Yesterday, I was sitting with a hiring manager who had just finished with a candidate and was reviewing his notes. I looked at his list of dislikes and he had written, "previous position farmer".
Naturally I was inclined to ask, "Why is that a dislike for you?"
He answered, "Oh I had that job and it's not really a hunting mentality. I don't like people from that background."
"So what you're saying is that you wouldn't hire yourself?"
"Wait. Huh? No that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying he seems like a farmer and that job is all farmers."
"But you came from that background right? I'm confused. Can't people be both hunters and farmers? Does it have to be one or the other?"
"Well in that position it's all farmers. So I don't think I'm going to hire him."
"I think you're limiting your scope, and remember you came from the same position. I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm saying maybe you should not based your decision solely upon his previous job."
"I think he'd have a hard time adjusting to this position given his background."
"How well do you adjust to this position given you came from the same job."
"Well that's different. He's not me. "
"Really? Well what if someone had never given you a shot? Where would you be today?"
He sat that and thought about it for a while. "Maybe I'll have him interview with another manager just to see if he's a viable candidate. You seem to be pushing me in that direction."
I laughed, "I'm not pushing, I'm advising, and a lot of times we get these preconceived notions of what we think will work in a job, and they might cloud our judgment. You could be right but it's best to confirm your decision."
"Okay, okay. Dot our i's and cross our t's. I get it."
"I just think we sometimes don't free our minds to the possibilities in a candidate. We're too busy trying to find something wrong with them, rather than looking for something right. One of the best sales people I ever hired was a substitute teacher. "
"No way. Really? You took a chance on a substitute teacher? With no sales experience?"
"Yep. No sales experience whatsoever, but I could see he had potential. And we trained him right. Now he's a regional manager."
"Damn. I guess I do need to free my mind."
"Just look for the potential and don't be detrimental."
SFTD
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