In Brief

The Problem

Most companies approach hiring with faulty assumptions and poor practices. They believe talent is fixed rather than contextual. They fail to create real partnerships between recruiters and hiring managers. And they rely too much on salary surveys and rigid compensation formulas.

The Solution

Dig beneath the résumé. Ensure that recruiters deeply understand the business and are not viewed as support staff. Don’t obsess over “culture fit”; assess whether candidates can drive growth and address pressing challenges. Calculate the real value they can bring to the company and the comp package required to get them to sign on.

I really dislike the term “A player.” It implies a grading system that can determine who will be best for a position. HR people always ask how Netflix, where I served as chief talent officer from 1998 to 2012, managed to hire only A players. I say, “There’s an island populated exclusively by A players, but only some of us know where it is.”

A version of this article appeared in the January–February 2018 issue (pp.90–97) of Harvard Business Review.