Our culture strives for perfection on every level, whether it’s sports, entertainment, the arts or the employment market.
Our clients retain us to find perfect candidates and every candidate is seeking that perfect role. Somehow we’ve all bought into the notion that the “perfect” job can be found, and that we can fill our open positions with a perfect candidate if we just look hard enough using the best resources.
The problem is that companies are run by and employ people, and we all agree that once people get involved in anything, there will be flaws and imperfections, as recent news confirms.
Peter Cappelli wrote in The Wall Street Journal that he believes “the real culprits are the employers,” when addressing why companies aren’t getting the employees they need. By dropping the idea of finding perfect candidates and looking for people who could do the job with a bit of training and practice, we could get our economy revving again.
A perfect example of this was Pedro Ndombe’s story of finding employment locally by holding up an “I need a job,” placard, as told in The Tennessean.
Candidates should focus less on being perfect and more on the type of people, companies and cultures they could bring the most value to and then engage with them.
Companies willing to be creative and prioritize their hiring criteria into categories such as Must Have, Like to Have and Deal Breakers are more likely to find the exceptional, yet imperfect, talent they desire.