What “Best Qualified” Actually Means
I believe that, as a whole, companies and organizations have adopted a pretty narrow lens when it comes to the hiring process. The best way to measure your organization’s talent acquisitions is to look at the data. What does it say?
A recent PersuasionPoint client came to me alarmed by the data their company collected.
This client was doing what we call “the work”, improving their DEI recruitment and retention efforts, and when they paused to look back on their data, the company was shocked to discover how many white men were getting hired over any other population of candidates.
One explanation for this could be what I call the “narrow lens” of talent acquisition (and retention). It can be difficult to break old systems and patterns of thinking when it comes to a hiring process for a company, but if we want to move forward we need to be evaluating exactly what our hiring practices are, who is at that table, and trying new ideas.
(Re)Define best qualified.
When working with clients, it’s not uncommon to receive pushback in the vein of, “But shouldn’t we be hiring the best qualified candidate?”
“Yes, and…”
Yes, and we need to be looking more critically at what “best qualified” means. This means digging deep into your company culture and looking at “fit” from a holistic standpoint, instead a long list of checkboxes a candidate has to tick. This work starts with collecting employee culture temperature-check data from all your employees (yes, all of them), especially the ones that have been there the longest and the shortest.
Reimagine Hiring
The 7-Step Hiring Process
Taking a holistic standpoint and reimagining the hiring process takes courage because it forces leaders to look at the hiring practice from organizational and cultural levels. Below are the 7 steps I have identified working with clients that can lead to not only better talent acquisition, but also talent retention.
- Job Posting: Create an accurate reflection of what success look like.
- Expand The Net: Build a strong coalition of recruiting partners.
- Prepare Hiring Managers: Develop and foster a strategic partnerships.
- Modernize Interview Process: Enable results by removing barriers.
- Update Selection Criteria: Create a framework that is data- and human-driven.
- Analyze Yield Rates: Analyze, sustain accelerations, course-correct
- Overhaul Onboarding: Identify, and fill, gaps that hinder on-the-job success.
Additional Resources
- From Harvard Business Review: Skills-Based Hiring Is on the Rise
- From Fast Company: How to make sure your new work policies don’t make people want to leave
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About PersuasionPoint
Patti Perez is the founder and CEO of PersuasionPoint, a consulting and training firm focused on helping organizations navigate conflict, misconduct, and high-stakes decisions with fairness, clarity, and credibility. She is the award-winning author of The Drama-Free Workplace (Wiley) and the creator of Mastering Workplace Investigations, a human-centered training program designed to strengthen investigative judgment, reduce bias and noise, and build trust at critical moments.
Through training, advising, and leadership development, Patti helps organizations move beyond compliance to create cultures rooted in transparency, curiosity, and organizational justice.
Email Patti directly at Patti@PersuasionPoint.com.