Time To Re-Think Your Hiring Methods?

LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner knows a thing or two about hiring.

LinkedIn is a little business-related social networking website you might of heard of, with over 430 million members!  If you’re going to take advice from anyone, I’d say he’s a safe bet!

In a recent article for Inc.com Jeff shared his thoughts on how to find talent (and its not where you might think!)

Its Not All About the Degree

When they hire at LinkedIn, Jeff said they look for the following in a candidate;

• Passion and fire
• Great work ethic
• Perseverance
• Loyalty
• Growth mindset

These are qualities that you don’t necessarily pick up from a degree. There are qualities…that have a tendency to be completely overlooked when people are sifting through resumes or LinkedIn profiles. And yet, increasingly, we find that these are the kinds of people that make the biggest difference within our organization – Jeff Weiner

Most companies build a relationship with a few trusted institutions based on location, programs, reputation etc. to keep the ‘new grads’ pipeline full.  But does this make the most sense?

Are you able to tap into a wide range of candidates and hire the BEST people for your organization?  (Mike Ross from Suits, case in point 🙂 )

We used to pride ourselves on recruiting from an incredibly short list of universities, and a lot of companies in the Valley did the same thing,” said Weiner.  But in recent years, a number of well-known companies have realized that an overwhelming amount of great talent remains hidden–and that a lot of smart, talented, and passionate people are spurning traditional higher education”.

The article emphasises the point that going forward you will hear the mantra: Skills, not degrees. “It’s not skills at the exclusion of degrees. It’s just expanding our perspective to go beyond degrees”

How Do You Find Talent?

Do you go beyond traditional methods of hiring?  A company is only as great as its employees therefore, shouldn’t it be a priority to be able to select from a wide range of eligible candidates?

According to Lazlo Bock, best-selling author and former head of HR at Google

After two or three years, your ability to perform…is completely unrelated to how you performed when you were in school, because the skills you required in college are very different.  You’re also fundamentally a different person. You learn and grow, you think about things differently.” – Brock

A Final Note…

Forward thinking businesses need to focus on a diversity of skills.  No doubt.  However ethnic, cultural, religious and generational diversity in the workforce is the recipe for business success.

The need to develop millennials as our future leaders is paramount with an ageing population.  In the next 10 years the pipeline to engage young people with passion, a growth mindset, a great work ethic and the skills your organization needs to thrive is not a luxury, its a necessity.

How do you find talent?

Here’s the full article from Inc.com  In Just 3 Words, LinkedIn’s CEO Taught a Brilliant Lesson in How to Find Great People.