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Questioning Character (Part 1)
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
Companies are looking for new hiring measures and standards. What with a lingering sluggish economy that economists still call a recession and thousands of laid-off candidates on the market, headhunters and HR professionals have been seriously looking at candidates’ character as a barometer of competence. This spotlight on character doesn’t surprise Mark Jaffe, president of Minneapolis search firm Wyatt and Jaffe.
Top executives are constantly looking for new ways to identify talent: “The newest fad is looking at candidates’ character…HR people think it’s a quick and easy way to get a handle on candidates’ job performance,” says Jaffe. “Corporate heads have learned that candidates’ past accomplishments are not accurate predictors of future success,” he says. Factors that set someone up for success in the past may not be relevant today, because market and job demands are always changing. Mediocre workers in dynamite companies may look far better than they actually are. Or outstanding managers and innovators who happened to be in the wrong company at the wrong time look unimpressive because decision-makers weren’t smart enough to recognize their talents.
Another reason companies are making such a big deal ofcharacter is that they’ve yet to get their hands around leadership--maybe …
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"Conventional people are roused to fury by departure from convention, largely because they regard such departure as a criticism of themselves." - Bertrand Russell |