Selecting the Best Candidate to Lead

An H.R. Perspective

There are 2 candidates for a very senior position within the organization. Both are young, articulate, intelligent, ambitious people. Both present well and have engaging personalities. Candidate A is slightly older than Candidate B but they are close to the same age. As a talent management professional, which one would you select based on experience for the job.

Candidate A

Candidate A has a post-graduate degree from an Ivy League school. After school A moved to a large metropolitan area where he did work for a small not-for-profit organization. While there, A made a number of very good contacts as was well regarded within his community and was identified as a rising star. He later joined a larger organization that was very powerful, political and had a reputation as ‘ethically-challenged’. A took a middle management position there and was identified as a rising star there. In his 8 years in that job, he really did not create any significant achievements, preferring to keep his head low, work within the system and gained a reputation as a consensus builder. However, he energized his staff and motivated those around him in a remarkable he way and was shown to be an amazing organizer and strategic thinker.

After a few years in the middle management position, he took on a senior role within an even larger institution. Almost from day 1 he let it be known that he wanted the top job. After 2 years in his new job, he applied for the top job. He went through a series of grueling interviews, which he handled well. He beat out several more experienced candidates in the interview process to be short-listed for the C.E.O. job, using his superior organizational and communications skills to sway the interviewers to his side.

Candidate B

Candidate B is very different than Candidate A in a number of ways. He graduated from a small state school with an undergraduate degree only. He moved to a small town. He had his own business and then was offered an opportunity to run a small firm where he developed a reputation as a tough minded individual who often clashed with some of the senior management but was popular among the organization’s stakeholders for his principled stands. He then joined a medium-sized firm and, even though it seemed like a career limiting move, took on the senior management over their ethical shortcomings. Because of his popularity with their stakeholders, they tried to move him to an area of the company where he could be ‘neutralized’. Instead, he used his position to further challenge senior management within his organization over their unethical behavior. Eventually he ended up as C.E.O. of the company and in 2 years took on a number of interests within the company and worked to clean it up, more often than not challenging his own Board of Directors and giving senior positions to people from competing firms. Although he was the youngest C.E.O. the organization ever had and has only been there a very short time (less than 3 years), he has become the most popular C.E.O. the company has ever had. Candidate B is applying for the job of C.O.O., reporting directly to the C.E.O. of your organization.

Now back to the main question? Which one is more experienced? Which one is more qualified for their job? The answer of course is that you could make a good case for either candidate. Although Candidate B does have more executive experience than Candidate A, their experience is roughly equal. Who are these people?

Candidate A is Sen. Barrack Obama who is applying for the job as President of the United States. Candidate B is Gov. Sarah Palin who is applying for the job as Vice-President.

As any HR professional knows—especially those who believe in behavioral interviewing—past accomplishments indicate future performance. What you do is given greater weight than what you say. Each person brings a different skill set and belief system to the job that he or she is applying for, which should be a determining factor about who you would select for the job.