I have a close friend who, although highly qualified and universally liked during the interview process, didn’t get the job she wanted because the employer was looking for a “purple squirrel.” While it may seem odd to be seeking out a festively colored rodent to do important work, there’s actually a real, Wikipedia-certified definition for this. The purple squirrel is the person with exactly the right experience, the ideal knowledge, skills, and abilities to fit an open ready to do everything perfectly from the get-go, with no ramp-up, no guidance, and no training.
This company had the money and reputation to attract a large candidate pool, and to hunt until that one specific squirrel was caught. Most of us don’t have the luxury of playing seek-and-ye-shall-find with animals of a specific hue, however. When we hire for skilled positions, the “ideals” are often needles in a gigantic haystack that cost a fortune to find, and “buying”—if we’re not outbid—can break the bank. That doesn’t leave much room for hiring, training, or rewarding others. And, since the purple squirrel gets all of the nuts, the rest of the nest may just get a little bitter.
Sometimes it makes sense to open the wallet, but it’s not always feasible nor even the best approach. If we must forego the violet vermin, what can we do? We can (a) reallocate some things to other jobs so we need more lavender, say, than purple, (b) outsource some functions so that what’s left requires the more readily available groundhog, or (c) hire a green squirrel and develop her over time, sort of dying her purple, if you like. All have situational positives and negatives, and organizations frequently default to attempting to hire “smart people” who will “pick it up.”
“Hiring down” can be effective. It expands the candidate pool, yields cheaper resources, and allows us to “grow” individuals in alignment with our culture and way of doing business. These are good things, but there are also risks. What if the individual never develops into what we need? What if the market won’t wait for our forest ferret to become full-blown rodent royalty? Our strategies depend on our people. Even with the best intentions, we can seriously limit short-term capacity and diminish long-term returns if we settle on someone “less.”
The key is that we can’t just actually just “settle” and pray. We can’t just start the hiring process hoping to get purple cheap, and taking the “best of the rest” when it’s clear that’s not possible. There needs to be a conscious decision to hire down. We need a clear purpose, the conditions have to be right, and we have to have a plan. Otherwise, we’re effectively betting our futures on finding a “diamond in the rough,” without knowing what to look for, and without the ability to polish it up. It’s critical to think through the:
That’s a lot to consider, and it’s not just one factor that always tips the scales. Hiring can’t just be about saying “I have to settle for who I can find, and they’ll have to learn.” If you don’t think it through, and you don’t have a plan you’ll commit to, you might as well not even bother hiring. It’s like trying to fit a square squirrel in a round den. It won’t help you execute your strategy. it’s not fair to the person you’re hiring or the other people in your organization that will work with her. Unless you’re really lucky, it’s bad for business…bad for everyone.