Hiring Tips. (Photo: Unsplash) 
I have sat in thousands of hiring conversations across sectors and seasons. The lesson that keeps returning is simple: competence is the price of admission; alignment is the multiplier. When we hire for alignment – purpose, values, season of life and contribution posture – we do not just add a person, we amplify a culture.
A moment that still instructs me
Early in my journey, I closed a deal that looked perfect on paper. The numbers worked. The credentials were impeccable. The passion was missing. Culture fought strategy, and strategy lost.
Since then, I have opened every significant hiring decision with one non-negotiable question: “Why are you passionate about what the company does?” If that answer is thin, the partnership will be hard. (On the same principle at organisational scale, cultural alignment is a decisive factor in post-M&A success. Even financially sound deals can falter without it.
What ‘right’ really means (beyond the CV)
Over time and at scale, the same signals separate durable hires from short-term fixes:
- Attitude and energy: initiative without theatrics; calm under pressure; the work shows more than the pitch;
- Integrity and cultural fit: values that hold when trade-offs bite. Research consistently points to culture as the driver of retention; The Harvard Business Review has noted that most turnover is linked to poor cultural fit rather than lack of competence;
- Philosophical alignment: a shared belief about how value is created;
- Life-stage congruence: the role matches the season the person is in; and
- Willingness to contribute: ownership language, not spectator language.
Most of the mis-hires I have encountered in clients – looking from the outside in – do not stem from a lack of capability; they stem from misalignment. If you only test for academics, skill and experience, you often later inherit attrition that could have been avoidable.
The best people are seldom on the market
High-value candidates are usually engaged and thriving where they are. Reaching them requires patient, relationship-first work. We have always applied a hybrid model of art and science which focuses on low volume, high value: fewer conversations, deeper trust, better signal.
Treat hiring as a leadership discipline and ethos, not a process-centric HR transaction. This mirrors McKinsey’s view of strategic talent acquisition as a core, CEO-level agenda.
Remote interviews and distributed onboarding changed the mechanics. The deeper shift was reputational: your hiring process is now part of your external brand.
How you treat every candidate – especially those you do not hire – travels quickly. In the era of platforms like Glassdoor, that reputation can be amplified at scale within hours. The organisations that kept investing in leaders and talent during the hard seasons did not just do the right thing, they built capability and loyalty when it mattered most.
Infographic by Neesa Moodley
Five practices
- Make it relational, not transactional: Every touchpoint should add clarity and dignity. Even a “no” can create advocacy if the process is thoughtful;
- Know both sides deeply: Look past titles. Follow the candidate’s arc – what they are growing towards – and your organisation’s unwritten rules: how decisions get made, how conflict is handled, what “good” looks like on a tough day;
- Name natural departure points: Great careers move in chapters. Help people recognise when they have outgrown their current context. Moves made at natural inflection points compound; rushed or contrived moves rarely do;
- Choose desire over credentials: When two people are on par in terms of eligibility for the role, hire the one who wants the role the most, and who finds the warts as compelling as the beauty spots; and
- Read presence and energy: Posture, tone, listening quality, and how someone responds to ambiguity – these “thin slices” often predict interpersonal effectiveness. Brief observations of expressive behaviour can accurately forecast interpersonal outcomes.
Red flags
- Confidence without curiosity;
- Compensation obsession in the first conversation;
- Frequent unexplained or seemingly frivolous moves; and
- Shallow questions revealing shallow engagement.
Mentorship, coaching and growth
Separate mentorship (transferring judgement and opening networks) from coaching (challenging limiting beliefs and catalysing new behaviour) and incorporate both – particularly the latter. Teams that commit to both, grow leaders who create leaders.
Leadership as citizenship
Healthy hiring is a civic act inside a company. Gratitude, empathy, clear promises, clean endings and everyday courtesy compound. Positive contagion spreads faster than cynicism when leaders choose it.
The point – and a next step
Hiring the right person is less about filling a post, and more about aligning human potential with purpose. Before your next search, ask your team:
- Who thrives here now – and who will we need for the chapter we are entering?;
- Are we prepared to hire for alignment and desire, not just credentials?; and
- Will our process strengthen our brand with every candidate we meet?
Answer those with honesty, and you will not just hire better, you will lead better. You will build a place where good people choose to stay, grow, and help others do the same. DM