Thursday, June 05, 2008

Fit or competence?

We interviewed 3 candidates for the summer student position that will report into me today and I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, we have a candidate who seems like she's eager to learn, seems to have the requisite problem-solving skillset and good communication skills and on the other, we have a candidate that seems to have relevant work experience, is smart, but clearly didn't do any research about our company at all, which I thought was poor. His excuse was that his internet connection was down this morning...problem is he applied for the job last week so had time to do research if he was so inclined.

If it wasn't for that gaffe, he'd be an easy pick to make. In speaking with AL, his advice was if I was going to have to handhold either way, it may be better to go with someone who'd fit into our group...and I think our first candidate may be better only because she seems to be a better communicator...but in speaking to my friends at dinner, they were all about hiring for competence and skillset because it's just a 3 month term. So...the decision's up to me.

What would you do? Hire for skillset and experience and settle for the fact that the candidate may not fit into the culture of the group, or hire for fit and settle for the fact that they may need a little more direction and guidance, keeping in mind it's just for 3 months?

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