Some people dismiss certain “types”of job candidates out of hand, regardless of skills, experience or potential. If you don’t fit their idea of what an employee should be like, you’re rejected. This is, of course, illegal in the case of race, religion, disability and a few other things, but perfectly legal in many cases.
Is this wise behavior? Absolutely not. Once you start hiring people, the last thing you want is a bunch of clones. Instead, you should hire people who are not like you and won’t be your best friend. Look at how they will do in the job, and how they will help your company grow, not if they can all fit a personality profile. Yes, culture matters, but you should prioritize diversity and merit.
Fellow Inc. columnist, Steve Cody, wrote 13 Types of Job Applicants You Should Never Hire, a week or so ago. And, frankly, I disagree with him on lots of his points. In fact, I think you should look for some of these very people he dismisses out of hand. Not all of them, of course. I agree, you should avoid the Drama Queen and the Improvisation King and the Mobile-Device Maven. The last thing you need is an unprepared, phone tapping, drama generating employee creating havoc in your office.
To keep reading, click here: When Bad Job Applicants Can Be Your Best Hire
I’m also in favour of hiring some of them that Steve mentioned. Rest it all depends what kind of worforce you’re tending to build.
It’s not easy to put first impressions aside during an interview. They can mean a lot when deciding on the right person. But I think that everyone has to start somewhere. When I hire someone (they may have experience and they may not), I know that they will have to be taught they way that our company does things no matter who they are. And if this is someone’s very first job, there is also the responsibility to TEACH them how to work & to have a good work ethic.
I do have criteria when I interview, and I look at how the person will work with others, if I think they are trainable, do they have the skills required or at least the foundation to learn them…
If you come for an interview and you are obviously disengaged, smelling of alcohol (happened once), overtalking me or telling me that you ‘already know it all’ (these people can be hard to train), then I probably won’t select you, even if you have the skills required.
Steve seems like one of those people who have had a fortunate Mom and Dad and fortunate upbringing.