Perspective #07 · Talent
The Perfect Candidate
Sometimes the capability gap isn't in the team. It's in how we see the team.
The hidden cost of unrealistic hiring expectations — and what organisations might be overlooking.
Hiring is one of the most consequential decisions a leadership team makes — and one of the most easily distorted by the search for a perfect candidate.
The trap of the ideal profile
When a role stays open for months, the instinct is often to sharpen the requirements further: more years of experience, more adjacent skills, more proof of past success. Each addition narrows the pool until almost no one qualifies. The capability gap, in many cases, is not in the market. It is in the specification.
Sometimes the gap isn't in the team. It's in how we see the team.
What gets overlooked
The candidates who are filtered out are often the ones with the potential to grow into the role. Hiring for trajectory rather than perfection is harder, slower to defend in a committee, and more likely to produce a leader who fits the organisation three years from now — not just the org chart today.
A different question
Instead of asking whether a candidate meets every line of a wishlist, ask: can this person grow into the demands of this role, and does the organisation have the structure to support that growth? The answer changes who you hire, and who you never even consider.