How Much Experience Should You Hire?

Have you ever hired a resume? Sure you have. You’ve looked at the perfect accumulation of knowledge and skills in the “Experience” section and thought, “I’m going to like this person.” So you did.

And a few months (or weeks) later you were still trying to like this person. That’s usually the person being referred to when I’m in a conversation with a business owner or manager and they say, “Well, I’ve got this person…”

We’ve all got one of those people – or we have had one of those people. They have the kind of knowledge, skills or even potential that we hate to see get away, but somehow they just aren’t contributing all of that knowledge, skills and potential to our organization. Or maybe they’re giving 120% but they have such an attitude toward the rest of the team that productivity is still in a downward spiral.

So let me share my priorities when I’m working with a client on employee evaluation or selection – they’re pretty simple:

#1 – Attitude – that’s right, attitude. Since it’s the hardest to change and the hardest to tolerate if it doesn’t work in your favor I make this my first assessment.
#2 – Aptitude – not “have they done the job?” but “do they have the potential to do a great job?” (This is where the Kolbe A assessment comes in to the equation.)
#3 – Experience – understand that I don’t think experience isn’t valuable, it’s worth a lot to hire someone who can hit the ground running. And if they have a great attitude and the aptitude to get even better you’ll never be sorry.