When hiring for a critical role, which best describes your approach?

Our reader poll today asks: When hiring for a critical role, which best describes your approach?

• Hire a good fit now, versus waiting for a perfect fit that might come later 65.70%
• Wait for a perfect fit, even if it means doing without in the near term 34.30%

Perfect is the Enemy of Filled. The vast majority (2/3) opt to hire someone who is a good fit sooner rather than waiting for a perfect fit later. Seems like a pragmatic approach. The one risk to manage is that they don’t have enough of the required skills to be fully successful in the role. Be sure to interview for this and surround that new hire with a support system that will help them learn the rest of their job and be successful in role. For those who prefer to wait for a perfect candidate, consider the opportunity cost. What work is not getting done while you’re waiting? Don’t only consider the work this person will be doing. Also consider the work of people (including you) who have to fulfill these responsibilities while the role is vacant. Consider what work those people aren’t doing while they’re performing tasks related to the open role. Once you consider this cost, you might reconsider your decision to wait for a perfect candidate.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.