When I was building up my research group, I probably got the worst advice that a new group leader can get. I was hesitating in hiring a person, who didn't have the skills that were required for the job I was hiring the person, but this person was perfect match to my team, spiritually. The advice was that at this stage of my career, I shouldn't have afford to hire anything else than the most skillful researchers. Otherwise I will fail as a group leader. I didn't take this advice at that time, I hired this person, but this advice affected me a lot later on, and I tried to follow it just to realize that how bad advice that was. Lately, I have seen a lot of funny advertisements, mainly in Linked-In, stating just the opposite; don't hire the skills or knowledge, hire the attitude, and based on my own experience also from this kind of opposite behavior, this is so true! I'm sure there are a lot of books, seminars and everything else on this topic, and I don't feel that I have to study about it, I just need to listen my instincts better in the future!
Recently, I carried out a recruitment for the Jane and Aatos Erkko Funding that I received recently, and my choice of the best possible candidate was obvious. After interviews, I selected a person that I already knew, as she was here last autumn as an ERASMUS student, did great job, but most importantly show me an open-minded attitude, great team-working and communication skills, those that I liked to work with and to have in my team. So I look forward for the next autumn, when Adela starts her Ph.D. in our group! 😀
Figure by Akka Architects
