In this presentation the speaker illustrates four candidate archetypes to expose common hiring misconceptions. Two candidates appear polished, with strong resumes and confident interview performances, yet one delivers outstanding results while the other fails despite ongoing support, proving that first impressions and credentials are poor predictors of on‑the‑job performance. The other two candidates are unpolished and initially overlooked; one is quickly dismissed after poor early results, while the other, despite a sparse resume and quiet interview demeanor, becomes the most productive team member. The talk argues that hiring decisions based on presentation can be dangerously costly, especially when a “dream” candidate consumes resources without delivering value. Conversely, overlooking low‑polish but high‑potential candidates misses valuable, cost‑effective talent. The speaker stresses the need for concrete performance metrics, individual accountability, and a hiring strategy that screens out deceptive candidates while screening in hidden gems. He also highlights salary budgeting considerations, showing how hiring less‑polished high‑performers can free budget for rewards and bonuses. The presentation concludes with an invitation to a Performia discovery session for practical hiring tools.
Chapters
Hi everyone. Here we have the first challenge to building a team, which you've most likely experienced when you've been hiring and growing your team. So here we've got 4 types of people. We've got 4 candidates applying to your job. This girl at the top here, she presents really well. She's got a great resume. She could be from your industry. She's got the right contacts. You know, she comes to the interview and she really impresses you. You really like her. And so you decide to hire her. Then we have this next guy. He also presents really well, has the perfect resume, and you get really excited. You know, he shows so much confidence that, you know, you'd probably go home and talk to your partner and say, hey, we can go on that holiday. It's exciting. I've got the dream candidate who can do this job. Because like her, he also really excited you. So you're excited. You've got the right person that you've been waiting for, and you hire him. Then we've got this person down here who, you know, doesn't present so well at interview, doesn't really sell themselves, doesn't say the right things. They don't really have a good resume that stands out. There's some typos on there, and, you know, you look at them and you go, this person's just not gonna work out, but I'm desperate, so you hire them. Then we have this fourth guy, you know, similar to the— this other girl, you know, he also doesn't really present so well. He actually doesn't talk much in the interview. You know, you ask him questions like, will you do overtime? And he says no. And you think to yourself, that's just weird because, you know, why would you first say that even in a job interview? And secondly, well, we need people to do overtime. But, you know, this guy doesn't say much and his resume is like, you know, a couple of lines. You're looking for a salesperson maybe, and he's just got a couple of lines in his resume and he just doesn't impress you. You know, so but again, you're desperate, so you decide to give this guy a go and you hire him. So you've got these four people who've just started. Now this girl, time goes by and you look at her results and her performance, and she produces amazingly. Results go through the roof. You are so happy with yourself, and you know, you're so happy with the results of your hiring. It is so good. You give yourself a pat on the back and you go, "I did so." Well, this girl is fantastic, exactly like what I expected. And so you're really happy with her. And then now this guy, some time goes by and he produces nothing. And in fact, he comes to you with more ideas and suggestions for what more support he needs to get going. And of course, you know, you'll give him this support because He looks so good and he's still got the right experience, the right industry, and you start to doubt yourself. You say, no, it can't be him, it's gotta be me, so I've gotta support him more. So you keep giving more and more and more to get this guy to lift off, but more time goes by and your results go even lower than they were before, and it's actually costing you more now because you're investing more into his ideas and what he wants you To help him with, so still no change. Results actually go even worse. Now this girl, you know she started and some time goes by and she also produces nothing. But you know what? You knew this because right from the start you had your eyes on her and you were not so sure. You made a desperate hiring decision and when you put her on, so you knew about this. You go, "Yep, I knew all about it." My hiring is still. And so you get rid of her pretty quick, like maybe within the first couple of weeks because you had your eyes all over her. Now this guy, he turns out to be your best, most productive, most valuable team member ever. And you're just, your mind is blown because you go, how can this be? You know, this person, he didn't even say much at the interview. But see, in fact, this guy, he was actually being honest in the interview when you asked him, will you do overtime? He's never had to do overtime. He was being honest. He's so efficient, he just gets things done. And it's like the reason why his resume is so bad and non-existent is because he's so good that before he even hits the market, companies, as soon as they find out he's about to leave, they snap him up. So what does this picture tell us? You have two that stood out amazingly. You have two that don't look good. These two, they both have all the experience, all the industry contacts that you want. And what this scenario tells us is that first impressions and how someone looks or sounds or how their resume looks. Has actually got nothing to do with how they'll perform on the job. No matter how much experience, how much qualifications, how many university degrees someone has, it's no correlation to how they'll perform in the job and how much results they'll get in the job. Those are different factors in your hiring. So Before you put someone on the job, before you start your hiring, and before you hire someone, you need to know who are you dealing with. Which of these 4 people is it? Because as we've just gone through, you can't tell, you know, if they look or sound good or how perfect their resume is. You don't know. Now, out of these 4, which one do you think could actually be the most dangerous or the most costly Hiring decision. It's this one, of course, because this person sold you the dream. He looks so good that, you know, he sells you the confidence, so you get excited about this person. So when things don't start going to plan and he's telling you new ideas and strategies of doing more, you never think it's him, you think it's you, so you do more of what he's suggesting. And so this is actually the most dangerous and the most potential costly hiring situation because sometimes it could take years before you even spot these people. You know, they can make out to be your most loyal person just because they're there. But just because someone looks busy and is doing a lot and has been with you forever, again, doesn't mean they're like actually producing value. So as the manager of a team, you need to be able to really see who's contributing, and not by listening or making assumptions or by looking at how busy somebody looks, because just because I'm doing a lot doesn't necessarily mean I'm contributing value or producing— or I'm producing value, because I could be doing a lot of things with no end result. And that's really what you're paying your staff for. You know, when you grow a team, you pay them a wage, and in return they should be producing something of value. So this is the most expensive situation, and if you don't have proper statistics in your organization where you measure results and individual accountability and performance, these types of people will get away and will last in your organization for even longer. It could literally be years before you detect it. And unfortunately, because these characters are so good at presenting a certain way, if you don't, if you are not really watching statistics and you're not measuring and looking at individual performance, You won't spot them either because everything can look and sound absolutely fantastic. Now, the next thing I want to just point your attention to is out of these, who do you think would be the most cost-effective to hire? It would be this person because if you look at these 2 scenarios, this person up here, she was the obvious choice. wasn't she? Everyone is gonna snap her up. Everyone is going to look at her resume, and because she looks and presents so good, they're going to hire her. So everyone is gonna get— guess this one right. And between these 2, they had a 50-50% chance of getting it right. So everyone's gonna get her because she presents well, she says the right things. So what also will happen is that companies will go into a bit of a salary bidding war. So this person could have like 5 to 10 different offers given to her, and so she'll naturally go for the company that she feels best suited to and has got the best package for her as well. Now this person over here, he's absolutely amazing. He's really productive, but because he's not so polished and doesn't present so well, or maybe doesn't have the best resume that's going to impress you He doesn't really get picked in the hiring process. So a lot of companies will pass over this person over here who is actually fantastic. Companies will tend to miss out on this person. And so when you actually spot this person, he's happy to get a call from you. He's happy to get the interview. So when, of course, you offer him the job, he's going to take it. And when we say cost-effective, what's actually meant is that you have more room to reward this person. Because what happens is when— if you try and hire her, you might have to go at the maximum level of your salary range, salary budget. Let's say you wanted to offer $60K to $70K. Now you've got to go to $70K, maybe even like try and boost it up a bit more to get this girl. But with him, maybe you can start him off at your initial budget range of 60 and then have some budget to actually give him rewards and give him bonuses over time. And then he'll really appreciate it and you'll have a really good working relationship. Whereas with her, it's like, it can be a bit tough. You know, you've maxed out your budget already. Out of these, you absolutely always wanna be hiring in this range, this one, these 2. And your hiring system, just as it's crucial that you can screen out these types of people, you absolutely must. But secondly, you need to make sure in how you're looking at candidates, you are not missing out on these people over here because these are absolutely golden people. We've met so many of them over the years and they're gems. And so you need to make sure you're not missing out on these people because of superficial ways of looking at applicants. These people are very valuable, so you need to know how to spot them. So just as expensive it is to hire these people, it's just as expensive and probably even more costly to miss these guys. We call this strategy screening out, and we call this one screening in. So this is absolutely crucial. Now I'd love to share with you more about how you can actually go about making sure you don't hire these people and hire more of these people, and especially these ones. I'd love to share with you more, but we're going to need a bit more time. So I'm happy to organize a Performia discovery with you and just take you through some tools and tips that you can actually start applying right away to how you're hiring, how you're building and developing teams, and that will already get you started on a good path. So I hope this has been helpful, and I'll see you in the next video.
