This is encouraging! Your personal traits can get you further in the job search and the job; experience isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be…
This is according to Jeff Fluhr, StubHub founder and chief executive of Spreecast, in an interview with Adam Bryant. He thinks the work background of job candidates is less important than their “softer characteristics,” like “the cultural fit, the chemistry fit, their personality traits, their level of optimism.”
Q. Tell me about your approach to hiring at your current company.
A. I’ve found that the softer characteristics of a person — the cultural fit, the chemistry fit, their personality traits, their level of optimism — are far more important than somebody’s experience. What I was often doing at StubHub as the company grew was to say, “O.K., we need a V.P. of marketing and we want somebody who’s been a V.P. marketing at another consumer Internet company, and hopefully, they’ve done these certain things because that’s what we need.” But the reality is that if you get somebody who’s smart, hungry and has a can-do attitude, they can figure out how to do A, B, C, because there’s really no trick to most of these things.
Q. What career advice would you give to a graduating class of college seniors?
A. One of the things I tell people is that experience is overrated. I still sometimes find myself falling into the trap of thinking, when I’m trying to fill a role, “Has the person done the work that the role requires?” That’s the wrong question. It should be, “Let’s find a person who has the right chemistry, the right intellect, the right curiosity, the right creativity.” If we plug that person into any role, they’re going to be successful.
Curiosity, Optimism and Energy - now that's encouraging insight from an industry leader. Please share with your friends who might enjoy a little optimism.
(Excerpt from The Corner Office; Adam Bryant; The New York Times)
This is according to Jeff Fluhr, StubHub founder and chief executive of Spreecast, in an interview with Adam Bryant. He thinks the work background of job candidates is less important than their “softer characteristics,” like “the cultural fit, the chemistry fit, their personality traits, their level of optimism.”
Q. Tell me about your approach to hiring at your current company.
A. I’ve found that the softer characteristics of a person — the cultural fit, the chemistry fit, their personality traits, their level of optimism — are far more important than somebody’s experience. What I was often doing at StubHub as the company grew was to say, “O.K., we need a V.P. of marketing and we want somebody who’s been a V.P. marketing at another consumer Internet company, and hopefully, they’ve done these certain things because that’s what we need.” But the reality is that if you get somebody who’s smart, hungry and has a can-do attitude, they can figure out how to do A, B, C, because there’s really no trick to most of these things.
Q. What career advice would you give to a graduating class of college seniors?
A. One of the things I tell people is that experience is overrated. I still sometimes find myself falling into the trap of thinking, when I’m trying to fill a role, “Has the person done the work that the role requires?” That’s the wrong question. It should be, “Let’s find a person who has the right chemistry, the right intellect, the right curiosity, the right creativity.” If we plug that person into any role, they’re going to be successful.
Curiosity, Optimism and Energy - now that's encouraging insight from an industry leader. Please share with your friends who might enjoy a little optimism.
(Excerpt from The Corner Office; Adam Bryant; The New York Times)
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