Hire a person who exhibits the “Quadruple R’s”

Hire a person who exhibits the “Quadruple R’s”

I’ve been blessed to get so much actionable advice and feedback from hiring managers and my network. Thanks!

Here’s a recommendation from me to hiring managers to use as an additional filter as they select from an abundance of “technically qualified” candidates.

Hire a candidate that reflects the Quadruple R’s of “Relationships, Resilience, Revenue, and Rule-breaking.” I recommend going so far as weighing the Quadruple R’s over some specific business skills. Those skills can always be learned, especially by a Quadruple R.

Relationships

Find a person that reflects not just large numbers of work connections, but longitudinal connections to some of the same people over time at various jobs, in the community, in their clubs and activities, and even in worship or volunteer life.

With tenure for certain roles getting shorter and shorter, does the person you are interviewing show longitudinal relationships and deep references with key people across different companies and contexts?

In 2024, it’s official: Loyalty lasts longer than tenure, it lasts across companies, it’s not just for the founder class anymore. Loyalty and what it means in hiring must be reframed and examined based on specific managers and specific peers over the years, across companies. You know what they say, you don’t work for a company you work for a manager.

Ask the candidate to describe a work relationship that has existed across roles and companies, such as a boss who hired them at more than one company. Maybe they share a story about a peer they kept in contact with after a job change who they continue to learn and grow with. Perhaps volunteer work has been more stable over time than their PE-owned company jobs. What kinds of stories of relationship stories can they share? Do they maintain academic and social contact with a former teacher over the years? What about work they’ve done to advocate for local or regional government?

A candidate who can demonstrate these and other kinds of strong relationships over time may deserve a closer look than someone who can’t.

Resilience

I’d hire a mom or dad of a special needs child before almost anyone else, despite the “supposed” time and schedule challenges to a job. I’d take a closer look at a candidate who had their own medical challenges. Or had their own company that went bankrupt. Or who was laid off three times in the last decade despite meeting their MBOs every quarter.

Candidates with these and other lived “paths of resilience” know how to focus on many stressful things at once. They know how to navigate complex systems and can deal with obscene amounts of paperwork. They know how to bring teams together. They know how to advocate for a challenging goal. They are not afraid of change. They may be able to smell B.S. better than those that haven’t had to be resilient in the face of serious challenge.

Extend and expand the kinds of “paths of resilience” you explore during interviews. There are many that some employers don’t look at, and some employees don’t share out of fear of getting “too personal.” Which is a shame, as these are directly indicative of a proven ability to succeed at the tasks of a challenging job in an environment that had even higher stakes!

Note that I am not recommending illegal questions or prying where you shouldn’t. But open the door for a candidate to share their story of resilience and how it could impact their success at your company. Be ready to listen and understand how their proven resilience can be a win for you.

Revenue

This is all we read about in LinkedIn and in sales and marketing business press. As a part of the Quadruple R’s, I have extended my perspective on “revenue” separate from the corporate “resume bullets” that show product growth, marketing engagement, sales, or other formal metrics.

Suss out if a candidate has ever built a revenue stream, even a small one, as a side hustle. If they have, they will have a greater understanding and empathy with the cross-functional teams they’ll work with, regardless of the role you are hiring for. Even if the candidate only did a small amount of e-commerce, or phone work, or sales at a craft fair, or part-time consulting, or partnering with someone to sell something, they did need to sell and generate revenue. The very act of that process should have weight in your decision process.

Most telling is if they risked their own money or put some real personal economic consequences on the line to build a side hustle. An example someone once shared with me is finding out if a startup leader asking you to follow them has ever risked their own cash. Not the risk of an opportunity cost, but risking substantial, actual cash of their own, on a business opportunity. The same thought process works on a smaller scale with someone working on side hustle - there is nothing like the experience of them having used their own cash and having experienced a revenue stream they created as an indicator of how thoughtful and careful they will be with the tasks and budget they are asked to manage at the role you are hiring for.

Rule breaking

All successful people break rules. It’s just a matter of when, and how, and what the result was. One could argue that almost every successful product or service that “broke out from the pack” broke out because they broke the rules.

This may be just me, but a person who can’t tell a few stories of when they broke the rules to incredible effect and a few times when rule breaking didn’t work – and how they dealt with the consequences – shouldn’t be at the top of your candidate list.

I am not suggesting hire a rash, do-what-they-want at all costs rulebreaker.? (Although, you may end up working for them someday.) Every company has its own culture of rules and processes and you have to ensure as best you can during interviews that those that you hire can fit that culture.

But rule-breaking at the right time in the right place in the right way is a skill. A good one!

So, what do you think?

Are the “Quadruple R’s” I described here useful as hiring filters?? When would you ignore one or more of them?? What would you add?

Thanks for reading,

Gary