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If you are an employer or manager, are you hiring the right people for your organization’s success?

In an open letter to employers published in the NY Times, David Brooks questions the hiring practices of employers by challenging them to hire those people who have not followed all the traditional cookie cutter paths of success.  He is talking about people who went to the right schools, got high grade point averages, and  have so many leadership and volunteer positions on their resumes that you wonder how they ever had time to sleep.  Who are these robots, what he call “avatars of success?”  What we do know is  that they are good at following the conventional rules of social conformity and success.

Instead Brooks suggests  that employers should look at those who have demonstrated some measure of  traditional success, but have also done something off that path that shows they have some internal motivation, curiosity and social courage. Perhaps they  worked for a start-up that failed or took some time off to travel abroad and study other cultures.

He also suggests that a good behavioral interview question is “Tell me about a time when you told the truth and it hurt you?”  This will give the interviewer more information regarding  the character of the person. You want someone who tells the truth, not someone who plays it safe and tells their boss what he/she wants to hear.

He also makes a distinction between what he calls blossoming virtues and ripening virtues.  Ripening virtues are those that come with youth such as being intelligent and energetic. Blossoming virtues come with age and the experience of learning to deal with a difficult boss, raising children,  or getting fired from your job.

He also makes the distinction between those who have experienced  some failure or sorrow in their careers, and someone who has had a straight line of success.  The former have learned from their experiences and have a depth to their personalities that makes them the kind of people you may go to when a sales presentation did not go as expected.

Organizations tend to hire people who will fit in, rather than people who might bring a different perspective, a different set of values and a different way of living their lives. I see many of these people in my job.  The ones who have an easier time finding new jobs are those who have followed the traditional routes to success.  But they are not the norm in this world.  I work with people to help them craft their story that they can present to potential employers.  This may focus on lessons learned as they explain the transitions in their resume.  It takes energy and focus, lots of persistence and tweaking their presentation as they gain practice.  Often it is the smaller organizations that are a better fit for these people because they may be run by those who also have not followed traditional rules of success.