Topgrading

What do you do if you figure out that a candidate doesn’t quite fit your organization’s culture…but has the skills and experience you happen to be looking for?

Consider the following situation. Let’s say that your organization culture is entrepreneurial, energetic, fast-paced, and team-oriented, and that you are responsible for finding a new Head of Marketing. After a thorough selection process, you realize that one of the finalist candidates spent her entire her career in large, resource-rich (money and people) organizations where she had to be an adept politician to achieve results. However, she is experienced in the exact areas your organization sorely lacks. Do you offer her a job?

Probably not. Though she may be an A player candidate for the top marketing position in many organizations, she is a risky candidate for your organization because she lacks the demonstrated ability to effectively deliver results in a less-bureaucratic environment. We have found that when a high performer from a large, public company transitions to a smaller, more entrepreneurial organization, they fail 50% of the time…if they lack the demonstrated ability to deliver results in that type of environment.

Our advice, put her on your virtual bench to track her career. Perhaps she will be one of the successful 50%, but let another organization take that first “chance” on her.