When we think about other animals, we easily and without hesitation recognize hardwired behaviors

If our Labrador Retriever loves the water we shrug and don’t think anything of it, of course, he loves the water; he is a Labrador Retriever after all. Even though we don’t like to think of ourselves as animals, it is an inescapable fact that humans are animals. Humans have hardwired behavior that helps shape who we are including how we act, communicate and learn.

In business, I cannot count how many times I have heard some variation of the phrase “I wish I knew the right person for the job”. What defines the right person can include some of those hardwired behaviors that I just mentioned, maybe the right person is someone who has to be highly detail oriented or who needs to be able to exactly follow a lengthy process. Unfortunately, many companies have been in the position of hiring someone, training them for months and then finding out that their personality just doesn’t fit with the work that they were hired to do. The wrong hire costs time and money and then you’re left with the tough decision of whether to let them go and start the process from scratch or continuing to throw resources at the problem hoping that it resolves itself in time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if we knew ahead of time whether a person’s natural wiring made them a good fit? People don’t have to be a mystery; there are ways to measure and report out on how people are wired. Our company, AcuMax Index, uses a survey to develop a profile of a candidate so you can know before you invest in the candidate whether they’re likely to succeed in that role. When we use the knowledge of how a person is hardwired to our advantage it doesn’t only help the company, it helps the candidate. Candidates have been put in a role that they’re likely to excel and find satisfaction in doing; it helps them find the work that they were born to do.