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Talent Market's mission is to promote liberty by providing talent for critical roles within the free-market nonprofit sector

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Talent Tip #48: Hiring Advice – Three Hours in a Canoe and the Most Interesting Man in the World

August 15, 2013

Three hours in a canoe. Sounds like a bad first date, a sub-par reality show, or a game risqué teenagers play, right?  In fact, it’s none of the above. It is actually a bit of hiring advice a client recently shared with me.

 

Here’s the very simple counsel: don’t hire anyone you wouldn’t want to spend three hours alone with in a canoe.

It’s pretty solid advice if you think about it. Work is full of difficulties: deadlines, miscommunications, competing goals, board meetings, donor mishaps, and the like. If you’ve hired someone you work well with, you can overcome these trials and tribulations together.  But if you’ve hired someone you don’t get along well with or don’t respect, well, one of you might end up going overboard.

If the Three Hours In a Canoe Rule holds, so does the opposite. That is, don’t hire someone simply because you would want to spend three hours alone with him in a canoe.

Case in point, a friend of mine tells the story of a gentlemen her organization hired because everyone adored him. He was witty, charming, high energy, and infinitely intriguing. Let’s just call him The Most Interesting Man in the World. Well, it’s a good thing people liked him because it turns out he wasn’t worth a hoot on the job. Sure, everyone wanted to go to happy hour with him after work, but that was about the only value he added to the organization.

In retrospect, the hiring managers realized they had swooned over him during the interview process and overlooked some critical flaws. Instead of paying attention to the substance of his answers, they had focused on his humor and charisma – your classic case of all sizzle and no steak.

In the end, The Most Interesting Man in the World became The Most Unemployed Man Inside the Beltway. And the organization was better off because of it.

Alas, next time you make a hire, remember the Three Hours in a Canoe Rule and its opposing directive.

 

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About Us

Claire Kittle Dixon
Executive Director

Claire runs the day-to-day operations of Talent Market, manages searches for clients, and oversees the organization’s fundraising communications, technology, administration, and cat-herding efforts…
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Katy Gambella
Director of Outreach

Katy oversees Talent Market’s outreach to young professionals and manages the outreach team. She also manages searches and executes outreach directly herself…
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Stephanie Keaveney
Senior Manager of Outreach
Stephanie splits her time between managing talent searches for free-market nonprofits, maintaing Talent Market’s social media presence, and engaging in outreach to young professionals interested in liberty-oriented careers…
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Bailey Drouant
Project Manager
Bailey assists free-market nonprofits with their hiring needs by helping them manage the search process from start to finish…
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Savannah Rupp
Project Manager
Savannah channels her expertise to manage searches for free-market nonprofits, ensuring they find the perfect match to drive their missions forward. She also supports Talent Market’s…
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Wait, You’re a Nonprofit?

Talent Market is a nonprofit. We’ll wait here while that sinks in. We know it’s a crazy concept, but it’s been working like a charm since 2009.

Talent Market’s mission is to promote liberty by providing talent for critical roles within the free-market nonprofit sector.

We provide consulting and recruiting services at no cost to 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations that clearly and directly focus on advancing the principles of economic freedom, free enterprise, free trade, free speech, property rights, rule of law, and limited regulation. (We do not work with political organizations, organizations with mission statements that do not clearly advance free-market principles, organizations that focus on social issues, or organizations that have a focus outside of the United States. We are not a job board. ) 

Talent Market believes that the road to prosperity is paved with freedom and that the success of our movement hinges on the talent that will take us there.

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