Hiring top performers requires more than checking boxes for skills and experience and the right answers to standard interview questions, which makes most expertise-focused hiring practices not very effective. Many companies and recruiters still operate under the assumption that skill and experience equal performance. They also rely on hiring practices that seem logical on the surface but don’t actually predict long-term success. They focus on what candidates have done in the past rather than what they are capable of doing in the right environment — and that limits their available talent pool.
Debunking common hiring misconceptions
What’s frustrating is that most hiring advice scattered across the internet, touted by hiring and recruiting experts and companies big and small, still focuses on outdated ideas of what makes someone a great hire:
“Look for candidates who have done this job before.”
Many hiring managers assume that if a candidate has done a job before, they’ll be able to do it again better, faster, and with less training. But experience does not guarantee high performance. Someone with years of experience can still be a mediocre or disengaged performer, and just because someone has done a job before doesn’t mean they did it well or that they were even motivated to do it.
Experience-based hiring can actually lead to mediocre performance because it doesn’t account for motivation, drive, or willingness to go above and beyond.
“If they have the right skills, they’ll be a great performer.”
Technical skills and industry knowledge are important, but not the best predictors of future success. Most skills can be taught with training, mentorship, and hands-on experience. What can’t be taught is the internal drive that makes someone show up every day ready to excel.
A candidate who is highly motivated will learn faster, take initiative, push themselves to improve, seek out challenges, and stay engaged long-term. A candidate who lacks motivation, even if highly skilled, will be competent but not committed, likely do the minimum required, and may disengage over time.
“If they have the right credentials, they’ll be a good hire.”
Many hiring decisions are based on what’s on paper: A polished resume, a history of working for impressive companies, or a degree from a top university. But a resume only tells you where a person has been, not where they can go.
Some of the most capable, high-potential candidates may have never had access to high-profile jobs, formal training, or elite education. But given the right opportunity, they could outperform even the most experienced candidates. If you limit hiring to people who have already had the best opportunities, you exclude an entire pool of untapped talent that could be your best long-term investment.
“Make sure they match the team’s personality and values.”
Hiring managers are often told to prioritize cultural fit — to find candidates who blend seamlessly with the existing team. But hiring for cultural fit can easily turn into hiring for sameness. When companies focus too much on hiring people who fit in, they risk reinforcing biases and creating a homogenous workforce lacking fresh ideas and innovation.
A strong team thrives on diversity of thought, perspective, work styles, and problem-solving approaches. Instead of cultural fit, companies should prioritize contribution and team cohesion. Consider what a candidate might bring to the team that you don’t already have because the best hires don’t just fit in — they challenge the team to think differently and grow.
“Wait for the unicorn who checks every box.”
Truth? The perfect candidate doesn’t exist. Searching for someone who meets every requirement leads to costly hiring delays and typically means high-potential candidates get passed over. Hiring teams waste months chasing an unattainable ideal instead of bringing in someone who has the motivation to grow into the role.
Candidates are more than their resumes and past experience only tells part of the story. It reflects the opportunities someone has had, not the potential they have yet to tap into and what they are capable of.
Potential is often hidden until the right job reveals it
When my son was young, karate was his thing. He trained hard, showed dedication, and pushed himself to improve. Then, during black belt training, he had an experience that changed everything — fifteen minutes of another student sitting on his neck, unable to move while the instructor talked to the class. That was it. He decided karate wasn’t for him.
So, he tried something new: Piano. I signed him up for a trial lesson, honestly expecting the usual frustrating, slow learning curve. But within a week, he was playing full songs by memory with no sheet music. Then the pandemic hit and while all lessons came to a screeching halt, he was motivated to teach himself and deeply fulfilled in his journey.
Four years later, he’s a collegiate pianist and music composition major, playing at a level that surpasses musicians we know who’ve been at it for decades. And to think — this talent might have stayed hidden forever if he hadn’t had the opportunity to try something new.
The same dynamic plays out for job candidates during the hiring process.
You could be passing on your next top performer simply because their previous roles didn’t allow them to showcase their true abilities. The best candidates — your future top performers — might have extraordinary abilities that have never been used simply because they haven’t had the right opportunity.
- What if a candidate has greatness you’ve been looking for hidden inside that has never had the right conditions to emerge?
- What if the next game-changing innovator, problem-solver, or high performer is someone who just hasn’t been given the chance to show what they can do?
Does this mean you should ignore skill and experience? Of course not. But they aren’t the only or even the most important, hiring indicators of future success.
To hire high performers, you need to go deeper and move beyond skill and experience.
The key to hiring high performers: Lead with motivation
If you want to hire the best candidates, start with motivation and use skills and experience to confirm fit, not the other way around. Why? Motivation is what drives engagement, learning, problem-solving, and long-term success. It is what excites, energizes, and fuels someone’s best work, and it’s the strongest predictor of high performance.
Motivation determines:
- What energizes someone and gets them engaged in their work.
- How they will approach problem-solving and decision-making.
- Where they will naturally go above and beyond.
- When they will struggle and feel drained.
- How they will collaborate with a manager and team.
This is where most hiring processes fail. They don’t account for motivation — and how a person is motivated is how they are naturally wired to succeed. Motivation reveals a candidate’s unique competitive advantages, how they can contribute the most value to your organization, and what they need to feel deep job satisfaction.
Motivation also impacts performance.
Without motivation, even the most skilled employees can become disengaged, slow, and ineffective. But with it…
- Motivated employees throw themselves into their work with energy and enthusiasm.
- Driven individuals proactively look for solutions instead of waiting for direction.
- High-achieving employees develop strong communication skills because they care about collaboration and team success.
- Top performers go all in, never cutting corners or settling for mediocrity. They take pride in their results.
- Engaged employees dig into assignments and push through challenges instead of giving up when things get tough.
Every company wants to hire high performers
If you’re hiring right now, you know the hiring landscape is brutal and fiercely competitive. You’re likely searching for the same talent your competitors are and you’ve probably lost a few good candidates to them — and it stings because the longer it takes to hire, the more expensive it becomes.
But what if I told you there was a way to stop competing for the same talent everyone else is going after, and instead find the diamonds in the rough — those candidates who, with a little training, could become your most valuable employees, highest performers, and future leaders?
Would you be interested in learning more? I think so.
What’s the secret? Pairing your job description with motivation.
Job fit, manager fit, and team dynamics
Most hiring decisions focus on matching skills to a job description without considering two critical factors that determine success:
- Manager fit
The number one reason employees leave jobs? Bad relationships with their managers. If a candidate’s motivational style doesn’t align with their manager’s leadership style, frustration and miscommunication will lead to low engagement and voluntary turnover. - Team dynamics and collaboration
A candidate might have the right technical skills, but if they don’t fit well within the team’s dynamics, it will create friction and low productivity. Understanding what motivates a person helps determine how they will interact with teammates, handle collaboration, and contribute to a strong team culture.
Organizations that understand a candidate’s intrinsic motivations can:
- More accurately predict job fit, employee engagement, and how satisfied they’ll be.
- Determine how they’ll add to and enhance team dynamics.
- Anticipate manager fit and how well they’ll collaborate with leadership.
Shifting the hiring mindset: Choose potential over perfection
Many hiring managers still prioritize “proven” candidates because they fear the risk of hiring someone untested. But the reality is, hiring for high potential leads to stronger engagement and long-term performance. When you hire for motivation, you’re investing in someone who will grow, thrive, and contribute at a high level.
How to shift your hiring mindset:
- Instead of asking, “Who has the perfect resume?” ask, “Who will be the best performer six months from now with the right support?”
- Instead of looking for a 100% skill match, look for someone with 70% of the skills and 100% of the drive.
- Instead of eliminating candidates based on missing credentials, ask, “What have they done that demonstrates motivation, persistence, and growth?”
How to incorporate motivation into hiring
People perform at their best when their work naturally aligns with what excites and fulfills them. When hiring top performers, incorporate motivation-based insights into your hiring process.
1. Identify motivational drivers during interviews
Understanding what fuels a candidate’s engagement — rather than just what they’ve done before — helps you determine whether they will bring energy, enthusiasm, and commitment to the role. Rather than asking surface-level questions about past jobs, dive deeper into what truly drives candidates to match them with jobs where they’ll be naturally driven to excel.
- To reveal what excites them and whether their motivation aligns with the role, ask: “Tell me about a time when you were fully engaged in your work. What made it so fulfilling?”
- To determine if they are energized by solving problems, leading, innovating, or collaborating, ask: “Describe a work challenge that motivated you to push yourself outside your limits. What about it excited you?”
- To distinguish whether the role will amplify their strengths or burn them out over time, ask: “What kind of work naturally gives you energy, and what kind of tasks drain you?”
2. Assess problem-solving and adaptability
Motivation fuels how candidates approach challenges, learn new skills, and stay engaged under pressure. Instead of focusing only on past accomplishments, examine how they respond when faced with new, unfamiliar situations.
Ask questions that uncover candidates’ approaches to learning, tackling obstacles, and staying motivated through uncertainty. By understanding what drives their persistence and learning, you can predict their ability to excel in new situations.
- To determine if they are naturally self-driven and take initiative when navigating challenges, ask: “Think about a time when you had to figure something out without much guidance. How did you approach it?”
- To find out if they are resilient and driven by problem-solving, achieving mastery, or overcoming adversity, ask: “When faced with a difficult project or setback, what kept you motivated to push through and keep going?”
- To show their adaptability and whether they thrive in dynamic, fast-changing environments, ask: “Tell me about a time you had to quickly develop a new skill for a project. What was that process like for you?”
3. Prioritize job fit over skills and experience
Experience makes a candidate competent. Motivation makes them exceptional. Hiring managers often ask, “Have they done this job before?” But a better question is: “Will they be deeply engaged, motivated, and committed to this work?”
- A candidate might have experience in the field but not be naturally motivated by the type of work they’d be doing. Someone skilled in sales but unmotivated by competitive environments may struggle to stay engaged in a high-pressure sales role.
- Conversely, a less-experienced candidate who is deeply motivated by the work will often outperform someone with years of experience but no passion. A person who thrives on creative problem-solving will be energized in an analytical role, even if they have less formal experience than another applicant.
Focusing on intrinsic motivation ensures long-term job satisfaction, leading to higher engagement, lower turnover, and better performance.
4. Use a behavioral assessment like MCode
MCode is not just another personality test — it is a motivational assessment that reveals the core motivations that drive a candidate’s actions, decisions, engagement, and performance.
Unlike strengths-based assessments that focus on what a person is good at, MCode identifies what energizes a person, what gives them a sense of purpose, and where they are naturally wired to succeed. It also helps predict how they will engage with work, collaborate with teams, and thrive (or struggle) under specific managers.
By integrating MCode into the hiring process, organizations can:
Understand what fuels a candidate’s best work.
- Achievers are driven by goal-setting, accomplishment, and measurable progress. They thrive in high-performance environments where they can consistently set and reach new benchmarks. They may struggle in slow-moving or ambiguous roles where success isn’t clearly defined.
- Visionaries are motivated by big-picture thinking, innovation, and long-term impact. They bring energy and excitement to new ideas and future possibilities but may become disengaged in highly structured, routine-driven roles that limit creative thinking.
Predict how a candidate will engage with their work.
- Drivers are motivated by competition, challenge, and pushing past limits. They are likely to take initiative, outperform expectations, and stay motivated in high-stakes roles. However, they may struggle in environments with excessive bureaucracy or slow decision-making.
- Relators thrive in collaborative, people-centric environments where they can build strong connections with teammates and clients. If their work lacks human interaction or meaningful relationships, they may disengage or feel unfulfilled.
Assess how a candidate will collaborate within a team.
- Orchestrators are structured, process-driven team players who ensure efficiency, organization, and seamless execution. They are excellent at keeping projects on track but may find it challenging to work with teams that lack clarity or direction.
- Influencers excel at motivating and persuading others. They bring enthusiasm, charisma, and energy to group projects, making them natural connectors. However, they may struggle in teams that are overly rigid or resistant to change.
Determine if a candidate will thrive under a specific manager.
- Learners are driven by growth, intellectual stimulation, and mastery. They thrive under managers who challenge them, provide ongoing learning opportunities, and encourage curiosity. A lack of professional development can lead to disengagement.
- Optimizers are motivated by efficiency, process improvement, and problem-solving. They work best under managers who value precision, clear expectations, and continuous refinement. A disorganized leader or an unpredictable environment may frustrate them.
By leveraging MCode’s insights and its 32 Motivations and 8 Motivational Dimensions — Achiever, Driver, Influencer, Learner, Optimizer, Orchestrator, Relator, and Visionary — employers can move beyond traditional hiring methods and build teams where every member is not only skilled but also deeply motivated to succeed.
Hire for the future, not just the past
Hiring mistakes are costly — not just in terms of financial losses but also in team morale, productivity, and lost momentum. Research shows that mis-hires can cost a company anywhere from 30% to 150% of an employee’s annual salary.
To build a team of top performers, companies must move beyond traditional hiring practices, and focus on what actually drives success. The best hires aren’t always the ones who check every skill box — they’re the ones driven to show up at their best. Instead of filtering candidates based solely on their past experience, modern hiring practices must focus on what excites, energizes, and powers a candidate’s best work.
MCode helps employers get hiring right the first time by tapping into motivation — the strongest predictor of high performance — to ensure new hires are:
- Deeply motivated and energized by the work they’ll be doing.
- Aligned with their manager’s leadership style.
- A natural fit for the company culture and team dynamics.
- Resilient, adaptable, eager to grow, and committed to their success.
- Fulfilled and satisfied by their work experience.
How? By pairing personalized MCode assessment results with our proprietary Job Fit Report to help employers determine:
- Job fit: Does this candidate’s motivational profile align with the core responsibilities of the role? Will they feel naturally energized by the work, or will they struggle to stay engaged?
- Manager fit: How well will this candidate work with their potential manager? Do their motivational drivers align with the manager’s leadership style, or are there potential friction points that need to be addressed?
By leveraging MCode’s Job Fit Report, companies use motivation to move beyond guesswork and gut instincts and make hiring decisions based on real, behavioral insights. Instead of hiring candidates who look great on paper but struggle to stay engaged, MCode helps companies hire people who are intrinsically motivated to succeed — because their role fuels what drives them.
This means fewer hiring mistakes, lower turnover, and teams that are not just qualified but also highly engaged and motivated to perform at their best. By making motivation the foundation of hiring decisions, companies can increase engagement, reduce voluntary turnover, and build high-performing teams that consistently exceed expectations and drive remarkable outcomes.
