How to Hire a Versatile, Effective Learner
The right hiring and training practices in an organization go a long way toward empowering it to succeed. Teams operate within tight time constraints, so someone who is the closest possible match for the tools, technologies, and practices currently at use internally would seem to be the ideal candidate to fill an open position.
On the other hand, the technology industry is an ever-changing landscape. The tool or technique used recently may not be the right one to go with a few months from now. With these conflicting dynamics at play, what should an organization look for in hiring an individual?
In a tech environment, the best quality to look for in a new hire is the ability to learn quickly and effectively. Organizations are beginning to appreciate an individual’s learning capacity in building a long-term, strong resource base rather than someone’s exact match to a project’s current set of requirements. Google is one company that follows this practice when hiring.
This does not mean you hire an individual who has no direct or indirect experience to the job at hand and is purely an effective learner; the demonstrated ability to pick up new skills is just a useful criterion to consider.
If two resumes show up for an open source developer position, someone who has purely worked on Selenium all through his career and is very good at it might be ranked lower than an individual who has worked on .net technologies and has recently moved to the open source world. This is primarily because of the versatility of the second individual that demonstrates he can switch from a completely commercial stack to the open source stack with ease.
Of course, if that second individual were to be hired, the team would have to anticipate setting aside some time for training. This may not always be feasible. There could be some niche positions or openings under a time constraint that need to have an exact match with the technical skills outlined so the person can jump into a requirement right away.
This is not to discount such specific needs, but keep in mind that given the changes organizations go through nowadays, the aptitude and willingness to learn something new—and unlearn ineffective practices from the past—are important traits to look for.
Finding the ideal candidate is easier said than done. How do you spot such an effective learner? The submitted resume and the versatility it holds along with the person being able to speak to it are good first indicators. During the interviews, you can glean subtle pieces of information to determine how good a learner the individual would be. Specific questions can also be asked about how the person keeps himself up to date outside of work.
For all these criteria to fall into place, it is insufficient to just look for a learner. The interviewer must himself be an effective learner so that he will be able to spot the person with that right passion for ongoing learning.
