When you have decided on the type of employee you want to hire, make sure you fully understand what it actually means for your organization. Know what you want before you hire for “a good fit”.
If “a good fit” is important for a job in general, it is doubly important when hiring creative employees! Make sure you really want the people you are targeting for hire. Be careful what you wish for, because you might just get it.
Identify correlations between desired actions and personality types. They exist. (I’m working on documenting and publishing them; I’m sure someone has already invented this wheel and I just haven’t stumbled across it yet.)
If you post offers which focus on boldness, taking personal responsibility, handing complex problems, handle a rapid pace environment, and being able to operate in the grey – this is what you will get:
- People who are creative, bold, strong-willed.
- People who value freedom
- They will generate absolutely massive amounts of feedback.
- They will create upward pressure for meaningful change.
- They will passionately pursue new and novel ways to do things.
- They will defy the status quo, and will not accept “the way it’s always been done.”
If that’s not what you’re looking for, then don’t advertise for them in the first place.
If you want people who will only give feedback when it’s asked for; who will rely on your definition of what’s important when they choose what cause to champion; who will be content to just do their work and only go the extra mile when they are specifically asked for; who will be content doing the same repetitive work for years without promotion — then you really want to make sure you aren’t targeting creative, assertive employees. This starts in the verbiage for job postings.
A note about general skills: If you are hiring for sales, for example, you must be aware that they have a very specific skillset which they use to solve customer’s problems, build rapport with customers, overcome customer objections, and understand your complex product. Employees are likely to turn those same skills towards your department in an effort to make their workplace environment better and create even more success for your business.
The question is: are you going to accept their feedback and expertise as free advice from someone very familiar with your company, or are you going to dismiss it because their title doesn’t say “business expert”?