Although not always expressly listed in a job description, all hiring managers look to bring on individuals they think have a high capacity for learning. It should come as no surprise why. Those who can learn quickly on the job will sooner be able to provide value to their departments and are likely better suited to maintain high performance despite changing conditions.
While this skill may be universally sought after, however, many hiring managers look for evidence of its existence in the wrong place, says Dr. John Sullivan in a recent article for ERE Media. "All too often," says Sullivan, "[hiring managers] focus exclusively on a single type of learning: formal education." By focusing on the caliber of school candidates attended or the grade point averages they earned, Sullivan says hiring managers limit themselves to not only using data that is often decades old, but that fails to account for candidates' ability to continuously learn new things.
According to Sullivan, the more holistically evaluated "learning ability," not formal education, is the best predictor of future success because of how it applies to these three workplace values:
- Innovation: Two of the most important ingredients for innovation, according to Sullivan's article, are discovery and collaboration. In order for the recipe to work, employees must be able to constantly bring new ideas and perspectives to the conversation, something that requires curiosity, not just intelligence.
- Team speed: In agile businesses, teams are called upon to learn and perform new processes rapidly and independently. Spending extra time in the learning stage is not only time consuming and frustrating, but can be expensive as efficiency falters.
- Globalization: As organizations grow and adapt to international markets, the amount of information each employee has to learn about the business increases as well. However, education can be disparate in rapidly growing companies, with opportunities for face-to-face learning and collaboration dwindling. Motivated self-starters are least likely to miss a beat in those situations, proving they can keep up with a changing workplace even with a hands-off management style.
To connect with the most learning-adept candidates in your industry, consider working with a retained executive search firm. Its recruitment consultants will get to know the needs of your specific business environment, taking the time to find candidates with a high potential for growth within your organization.
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