selection process, this hiring practice is the most difficult for us to change in our customers.

Regardless of a firm's size or industry, managers continually rely upon the candidate's experience to make hiring decisions. It is obviously easier to hire someone with past industry experience and relevant knowledge of products, services and competition, the premise being that someone with substantial work experience will require less training and direction than a person lacking previous experience.

If this criterion is truly a predictor of future success, why do we consistently hear, "But they looked so good in the interview. What happened?" The price of basing hiring decisions on experience can be enormous, both in terms of lost opportunities and money wasted on recruiting and training a new employee. When consulting our clients, we encourage them to critically evaluate an "experienced" candidate who is currently working for a competitor. What is it your firm offers that is not offered by his current employer? Why is this candidate willing to sacrifice the perks that come with seniority and experience in exchange for beginning his career all over again?

Research has shown that more often than not, the experienced candidate is a marginal performer in his current position. He is often seeking a new home where his mediocrity won't be noticed for years. This candidate may have seven years' experience working for one of your competitors, but could these seven years of experience really be one bad year repeated seven times? Unfortunately for corporate America, this tends to be the rule rather than the exception. A large majority of hires based on experience result in nothing more than re-circulating mediocrity.

Put yourself in the shoes of a college football coach and pretend you are recruiting a new linebacker. There are two candidates seeking the position. One has extensive high school playing experience. The other has none. The experienced candidate weighs 150 pounds and stands 5'9" yet possesses impeccable credentials for the sport. He knows the sport well and understands how particular strategies are used to help win the game. The second, non-experienced candidate weighs 225 pounds of pure muscle and stands 6'4". He has the strength of an Olympic weight lifter and can run the 40-yard dash in just four seconds. He knows football, but he hasn't played the game since he was in grade school.

Being the coach, which player would you recruit? The lightweight with years of experience or the mass of muscle with lightning fast reflexes? Do you really believe that the lightweight's experience can give him the edge over the physically superior candidate? No coach with sound mind would be confused about which candidate to recruit.

The problem with changing the ill-conceived approach to hiring based on experience is that it is exceedingly difficult to make this same physical comparison for non-sports positions. The contrast between applicants in today's business interview arena is equal to this hypothetical scenario. However, rather than this contrast being visible as physical characteristics, it is imbedded deep in the candidates' inner workings: their minds and personalities.

The ability to sell, manage or provide superior customer service is not conveyed in physical form as in the 6'4", 275-pound linebacker, nor is the lack of sales capability visible. And yet, a salesperson, manager or customer service representative who posseses experience but lacks the fundamental personal attributes required for top performance is just as ill suited to those jobs as our 5'9", 150-pound weakling is suited to the position of linebacker.

There are, of course, some people who possess the attributes needed for success in sales, management and service who also have experience in these postitions. This person is a perfect fit, representing the best of all worlds. Occasionally you will encounter a person who has legitimate reasons for leaving their employer to work for you. In reality, however, this ideal person rarely exists.

A manager should be willing to sacrifice experience in exchange for ability. The personal attributes known to support top performance over the lang haul are the qualities managers should be searching for during their hiring process. If a person possesses the ability for a job, teaching him your product and service can be easily achieved. However, the opposite is not true: if the person lacks the fundamental attributes or competencies required for a position, all the coaching in the world will not help him perform at a top level. It is the ability of the person that hiring managers must focus on if they are to select, develop and retain a superior workforce.