Rules of Hiring - Part I

Rule #1 of Hiring:

Hire for chemistry first, skills second.

I have known and worked with several brilliant people in my time. Several of them however, never clicked in the organization and their contributions were minimal. Why? Because even though their resumes and demonstrable skills were impressive, they did not have any chemistry with the people they worked with.

Chemistry doesn't necessarily mean you want this person to be your best friend, or even that you want to hang out together. It means that your work ethic, your view of the job at hand, and the way you look at how to solve problems generally agree.

Skills can always be trained or enhanced. Having someone share your philosophy - about work in general and the specific work - is something that they will more typically come into the job with. Training attitude is much harder, and will take valuable time that person could have been producing value for the company.