Dave and I had the privilege of spending time at two major real estate industry conferences over the last month.  I love this time of year because we get to interact with many real estate industry leaders, owners, and managers.

We learn a bunch by spending face-to-face time with our clients and other thought leaders during these times.  The most insightful information almost always comes in the one-on-one conversations.  So, we seek out opportunities to engage in as many of these discussions as possible.

In future WorkPuzzles, Dave and I will both share some of the things we learned at these conferences.  Today, however, I wanted shed some light on a myth that is alive and well in the real estate industry.

Over the last month, I’ve heard at least a dozen managers tell me that their primary objective in hiring is to engage candidates who can “hit the ground running” and make a quick contribution to their offices.

This typically means hiring an experienced agent who is working for a competitor or a new person that is already licensed or near the end of their licensing process.

If all other things were equal, of course it would make sense to use this criteria.  But what happens when this criteria takes priority over other criteria?

I’m going to let one of the most successful hiring companies in the world answer that question.  It’s not a real estate company, but they are in an industry where speed, competence, and successful hiring are just as critical to their business model as it is to yours.

The company is LinkedIn, and the details of their hiring practices were recently published by Max Nison on the Quartz financial news aggregator.  Here is an excerpt from Nison’s article:

“The thing that you start to hear as you get bigger, when someone talks about a candidate they want to hire, they often start talking about how they’re excited because this person will hit the ground running,” LinkedIn’s Dan Shapero tells Quartz. “And hitting the ground running is a very short-term benefit.”

Shapero’s organization has certainly gotten bigger. He heads LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions group, which provides tools for recruiters and is by far the most profitable of its three major divisions. It produced $245.6 million in revenue last quarter, 55% of the company’s total. In Q2 of 2011, the first time LinkedIn reported earnings after its IPO, the division made $58.6 million.

The better way to hire, Shapero says, is to think about long-term potential and cultural fit.

“I’m trying to change the language on a team so they’re not talking about hitting the ground running, but about long-term potential,” Shapero says. “Who, over the course of two or three years, is going to have the biggest possible impact on the organization? That pivot has changed the way we think about new hires.”

Some of his most successful people, he says, don’t have a background typical of the job they have. They take a bit longer to get going, but it’s worth it.

“There was something in them, a fit with who we want to aspire to be as a company, a real aptitude, and a real motivation that we saw something in and were willing to take a bet and wait a little longer to see play out,” Shapero says.

Let’s imagine you’re wandering around the halls of LinkedIn and you’re listening in on what your counterparts (hiring managers) are talking about in their team meetings.    You’d be hearing many of the same topics you discuss in your team meetings—how to hire people who can make a contribution quickly.

Many real estate hiring managers think this issue is unique to the real estate industry. Nonsense!  This problem exists everywhere humans run companies.  Every hiring manager has to fight the urge to grab the short-term benefit at the expense of long-term progress.

There is more to this story that I’ll cover in a future blog.  For today, I encourage you to follow the lead of the most profitable division at LinkedIn—focus on hiring people who have the highest long-term potential for your organization. 

Know that this strategy will take more work, patience, and discipline than other methodologies because high-potential candidates are rarely at a place where they can “hit the ground running” when you first meet them. 

Remember what you learned in kindergarten—the tortoise does eventually defeat the hare.

Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.