Some Basic Flaws of Assessing Resumes

Reality: Conventional wisdom is really some of the worst moments of history turned into a dogma. Strength in similarity is called incest, and many many firms suffer from it. You are learning more and more about less and less, until you know everything about nothing. You may be a genius at fixing telex machines, but telex machines barely exist any more. There is strength in difference. Ray Kroc built McDonald's on school kids with diverse experiences not on food scientists. A mediocre accounting firm will not turn into an excellent accounting firm by recruiting one more accountant.

Reality: If you have a human resources, you may not even be worth working for. If you relegate the honourable work of selecting fellow heroes for your journey to accomplish your vision, your firm has a serious conceptual problem. Good associates are the professional equivalents of good spouses. Would you relegate the search of finding a first class mate to your mom, dad, brother or sister? HR is fine to hire labourers based on raw technical skills and brawn power, but if you let HR select the brainpower and personalities you will work with in the future, you are digging your own grave.

Reality: Seek deep generalists, folks with deep core skills and other complementary skills which gives breadth to their expertise. When it comes to providing professional services, the overall success of the person you bring on board is about 4-15% of intellectual skills and about 85-96% of emotional skills, such as boldness, intuition and courage. Why do you think the U.S. Army - some call it ultimate professional service firm - almost completely ignores intellectual skills? They can be taught and learnt. Personalities are given.

Reality: Good at analysis, but even better at synthesis. While having good analytical skills is good enough for trade barbarians, one of professionals' greatest skills is synthesis. Analysis is about taking things apart at a tactical level. Synthesis is about putting known bits and bobs together at a strategic level, and creating something totally new. Both telephones and telex machines had been around for a long time before someone put the two together in a rather maverick manner and created the fax machine.

The Wright brother's first flight covered a distance equal to half the length of the wingspan of a Boeing 747, while the super educated and hyper intelligent president of the Royal Society, Lord Kelvin, and the American Engineering Society vehemently argued that heavier-than-air flying machines were impossible. And today the world is rejoicing in laughing at his pompous arse Lordship and the analytically correct but practically dumb engineers, realising that education, title and breathtaking stupidity sometimes do come together.

You need people who can explain concepts to clients in an exciting way, so clients can buy into the concept and willing to go make commitments to going forward. Get people who can synthesise well. You will go further and your clients will enjoy working with your firm.

Reality: Gaps in employment history can be the sign of extra sill building. Employers usually hold it against people if they have ever had their own businesses. So, although people gain lots of useful experience running their own shows, they will not document it. A one-year African Safari is not employment per se, but for experience-hungry professionals it is a significantly more valuable than working five years for a ho hum firm lead by a petty tyrant.

Carla was a recovered drug addict, but the experience never quit her. One day her boss found an oddly shaped spoon and some baking soda in the toilet. It made no sense to him, so started asking other people what they knew about it. It made sense to nobody, except Carla. From the baking soda and the shape of the spoon she instantly recognised that someone was making crack on the premises, the so dangerous and highly addictive drug.

An internal investigation pinpointed the person, and it turned out that he was also stealing from the company. Carla saved a small fortune for her company, because, as an ex-junkie, only she could recognise the "tools" of the trade. At that moment, Carla's experience, as a former flotsam and jetsam of society was more valuable for that company than all the neatly trained and dressed CGAs and MBAs combined. Did she have gaps in her employment record? I bet she did.

Reality: I believe, that is bullshit. You got it the wrong way round, mate! You must sell your opportunity to your candidates. More specifically, is your firm worth making a long-term investment in? The best professionals are buyers not sellers. Some 96% of businesses go to the wall before hitting their tenth birthdays. Why should anyone invest his/her career at 4% odds.

Candidates are vulnerable. When they get on board, but due to management's fault, the firm gets downsized and they get laid off, they are the real losers, not the owners and top dogs who made the mess. Can you see it? These chaps and chapettes invest their talents, times and efforts in some greedy bastards, who make a mess of their businesses and then lay their people off. Who suffered most as a result of the Arthur Andersen scandal? The top dogs got re-positioned elsewhere, while thousands of great folks got their careers chopped off at the knee because of their greedy, rotten, power-hungry bosses.

Using military language: No war has ever been lost on privates. Most firms get screwed by their own owners, not by their people. Owners can pull all their money out of their enterprises and live happily ever after, while all those professionals, who actually created all that wealth, end up searching for new firms.

And one more thing. When professionals get pissed off, they can start their own firms anytime. So, recruiting managers and firm owners ought to show a bit more respect for these people, for without them they are as good as dead.

Reality: Really! Then how do you explain Moustache Dolfie and Moustache Joseph (Hitler and Stalin) and other bloodthirsty monsters' "fun-filled excursions"? They were appointed for more than organising fancy dress parties, and I am certain their references had been carefully checked and verified before they were put into their positions. What went wrong then?

References are supposed to report on the people's performance. Well, performance depends both on the employee and the employer. Stupid arsehole employers that have created concentration camp-type "cultures" quickly ruin even the best talents.

Also, reference checks show your candidates that you do not trust them, and you put more value on a piece of paper written by some strangers than you put on your own gut feelings and intuitions about that person. However, if this is the case, you are emotionally bankrupt and should quit your position before you mess it up big time. If you do not trust your people, why should they trust you? It is them who have something unique to offer to you, not the other way round.

Checking references is the equivalent of going to the doctor for a second opinion, but before he examines you, he wants to see the other doctor's diagnosis. And that bias will falsify his own diagnosis.

Forget about crutches like references. Learn to stand on your own feet and learn to read people face to face. You will gain more respect and attract better people.

Reality:And if you do not want them, do you expect them to wait forever to find out where they stand. If you treat people like shit as candidates, there is a good chance you will treat them the same way as employees too. You and your people must be peers, and treat each other accordingly. If you have the right to call them, they too must have the right to call you and ask you about your decision. Can you imagine proposing marriage and your spouse says: "I will only call you if I am interested in you." How long would you wait? What would you think about that person? You are looking for partners for a professional journey. So, treat people as potential partners, be honest and upfront with them. It is your integrity on the line, not theirs.

Reality: Welcome job hoppers. They know what they want and keep seeking it. Only a select few firms can offer opportunities for top professionals in which it is worth investing in the long-term. When we look at talent turnover rates, we can see that not many firms have the ability to retain good folks.

Why is that?

Most firms have managers who are merely great trade barbarians, but got promoted into management without managerial abilities. You know, when best salespeople become sales managers or the best geek becomes the IT director. They usually fail miserably. They just do not know how to treat people well. Good people keep searching. And they are not searching for more money. They are searching for worthy missions. Unfortunately, the mission of merely fattening the owner's bank account - the most common mission - is not really inspiring.

Reality: Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a typo is just a typo. You are not perfect either, are you? So, give the folks some credit. No decent professionals apply for positions for which they are not suitable. You can find typos and misspellings even in commercially printed books which usually go through a basketful of proofreaders. And I bet you can find typos in your own correspondence. So, just move on and get a life. Become a true leader not just another stiff-arsed anal-retentive manager.