Hire a Scrapper: Hire Me!

Why the best hire might not have the perfect resume by Regina Hartley. 

Your company is launching a search for an open position. The applications start rolling in, and the qualified candidates are identified. Now the choosing begins.

·      Person A: Ivy League, 4.0, flawless resume, great recommendations. All the right stuff.

·      Person B: State school, fair amount of job-hopping and odd jobs like cashier and singing waitress.

Both are qualified.

Who are you going to pick?

Terms to describe two distinct categories of candidates:

·      A, ‘the Silver Spoon,’ is the one who clearly had advantages and was destined for success.

·      B, ‘the Scrapper,’ is the one who had to fight against tremendous odds to get to the same point.

            A resume tells a story, and people’s experiences read like a patchwork quilt that makes us stop and fully consider them before tossing their resumes away. A series of off jobs may indicate inconsistency, lack of focus, unpredictability. Or, it may signal a committed struggle against obstacles.

At the very least, the Scrapper deserves an interview.

Getting into and graduating from an elite university takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. But if your whole life has been engineered toward success, how will you handle the tough times?

On the flip side, what happens when your whole life is destined for failure and you actually succeed? I want to urge you to interview the Scrapper.

As I met successful business people and read profiles of high-powered leaders, I noticed some commonality. Many of them had experienced early hardships, anywhere from poverty, abandonment, death of a parent while young, to learning disabilities, alcoholism and violence. However, during studies of dysfunction, data revealed an unexpected insight: Even the worst circumstances can result in growth and transformation. A remarkable and counterintuitive phenomenon has been discovered, which scientists call Post Traumatic Growth.

Entrepreneurs who experience post-traumatic growth, view disability as a desirable difficulty, which provided them an advantage because they became better listeners and paid greater attention to detail. They don’t think they are who they are in spite of adversity, they know who they are because of adversity. They embrace their trauma and hardships as key elements of who they’ve become, and know that without those experiences, they might not have developed the muscle and grit required to become successful.

Scrappers are propelled by the belief that the only person you have full control over is yourself. When things don’t turn out well, Scrappers ask, ‘What can I do differently to create a better result?’ Scrappers have a sense of purpose that prevents them from giving up on themselves.

Moreover, Scrappers know that humor gets you through the tough times, and laughter helps you change you perspective.

And finally, there are relationships. People who overcome adversity don’t do it alone. Somewhere along the way, they find people who bring out the best in them and who are invested in their success. Having someone you can count on no matter what is essential to overcoming adversity.

Focus on the future and don’t dwell on the past.

Companies that are committed to diversity and inclusive practices tend to support Scrapers and outperform their peers.

Choose the underestimated contender whose secret weapons are passion and purpose. Hire the Scrapper.

Given the choice between a job candidate with a perfect resume and one who has fought through difficulty, human resources executive Regina Hartley always gives the "Scrapper" a chance. As someone who grew up with adversity, Hartley knows that those who flourish in the darkest of spaces are empowered with the grit to persist in an ever-changing workplace.