“Best” vs. “most suitable” candidates

Dimensions in recruiting

The goal of recruiting in companies is to find workers to fill open positions. For this, four different dimensions must be considered: quality, quantity, time, location. In everyday life, many talk about wanting to recruit the “best” person for the company. But is that really necessary? Here are a few considerations about the differences between the two approaches: “best” versus “most suitable” candidates.

Choosing the “best” person

Choosing the “best” person usually refers to candidates with the highest qualifications and the longest professional experience. Even though the dimension of quantity in recruiting is meant differently, choosing the “best” person is about quantitative criteria. The selection of the “best” candidate focuses on demonstrable hard skills. This approach may be appropriate in certain situations, for example when the position requires extremely specific technical qualifications, absolutely necessary certificates, training, a high level of routine, long-term employment or professional training is not possible. However, focusing on quantitative criteria is problematic because this indicator says little about actual competencies and about how a person implements proven knowledge in practice. Here are a few examples where the approach of recruiting the “best” person is not recommended:

• management positions
• Creative professions such as in areas such as design, marketing or art
• Customer-oriented positions such as jobs such as sales, customer service or account management
• Jobs in a complex environment where collaboration, teamwork and interpersonal interactions are a high priority, such as project managers, HR, consultants, coaches
• Career changers with development potential: People who come from other industries often bring fresh perspectives and diverse competencies that could be overlooked by focusing too much on formal hard skills.
• Start-ups: In young companies that require flexibility and rapid adaptation to change, the potential for further development is more important than pure specialist knowledge.

Choosing the “most suitable” person

If a company wants to recruit the “most suitable” person, the focus is not on meeting professional requirements. The most suitable candidate should above all be personally convincing, have the right mindset and the right action skills, fit in with the corporate culture and be able to integrate well into an existing team. This approach therefore takes into account not only hard skills, but especially soft skills. Socially compatible applicants do not have to be the best and most experienced professionally. Nevertheless, they are more successful and happier in working relationships in the long term

Fluid borders

A candidate can be both the best person and the most suitable person. For those responsible, such a constellation is certainly desirable, often not possible, or even not necessary at all. A company should consciously, situationally and carefully consider which approach is more promising. Especially in times of a shortage of skilled workers, recruiting new employees has become more demanding. If expectations are too high, there is a risk of not being able to fill an open position or making the wrong decisions. If a company values corporate culture, the fit of new employees to an existing team and sustainable working relationships, the priority is likely to be the selection of the “most suitable” person.

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