During some brainstorming sessions around hiring, I found a recurring theme: Companies are hiring candidates and putting them into the same roles these employees were performing at their current organization. After realizing this behavior, I had some conversations with recruiters and hiring managers, I dug a little deeper and would like to propose a hypothesis: As employers, we may be looking in the wrong places for superstar talent1.
When high performance employees seek alternate employment, it means they’re done with their current role. They’ve hit a wall and they’re ready for a new challenge. Sure, they may be looking for more money too, but as we all know, money is secondary when it comes to job satisfaction.
It might be tempting to fill a job requisition with a candidate already versed in the challenges of a role but longer term, is it wise to ask the recruit for a repeat performance of their last job? Superstars need a challenge. Should companies convince themselves their organizations are different and can offer the variety the candidate is looking for? We don’t think so. Superstar employees like to take big bites. Will the role be a big enough for them to chew on for the next few years?
TIP: Superstar employees should not be moved laterally. It’s OK to hire a candidate that has not performed the role a company is trying to fill.
During our initial investigation, we quite often found the modus operandi of a hiring manager was to seek and transplant an individual from a role they’re doing at another company into their own. In our view, this approach is incorrect. Finding candidates with superstar potential, and forgoing safer, milder performing candidates is the true challenge of today’s hiring manager.
Note we used the word “potential“– it’s an important word when seeking talent. It doesn’t take much more than a few minutes with a person to know their potential, but oftentimes HR professionals and hiring managers discount potential. Even worse, they actively avoid a candidate’s potential, focusing instead on traditional selection methods.
As a hiring manager, failing to identify a candidate’s potential would be a complete failure of the hiring process.
If an organization were to stop using the “current job” as the selection criteria to identify candidates, how can they be sure the person they hire will grow into the role quickly, if at all?
It’s by no means comprehensive, but we suggest hiring managers ask themselves these questions when searching for their next superstar:
- Is this candidate intelligent, well spoken and charismatic?
- Will this candidate serve as a positive and energetic evangelist for our company at all times?
- Has the candidate demonstrated extreme accomplishments in the past?
- Do these accomplishments relate to time management, leadership, and other abilities we deem valuable?
- Does the candidate have references that will testify to his/her abilities?
- If I have to guess why the candidate would fail at a task in this role, what would be the cause of his/her failure? Do I think the candidate could fail so terrible in his/her task that hiring them would be a mistake?
If the answers to questions 1-5 are all YES, what reasons could be given for the employee not being a good fit for the role?
We’re not suggesting you put a call centre rep with 6 months experience in the role of Call Centre Director (although we have seen a case where we would have made this recommendation). What we are saying that often, the right person for the job will not have the “checkmark” next to every hiring criteria on the list. We want you to know that it’s OK when that happens.
Like goldfish in a fishbowl, the capabilities of an intelligent, energetic and charismatic leader grow quickly to match its environment.
There are many superstars out there. As hiring managers, we owe it to ourselves to make every effort to seek out these leaders, qualify their potential and get them working for us.
We you find your superstars as having the right people on board can make or break a company. Our recommendation is that when you find your superstar, assign them their responsibility, make sure they have your support, but most of all get the heck out of their way!
1 Formal surveys have not yet been conducted to prove/disprove this theory. Treat it as a fun exercise in recruitment and let us know if you have a different opinion.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Ben:
Very interesting and refreshing view. Two quick comments/questions:
1) What about the so-called “Peter Principle”?
2) Re: “It doesn’t take much more than a few minutes with a person to know their potential”. Perhaps. However, it I think it takes time to develop such extraordinary attentiveness and sensitivity. I’ve often felt that one can tell a lot about a person by observing how they act in the most “trivial” of situations, such as how they behave when they have been inadvertently wronged by a stranger…… cut off in a queue, short-changed in error and so on.
That should stir things up a bit……
Just thought I would liven up things a bit…..
Ashok
Ashok, thanks for your feedback and questions.
For those not familiar with the term, here’s a quick wikipedia summary on the “Peter Principle“:
I don’t personally believe in the existence of this principle. As human beings we possess capabilities that enable us to accomplishing just about anything we set our mind to. What Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull identify as the Peter Principle can be attributed to a number of different behaviours and attributes, the least of which I believe is incompetence.
Here’s what I think: Employees often reach a level of satisfaction in their careers, especially after promotions. This sense of satisfaction and achievement is often combined with a sense of entitlement. Highly acclaimed employee superstars become comfortable in their success and they stop doing what brought them their recognition and accolades in the first place.
Whether the Peter Principle exists or not, as employers, we must constantly strive to implement a structure that continues to encourage, teach, measure and reward employees at all levels.