How can you balance experience and innovation in your hiring process?

A candidate should get a gracious and memorable experience while going through the entire hiring process. The interview process should allow candidates to share their life experience, Learning journey and plans ahead in a story telling mode. It helps an interviewer to assess candidates innovatively on parameters like - story telling, critical thinking, learning agility and right cultural fit.

Hiring is the most challenging & ever evolving process. Rightly so a combination of adding flavours of experience like:- being clear on expected outcome, communicating the same to both parties, laying each step in most simple & easy to understand way and the other element in "innovation" which calls out for not falling in to pit of "we know how it is" but being open to make hiring a memorable experience. This entails allowing both the parties to openly lay out what is on the table, free exchange of thoughts, aspirations & expectations may build a stronger experience.

Assuming that experience and innovation are mutually exclusive is a mistake. People with experience can be innovative by leveraging their deep understanding of a subject to identify novel solutions. This familiarity allows them to recognize gaps, inefficiencies, or untapped opportunities, fostering a practical and informed approach to innovation. Experience provides a valuable context for refining and implementing innovative ideas successfully.

Hiring innovators with many years of experience is unlikely. Therefore, you need to focus on finding the balance based on your company's vision and values. If you need an innovator to do admin work, it is not going to work well. If you need an innovator to do strategy, maybe there isn't a need to have many years of experience (as the ecosystem we live in is constantly changing). At the same time, if you need someone in higher management of operations, then seek a candidate with more experience instead of innovative ideas. In a nutshell, understand what you want to achieve with the particular hiring, and then check the % of innovation or experience you need them to have. It is very much case-specific.

I agree with hiring based on fit and not just skill set. Whilst competency is important, work is more enjoyable and efficient with 2 competent employees paddling the same way vs 2 genius candidates butting heads and paddling in different directions.

Actively seek out candidates from different backgrounds, experiences, and industries. This can inject new ideas and perspectives into your team.

Definitely look for curiosity! Curiosity is a fundamental skill among innovative individuals that drives them to explore and seek new information, allowing them to approach problems from different angles. And over that, if you keep your team diverse you will be capable of intersecting solutions with knowledge from different fields.

Hi make it hard for candidates to apply. If you have a high functioning team of badasses, then make it harder to apply. Require someone to write a few pages answering some non trivial questions. Why wait to the interview to ask some of them? Many people will not do the extra work. And will ask you why do you ask for so much. You will save so much time if you make someone invest some time before applying. Of course this only applies to really good teams. I use this with marketing. Sales. Dating. Saves me a lot of wasted energy.

I hire for aptitude and attitude. Skill is third. It has worked wonders for me. Skills can be learned by people with aptitude. Character not as easily. If they aren’t willing to grow they can’t join the show.

I find offline tests can be counter productive. F2F whiteboard type tests are much better at figuring out what type of person you're speaking too and if ypu want them on your team.

To put is short. Screen for qualifications (inc. experience) - Hire for attitude. Take this as a rule of thumb 👍🏻 That’s the balance you want to achieve without making a short story long.

A flexible hiring approach, valuing diverse backgrounds and specific skills over rigid experience, fosters innovation. Prioritizing adaptability and problem-solving identifies candidates with creative potential. Assessing cultural fit based on an innovation-driven environment ensures a dynamic team, blending experienced professionals with fresh perspectives, propelling a culture where creativity thrives.