wanted to work at HubSpot, so he built a landing page and ran Facebook and LinkedIn advertising targeted at HubSpot employees. The application itself demonstrated that he understood targeting, campaign construction, and how to cut through a crowded field despite being early in his career.
→ He was hired, became a strong contributor, and changed the trajectory of his career and colleagues' work.
A growth candidate submits the normal application but also publishes a concise teardown of the company's onboarding funnel. The analysis identifies a measurable problem, states uncertain assumptions, and proposes a low-cost experiment rather than pretending to know internal data.
→ The company gains direct evidence of initiative, restraint, and problem-solving ability.
Common mistakes
Rewarding Novelty Alone
An attention-grabbing application is weak evidence when it does not demonstrate the capabilities required by the role.
Making Spectacle Mandatory
Requiring elaborate unpaid demonstrations favors candidates with more free time and resources rather than greater ability.
Ignoring the Downside
Outlier potential should inform a calculated bet, not eliminate reference checks, values assessment, or role-specific evaluation.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for marketing, growth, creative, and entrepreneurial roles where differentiation and initiative directly affect performance.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal where unconventional applications would compromise safety, fairness, accessibility, or regulated selection requirements.
From the transcript
“you need to hire the outliers, especially in marketing.”
“You're looking for outlier results. You're looking for differentiation. So you want to hire the outliers in the process.”
“Not always you take a little bit of risk with the outliers, but they're very often really amazing.”
From the episode
Is Traditional Hiring a Broken System?