Jobs change. Great people evolve with them. Here’s how to find the people who become invaluable.

I’ve hired a lot of people over the years, and one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that we often approach hiring backward.

We hire for a position. We create a job description, list the responsibilities, decide what experience someone should have and then search for the person who most closely matches that description.

That makes sense — until the company changes. And companies always change.

The marketing department you have today may look completely different two years from now. Technology eliminates certain responsibilities and creates new ones. Artificial intelligence is already changing how we think about roles that seemed well-defined only a few years ago. Departments overlap. Responsibilities move. Companies pivot.

The employee you hired for a specific box may suddenly discover that the box no longer exists. That’s why my philosophy has become simple: Hire people, not positions.

Experience matters. Skills matter. I’m not suggesting you hire someone completely unqualified for a technical position because they have a great attitude.

But once someone clears the basic competency threshold, I’m much more interested in the characteristics that determine what they’ll become after they join the company.

Every growing company has problems. I want people who see those problems and immediately start thinking about solutions.

Positivity doesn’t mean pretending everything is great. Some of my best employees have been the first people to tell me when something isn’t working.

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