Instead of Perfect Candidates, Look Out for The Ones That Failed

Every day, organisations walk the line between success and failure. It takes a special kind of person to succeed in such environment. Employees need to be willing to make mistakes and learn to adapt.

As a hiring manager, you will need to assess your job candidate’s feelings about failure as early as possible. Potential employees may talk about challenges they have overcome in the past. But that does not measure how they might deal with mistakes in a real-life setting.

You will need to dig deeper to know if a candidate can handle failure at your company.

1. Research on what makes a particular candidate stand out

Some people have to learn to be comfortable with the risk of failure, while others naturally embrace it.

Take the time to dig into a candidate’s background. Before conducting the interview, find a piece of information about the person’s past that stands out.

The experience does not need to relate to the open position. What is more important is to find out what is it about the individual’s nature that make them to make an unconventional choice.

2. Find out what risks a candidate has already taken

Risk-taking is an intangible skill. Not many candidates are able to calculate the risks and make the right decisions. But those who have failed before know all about risks.

Instead of questioning candidates about their biggest failures, try to find out what they’ve been willing to risk. Though it is important to know how individuals recover from failure, it is essential to know what they are willing to risk when they believe in something.

Knowing how big of a risk they have taken in the past will show how comfortable they are to recover from a loss.

3. Look for hints of work ethic.

Every employee needs to be willing to try out different roles and learn new skills. But not everyone is willing to take on the extra work.

Sometimes, it is better to hire job candidates who are from different sectors. These candidates are willing to step out of their comfort zone to try something they are not experienced in. As long as they are possess the passion, they will be focused on learning and reaching their goals.

Instead of focusing on what a candidate can bring to the table, research on what they are looking for and willing to learn. Ask the person’s weaknesses and whether they are prepared to learn and overcome them.

Researching about a candidate’s personal development goals for the first few months of employment will show you the most essential thing: whether they are ready to spread out from their own comfort zone.

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This article is adapted from Stop Looking for the Perfect Candidate. Look for One Who's Failed by Heather R. Huhman