When you’re building a business there comes a point where you have to hire some staff and obviously you want to hire the most talented people. But where to find them?
According to common belief (and Wikipedia): “Talent (in the sense of natural ability or giftedness) is not the same as skill, which is a learned process, and one which is enhanced or inhibited by an underlying talent.” That idea of talent being a god given gift that certain chosen people are born with has permeated mankind’s thinking since the beginning of time.
That’s not the case though and there seems to be a growing buzz around the idea that talent IS a learned process, it IS skill in fact. Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers mentions the 10,000 hour rule, where experts in any given field are more than likely to have spent at least that many hours learning their trade. Likewise, Talent Is Overated by Geoff Colvin makes the point that every virtuoso spent at least 10 years of hard graft before they produced anything near a prodigious masterpiece and natural ability is down to ambitious parenting skills. There’s a great aticle on Boston.com about Grit being the real source of talent.
So how does this relate to the hiring process? Well, I’ve heard it said so many times that you need to have a degree to get a decent job nowadays, but I don’t think it’s a requirement at all. In my company there are 6 members of staff, two of which have degrees, of the three hired in the last three years, only one has a degree. There are also currently five interns who work different days, one of which doesn’t have a degree. These people are where they are despite their education.
I didn’t study at university, so that clearly influences my belief that a degree isn’t required, but more than that, when I’m hiring people, I look more at work experience than anything else on a CV. I prefer to see a number of work experience placements and internships from as early as possible on a CV than just a three year study period. I believe that the best people are the ones that are passionate about what they do and who are willing to work at getting experience anywhere they can to make their prospects as good as possible.
Of course that doesn’t preclude us hiring graduates and I would certainly encourage anyone looking to study to pursue that route, as a three year study period can equally prove that someone has passion and is willing to work hard.
What I’m looking for is people who are dogged, are willing to learn and who will go the extra mile to make something happen. And with time that equates to “talent”.
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