I always knew that whenever it comes to making big business decisions in regards to hiring talent a lot of executives would quickly glimpse at people’s backgrounds to make a quick determination on whether or not someone would be a good candidate. It’s just always interesting to see it in action. Recently I was asked to help give input on some candidates where the person in charge received a list of possible people that would be a good fit for them.
Surprisingly but not surprisingly the person immediately went online to see if any of the candidates had things such as awards because if you bring aboard someone with a lot of accomplishments already then that should boost the value of your company having them associated with it. You would think the focus would be more about who can do the best job technically. But I guess the rationale is someone did the work already to make the list and so the executive just wants who will give them the best exposure as you would assume they can all do the job. Awards and public recognition is one way to differentiate the candidates.
No wonder why so many companies try and create a business of handing out awards that have no meaning like the ones that charge a fee for it huh? But this is an example why as often decision makers don’t thoroughly research things themselves. So that should show the reality is many times you do need to tout your own horn I guess you can say if you ever received any kind of public recognition. Because decision makers don’t often analyze one’s skill versus seeing who will potential give the best return and PR.