I’ve worked as an I.T. manager at different levels for a large wireless carrier for nearly 10 years and have had this conversation with dozens and dozens of co-workers, friends, and family. When I first started hiring, I wanted the smartest of the smart. They’d blow me away with their technical knowledge; I’d be sold and they’d be hired. Live and learn I guess, but that can be just as detrimental as hiring someone with no knowledge of your position. That person may know the technology inside and out, but will pollute (and disband) your current employee pool fast if you’re not looking to see if they mesh with the team.

So over the years, my hiring method has gone from finding the person that knows 99% of the job, to finding the person that knows *some* of the job but really meshes well with the team. I’ll write the job description “good enough” to get a wider range of applicants, and really put my time in on sorting through them once they’ve applied. A “good personality and 50% knowledge of the job” crushes a “bad personality and 99% knowledge of the job”.
You’ve hit it on the head with:
“if your team has someone that is “good”…someone who is competent, who works hard and is committed to their jobs, who is pleasant to work with and willing to be flexible and learn new things…then find a place for them.”

If they’re “good enough” and an “great” fit with the other members of the team, you’ve hit gold.

In regards to your statement about:
“Ben is always suggesting doing some sort of screening or “testing” to find candidates with these qualities, but have yet to think of a screen or test that will find these types of people. I would completely be open to your suggestions in the comments.”

From what I’ve found, it’s not something you can screen for on an application unfortunately. You need to have a conversation or 4 with the person; email, phone or whatever to really get to know them. They’re applying to your job because they like what they see. Give them the respect and opportunity to prove they deserve it.

As each application comes in, I check out if they have any of the skills I’m looking for. If they have a handful, they’ll at least get an email from me that is set to dig a little deeper (past jobs, skillsets, etc) to see if they’re on par with what they claim. 90% of the time this can be bluffed if they want, but you’re gaining knowledge as to what/how they communicate. People can be misread on email and intonations may not come off as intended. If the email goes well, I’ll give them a call to follow up on the technical side to see if on the spot they can back up their email claims and diffuse any inconsistencies in the email.

If the call goes well, come on in to chat. If they’re coming in, I’m 98% sure they’re technically the right fit. I’m now *only* gauging how well they’ll fit with the team personality-wise. This is the turning point now. If you’re in the office for a chat, you’re book smart enough for the gig and you’re 25% of the way there. The remaining 75% now bends around how the current team interacts and feels around you. Each team is different so I like to have the whole team there and we rarely ask too many technical questions; mostly situational based and “tell me more about yourself” type questions. If you’re meshing with the team throughout this, you’ll likely get the job.

I’ve seen businesses shrug it off as just needing to “put a butt in the seat as you have a lot of work to be done!” NEWSFLASH: Everyone has work that needs to be done, that’s why you’re hiring! That’s a copout because it’s not difficult, it just takes time. Moving too fast rarely leads to a good hire. I’m of the belief that this should be a very key (if not *THE* key) piece to your business (after of course proving you can make $). Put time into hiring/interviewing; it’s your nucleus that you’re growing stronger and you absolutely need that at the startup phase and is very hard to retrofit when you grow larger.

Making a good choice here may take a few extra hours out of your month now, but I can assure you it’ll save you days/weeks/months over the lifetime of the position by not having to deal with the loads of issues/baggage that come with a bad hire.

Very nicely written post Scott!

I always tell my staff I can teach you almost any skill, but I can’t give you a personality (you can’t teach tall). We are hiring what is valuable and hard to find. Teaching archery is not hard, but connecting and engaging on a personal level with others is difficult unless its a natural part of you.

The transfer of culture of leadership to staff member and from year to year at camp happens in a week. New staff come in and are submersed in the culture of how a camp operates. I think many companies and industries could learn from how camp professionals deliver this year after year.

I am so going to use that!

After reading blink by Malcom Gladwell, I became convinced that some people are very good at thin-slicing. Making assessments and judgments quickly. Part of my talent is interviewing and assessment. You can teach some skills to assist with it but there is a point at which “you can’t teach tall.”

My best advise is to find that person on your team who has the talent in understanding people’s traits, skills.

I interview over 200 people each spring for about 130 summer camp jobs and interview over 50 teenagers each year as part of my job doing psycho- educational assessments. Am I good at it because I do it so often or do I do it so often because it is my talent?

Tony Beshara on How to Ace Your Next Interview talks about what an interview is doing in an interview. They want to know: Do I like you? Will you fit in here? Can you do the job?

My guess is many companies can figure out if you can do the job but the other to are more challenging. Some companies find psychological profiles that are valid and approved for job screening can help. Asking questions about how they may solve specific scenarios can be useful. That being said, if the interview is not “tall” they will only be marginally successful.

So, the question I have is what techniques do you use to find “the personality and consistent traits and talents the person has been endowed with”?