Aligning Passion & Purpose: Hiring for "Fit", Not Just for "Best"

I recently told a friend that our Group Operating Council have a standing monthly meeting with one item on our agenda: to discuss key open positions and our talent pipeline. My friend seemed surprised, saying, "But isn't hiring people the job of your HR teams and line managers?" It's true that we have great HR teams at Eurofins, and they help us hire hundreds of important new team members each year. They also help us keep our existing team members happy and motivated to stay with us.

The reality is talent acquisition and management is a critical part of every leader’s role.

Even as businesses focus on growth, optimization and agility, it is daily human decision-making and teamwork that drives our ultimate success or failure.

In my career, I've interviewed thousands of people and mentored hundreds more. This has taught me that the most successful companies do three things well:

• They know who they are. Many companies today are trying to make themselves more attractive to potential employees. Yet too often, this defaults to a marketing exercise rather than leading to a deeper understanding of a company’s true nature. Successful organizations have consensus on why they exist and understand the business problem they’re solving for—not just the job descriptions they’re posting. Their culture is a natural outcome of who they are, rather than a marketing initiative.
• They hire people who fit. Once a company knows who it is, its leaders can choose people who will thrive in their specific environment. This intersection of passion and purpose is a potent driver of exceptional performance. At Eurofins, I interview potential leaders each week. Our high-growth business model means we hire people with entrepreneurial mindsets, a distinct passion for life sciences, and an intrinsic ability to start, own and lead new businesses. These are things we can't teach. We can help them learn our systems and processes, but they have to come to us with the right mindset.
• They set clear expectations and let people do their work. To create a high performance organization, a company needs more than efficient processes. It also needs to empower its people. When a company knows its purpose and hires people who fit, it can trust its hiring decisions and give its employees the freedom to do their jobs. I've seen this first-hand at Eurofins. The leaders we hire have often struggled in bureaucratic and slow-moving corporate environments before joining our company. Our culture releases them from those limitations while setting clear expectations for accountability. As a result, they have the freedom to experiment, innovate, and drive the outsized growth that our business is pursuing.

As companies continue to navigate a talent-led landscape, these hiring practices can provide a key competitive advantage. I’m proud to work alongside a team that understands how workforce dynamics are changing and how leading organizations can adapt to these changes.

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