Beyond the CV

When we recruit new employees, an obvious first step is to look at their CV. Some of the things that make for a great employee, though, might not show up on it.

If you have a company that is growing, if you are always hunting for new opportunities while overcoming new obstacles, if you are hiring for “fit” rather than just for specific skills or experiences, then you need to look at more than just dates and job descriptions. You need to understand things like a candidate’s personality, their aversion to or acceptance of risk, their creativity, their ability to collaborate, their openness to new ideas, and more. A lot of that simply is not going to show up on a CV.

What kinds of things should you look for? Well, that depends on your needs. Consider:

• If you need people who are creative, consider looking for someone with artistic skills. An investment banker who also does Chinese calligraphy on the side may look at the world differently than one who only reads financial statements.
• Maybe you need employees who can be both creative and collaborative. An actor in community theater or a musician in a local orchestra not only shows the ability to blend their creativity with others’, they have also shown they are not scared to get up in front of people.
• Need someone willing to take risks? Find someone who surfs, climbs mountains, or engages in adventure travel. Since they are still alive, they have shown they are not only willing to take risks, they are good at managing them, too.
• Perhaps your company is facing some problems and you need people to do a lot with only a few resources. Well, people who do volunteer work do that every day.

Perhaps most importantly, what growing companies could really use is people who seek out new experiences. Whether it’s something new they create, some new place they visit, or some new goal they achieve, these are people who want something different…and that really helps when you want your firm to do things differently. The point is not to ignore skills you need, but instead to consider the skills along with the personal qualities that match your requirements.

You can still use the CV to tell you some of what you want to know, of course. If their job experience shows a diversity of locations, maybe they are always searching for new perspectives…which is a good thing, right? But look beyond the basics and see what’s going on in their lives, because that gives you a better sense of what they’ll bring to you.

So how do you find this information? Well, one place is their LinkedIn profile. As you go through their work experience, don’t stop there, but instead go toward the bottom of the page to see what groups they joined. If it’s only professional groups then that may not tell you much, but if they are following events in multiple countries and they’re in a rock climbing group and a knitting group, you may be onto something. Maybe they will even mention something about their personal interests directly in their profile, and if so, pay attention to that.

Perhaps they wrote about their interests in their cover letter. Yes, the cover letter gets ignored by many recruiters and managers, but maybe it shouldn’t. A lot of good stories can be told in that one page, and it’s a chance for your candidate to explain more about themselves. Too often the cover letter may just be a repetition of their CV, but there may be some very useful info in there, so it’s worth a look.

Of course, the interview is probably the easiest place to learn more about them. Don’t just use the general “So, tell me about yourself,” but instead, ask questions about what they do in their spare time, what motivates them, what risks they have taken (and how they handled it when things didn’t work out), what kind of travel they enjoy, and so on. Have some questions ready that relate to the qualities you need in your new employee.

You might wonder, “are candidates going to share all of this?,” and the answer is “maybe.” Not very helpful, perhaps, but ultimately it depends on each candidate’s approach to job hunting. When Designing Leaders coaches people on their career strategy, we recommend they include personal items in their online profile and their cover letter, and find ways to introduce those stories into their interviews. Since more employers are recognizing the value of “fit” along with functional skills, more jobseekers are trying to demonstrate how they will fit in with you. It’s becoming increasingly common for candidates to share more about their personal interests, so even if you forget to ask, they may tell you. But if not, then you should definitely ask.

Just because someone is an avid traveler, a photographer in their spare time, or has shown an interest in a variety of diverse hobbies, doesn’t necessarily mean they will be a great employee, but knowing more about them helps you decide if they are the person you need right now.