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By PASCAL FINETTE

The Heretic is a free dispatch delivering insights into what it takes to lead into & in the unknown. For entrepreneurs, corporate irritants and change makers. Raw, unfiltered and opinionated.

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Jan 4th, 2014 Share: Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Share on LinkedIn

Hire What You Need

Two days ago I spoke with a fellow Heretic about hiring: Her organization is coming to a point where the people she currently has might either not be the right ones to take the organization forward and/or she needs to find new talent which fills the skill gaps.

After discussing this for a little bit I left her with the following opinion: I would first figure out what skills you need in your organization to get you from where you are today to where you want to be tomorrow. Then assess what your current people bring to the table — and ask yourself if they can rise to the occasion. Time and time again I found that if you challenge people, give them the tools they need and get out of their way — they simply step up their game and deliver.

Only then would I start looking for new talent. By this time you should have a much better picture of what you really need and thus hire for. Instead of amorphous job specs (“we need more developers”) you have a skill-based profile (“we need a developer with deep expertise in developing iOS apps using Xcode”). Which in turn will make sure that your new employees fit like a glove and are set up for success.


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