Managers view recruiting through many lenses - it's hard, it takes a bunch of time, and often we don't find what we need. One reason is that we are trying to hire a perfect machine from a pool of imperfect machines - humans. We think - they must have all these skills, all this knowledge, and be able to hit the ground running. I want people who know what to do and I don’t want to have to teach them how to do it.
Too bad.
That’s right, that’s what I said. Too bad. Suck it up,
buttercup. You may be lucky and have ONE person who comes to you like that, all
trained up and perfect. You can spend all your hiring resources trying to find
that one person, and maybe you will. But it’s not the safest bet on the table,
even though the payoff looks tempting. You’ll lose your shirt.
The honest truth? You can't hire the person you want, only a person who exists and applies. If they
are qualified enough that you are interviewing them, and they seem like people
you can work with, you’re no worse off than any manager who inherits a team.
Just hire someone. Don’t let your job posting sit, waiting for someone who can
just pick up the ball and run with it. There aren’t many of them, they are
expensive, and they don’t need you. There are lots of people who can learn to
pick up a ball and run with it. They will compromise on salary, and they do
need you. What can you offer them? Your experience. Your time. Your attention. Yes, your most precious resources, but there's just no getting out of it.
Pay more attention to attitude, interest and approach. Make sure they are
someone you can work with first. I’m
not saying just pick anyone off the street. I’m saying – don’t stew on it.
People are not machines. You’re not going to find a perfect deal with a
lifetime warranty. Pick your best guess, know what they don’t have that you need,
and plan out how they will get that, fast. Even better, you get a custom-made
person.
And then, you say, they leave.
Poor you. All that investment and no payoff.
No payoff? I bet the next person you hire and train, you do it more
effectively, more efficiently. You are using them, too. You’re learning what
you really care about, what discerning judgment means to you, how to make
yourself clear, how to motivate a person to pay attention the way you would.
You’re making mistakes, too, and if you think you aren’t, that’s a mistake.
Recruiting is racket. The truth is, teams are made of
humans, and humans all have unique combinations of talents, skills, blind spots, irritating habits,
quirks and follies. You won’t easily find the one with exactly the background,
exactly the knowledge, precisely the experience, who is also a great match with
the team, excellent interpersonal blah blah blah and such and soforth and can
read your mind. You could wait a year to find someone who can hit the ground
running, only to find that anyone new to an organization cannot hit the ground
running without dislocating a knee.
It doesn’t matter who you hire, there will be issues. It doesn’t
matter who you hire, they will let you down sometimes. It doesn’t matter who
you hire, they will fail to understand you. It doesn’t matter who you hire,
they will sometimes be hard to coach and take feedback personally. It doesn’t matter who
you hire, they will want your time, attention and loving support, and they will
respond to it when they believe it.
So it doesn’t matter who you hire. Take a
chance. Hire someone with only overlapping competencies and no overlapping
experience. Hire someone with only half the skills you’re looking for but a strong desire to learn, and get
them trained on the rest. Hire someone who needs some help with their polish
but could have creative genius. Hire someone. Hire anyone you like. You can do more with
two willing hands and a brain than you can with a vacant job posting.
Don’t hold out for Mr./Ms. Right. Just hire someone.
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