Hiring Dillema
I have come across a critical recruiting question
Do you judge a candidate on the basis of what they can do for your company or do you judge them based on what they have already done in their past roles?
This question arises from a viewpoint where the candidate can successfully assist you in the desired role as per experience but has questionable past experiences (i.e a bad review, multiple role switches etc)
Do you close on the basis that the candidate succesfullly fits your req or do you pass because of the questionable factors?
While building a strong team is a long term goal, getting people to share our vision and mission is crucial for us.
One interview, 1000+ job opportunities
Take a 10-min AI interview to qualify for numerous real jobs auto-matched to your profile 🔑If the candidate can get the job done while explaining what had happenend in the past while covering and assuring they wont repeat those mistakes also takes ownership of mistakes is a gem that you may not find again - go ahead
These are all theoretical questions. On reality, they look for two things,
- how desperate they need a person to fill the role.
- will that person play along with the team.
This whole, vision and mission are just HR terms that one throws around to look knowledgeable.
I appreciate that you're thinking in this direction, so shows you will have good culture & team empathy as an important theme.
Now coming to the candidate, I'd say evaluate and understand the notion behind the past experiences. More than often, bad reviews and switches have deeper context and nuance, but most candidates don't get the benefit of the doubt tbh.
Aa someone who has been both a candidate and a founder hiring, if I look at myself from traditional lens would make me unhirable whilst everytime I've worked I've focused on impact more than functionality of time because the market either favours pedigree or favours bolder bets which means you have to be opportune but over time you learn that it's good till you're learning and then eventually you'd want someplace that accepts and shows that they'd take you along.
So if this is the nuance, I'd say go ahead and hire because they'd appreciate you being straight forward. It's always a risk for both the parties, but imperative that we communicate from a place where it's more about matching complimentary views than simply folks who can seemingly fall in line or say yes to being aligned to your vision.
From another POV, most folks like this usually have a chip in their shoulder because they looked over or passed on, so taking a bet kind of gives them that overdrive to prove you right! That hunger in talent >>> than anything else imo