China Recruiting Blog

Hire the Scrapper -Take a Deeper Look

I have harped on the problem of perfect resumes and naturally was attracted to this TED Talk. Hire the scrapper is a thought from the video. Let me explain why I grabbed that.

In 2005, I was leading an organization that had ten service offices across three provinces in East China. I had the unenviable job of trying to find college graduates who would move to poor areas. I attracted many Beijing College graduates. These new colleges graduates had to go lead an office of local people in the their 30’s.  Many I refused. Others were not very successful.

Hire the Scrapper – The Right Ones are Gold

One day 11 years ago this month, I interviewed a guy, named Paul, who had to repeat his 2d year of college as he caroused a whole year. He then could not graduate in June with that class, but could only get his degree in September.

I snapped this guy up. Most guys who came to me were book smart, and emotionally immature. Most would head for a fall by the time they were 30. But this guy fell hard in college which is exceedingly rare in China.

I hired him gladly.  This guy had an ugly resume, but he had already fallen. I saw a  maturity in him beyond the high flying Beijing graduates who had yet to fall. Indeed, most of us fall at some time. I have a child who we let drop out of school in 7th grade. It seemed a better time to fall than in college or the first year of marriage. It was a great choice, and we have no regrets.

Paul captured the essence of our business model like no one else did in all the graduates I hired.  Within a few years we both left that business.  When I started this business, I called him first thing.  He gladly came. He is sitting next to me working as always even now.

All of us love this 10 minute video, but perhaps Paul and I love it most. We know the scrapper can often make the best hire of all.

Do see the video and we are hear to help you know which scrapper in China for they are not all created equal.

What do you think?