CIO OPINION
“
EVERYONE HAS
THE POTENTIAL
TO ACHIEVE
GREATNESS IF
ONLY GIVEN THE
CHANCE.
anymore. For this reason, companies should
be extending their recruitment opportunities
to a wider audience, searching for a balance
of not only qualifications, but experience
that demonstrates determination, loyalty,
ambition and passion.
Perseverance in particular is an attribute I
have found to be a key to success. I once
interviewed a candidate for a sales role –
during the interview, she told me she didn’t
want a base salary, simply 100% commission.
When sifting through CVs, some of the
most important things I look for are how
long the candidate has spent in their
previous role and what interests they have
outside of work. A bold statement, but one that
demonstrated an extremely high level of
confidence in her ability to fulfil the job role
requirements. When you find those kinds of
people, you need to snap them up quickly
before someone else does.
Granted, triathlon experience in practice may
only pay off on the annual work sports day,
but it’s the transferable skills behind that
experience – resolve, persistence, hunger –
that will go a long way in any business. Another crucial point to consider is that the
best candidates don’t always come from
the traditional interview-based hiring route.
One of my most unusual hires started in a
petrol station.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
A young woman who had struggled to get a
job due to her background – working-class with
minimal education and a lack of qualifications.
But when given a chance and left to her own
devices, she was able to build things on our
platform quicker than any of my existing
employees. Traditional recruitment routes
just don’t find these gems.
We also need to be careful judging the
younger generation on their education. If
you think back to when you were a teenager,
I’m sure you get the same nightmarish
flashbacks as me: stress, hormones, peer
pressure, girlfriends, boyfriends.
Considering all those factors, is it reasonable
to write someone off simply based on the
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