When you’re hiring, what do you value? Fit or skill?
If we vote via our actions then we have a vote in each camp. Our hiring process clearly values skills over fit. And our firing process favors fit.
Our hiring process starts by listing out the duties to be performed and the vanilla requisite skills needed. Oh, and don’t forget the vital throw-away line, “…must be comfortable working in a fast paced environment.” Next, we scour resumes for the right words. We want someone who has done this job before. The interview will further probes for experience, knowledge and skills with the occasional, ‘tell me about a time when…’ question.
I’ve referenced these numbers before, but they’re so astounding I need to keep repeating them. Forty-six percent of those new hires ‘fail’ within 18-months. Only one in ten depart because of a shortfall in technical competence. We’re firing people because they didn’t fit. The manager couldn’t connect with them, couldn’t motivate them or couldn’t coach them. Exactly whose holds the failure bag is clearly up for debate.
Obviously, a baseline of skill is required. But, consider this:
Tom Brady didn’t have the greatest skills when he left the University of Michigan. In fact 198 other men were deemed to have better skills in the 2000 NFL draft. But the Patriots liked the way he approached the game, his demeanor fit coach Belichick’s and his strengths could be accentuated within the Patriot’s system. In other words, he was a great fit. And today, while still not the best athlete on the field, he’d be considered by all to be one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Skills are only part of the Patriots’ equation.
Let’s hire based on people who are most eager to learn. People how are most likely to thrive, not just on their own, but also in our system. Let’s hire people with the inner desire to do more. And let’s figure out what it takes to draw that ‘more’ out of them.
Adding rigor to the softer side of the evaluation process is a must.
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