{"id":5759,"date":"2022-04-21T21:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T01:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/?p=5759"},"modified":"2023-02-24T21:16:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T01:16:57","slug":"what-does-it-mean-to-be-qualified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/2022\/04\/21\/what-does-it-mean-to-be-qualified\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does It Mean to Be Qualified?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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What do you need to be successful at your job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many good answers to this question \u2014 but for most office workers, it\u2019s likely that \u201ca BS in marketing\u201d or \u201cfour years of design school\u201d didn\u2019t top the list. Yet in an age of quick decisions and automated screening, lacking the right piece of paper and resume keywords disqualifies large swaths of talented job applicants before they even get to make their case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid a sweeping reevaluation of our work lives, it\u2019s time to rethink job qualifications<\/a>. We don\u2019t need to blow up the systems we\u2019ve built, but when we focus on experience and pedigree over the actual people we\u2019re hiring, we miss out on important perspectives. There\u2019s a reason college admissions offices have begun prioritizing essays and other factors over standardized test scores: People are more than a quantifiable stat sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Large organizations often need automation and other efficiencies to parse through the piles of applications they receive. But no organizations should be excused from finding scalable ways to diversify the backgrounds in their company and make hiring more equitable. Beyond the DEI case, overlooking \u201cunqualified\u201d applicants causes you to miss out on passionate, eager and innovative team members. If you set a clear company vision that trickles down to each role, it will always take more than AI to identify the right hire. As we reshape hiring processes, here are principles I think we should keep in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask Why<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too often, organizations set out to find the right person for a role before defining why they\u2019re hiring in the first place. If the best you can do is \u201cgetting stuff off my calendar\u201d or \u201ctaking work I don\u2019t want,\u201d it\u2019s going to be tough to find good candidates and set them up for success. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, effective hiring also starts with the design thinking principle of \u201cquestion everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as possible, try to avoid the \u201chiring to fill a role\u201d mentality. When you look at the job, what does someone actually need to do well? If you\u2019re not disciplined in what you\u2019re looking for in a role, your judgment can get clouded by good rapport or flashy credentials. A helpful way to think of the hiring process is welcoming someone into your group who needs to be fulfilled, taken care of and given the tools to thrive. When you look at it this way, your qualifications might morph \u2014 none of those actions require a college degree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Decentralize Hiring<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a previous job, I once hired a good friend. We got along well and shared many of the same strengths, but that also meant similar weaknesses. I quickly learned that having one person \u2014 or one type of person \u2014 in charge of hiring is dangerous, causing you to assemble a team of clones that think and act the same way. Today, I\u2019m proud to say that the Brooks Bell executive team spans the DiSC work style spectrum<\/a>, and our organization is stronger because of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From personalities to professional backgrounds, organizations need diverse employees in order to challenge the status quo and move forward. Especially as a consultancy, different thinkers are essential to approaching client problems from every angle. If we work with a dollar store, for example, a team of upper middle-class Ivy League alumni might come to the table without the familiarity and understanding of employees from the rural Midwest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To avoid hiring a full staff of Greg Ngs, we have split up hiring into a three-part evaluation. One person looks for technical capability, another for culture fit and a third for team compatibility. As a small organization, each of these factors is equally important to our success, so new hires require a unanimous \u201cyes.\u201d Wherever possible, find ways to avoid one person (or AI) software disqualifying candidates. The \u201cright hire\u201d is never a single type of person \u2014 and innovative organizations recognize diversity as a strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evaluate Intangibles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in my career, I was searching for a designer. We got a ton of resumes, but none seemed like the right fit. A few weeks later, a young designer who\u2019d been rejected came up to me at a \u201ctweetup.\u201d He introduced himself and asked if we could get coffee so he could get a better sense of what we were looking for. We got coffee, and then I hired him. He didn\u2019t have relevant college experience and his portfolio was just OK \u2014 but he turned out to be one of the best hires I\u2019ve made. His preparation, attitude and eagerness told me more about him than an application form fill ever could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I conduct interviews, I care less about what the person knows or has done than about who they are as a person. I like to ask disarming questions that get down to their values, goals and approach to life. To me, someone who is aware of their weaknesses and is invested in improvement is a much stronger candidate than someone with a spotless GPA or big-name employer. There is a minimum level of craft needed to get in the door, but once they\u2019re there, I care more about if they bring a fire or intangible I can\u2019t find elsewhere. We hire whole people, not anthropomorphized job descriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a reason universities (including those in Brooks Bell\u2019s backyard<\/a>) are deprioritizing standardized testing for applicants. Personal essays and extracurricular involvement tell you much more about a student than a Scantron-calculated number. I view hiring the same way. For candidates pursuing a doctorate, for example, I\u2019m more interested in what this higher learning investment says about them than if they\u2019ve received the diploma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have people in our organization who are former teachers or have otherwise never worked in this business before. These perspectives are invaluable and essential to smart client work \u2014 and without a flexible hiring process, they\u2019d never even be in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing the Standards<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent years, we\u2019ve seen high-profile examples of programs to train and hire formerly incarcerated people, military veterans, disabled people, mothers returning to the workforce and more. These great initiatives are all examples of organizations recognizing underrepresented communities and being intentional about bringing them into the fold. Now, we have the opportunity to continue this work on a broader level. This inclusion shouldn\u2019t have to be an exception or special program, it should be built into the way we recruit and hire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the majority of office-work organizations, you don\u2019t need a specialized certification or degree. They aren\u2019t drawbacks, and this educational background also adds value to your team. But to me, the most important factors are ambition and drive \u2014 most other things can be learned. In this \u201cGreat Re-evaluation,\u201d we cannot and should not tolerate a workforce without diversity. We can\u2019t let automation and longstanding biases keep us from talented candidates with new perspectives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do we need to succeed in our jobs? We need a strong work ethic, a hunger to succeed and the support to bring our true selves to work \u2014 none of which show up on a resume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interested in working at Brooks Bell but not sure you\u2019re qualified? Don\u2019t disqualify yourself. Message me and let\u2019s talk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What do you need to be successful at your job? There are many good answers to this question \u2014 but … Continue ReadingWhat Does It Mean to Be Qualified?<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5760,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_social_preview_title":"","wp_social_preview_description":"","wp_social_preview_image":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5759"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5761,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5759\/revisions\/5761"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/followgreg.com\/ftravel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}