At a hiring manager training program last week, I ended the multi-day program with two pieces of advice.

First, invoke the “No 2s”rule to prevent most hiring mistakes – immediately!

A Level 2 is a person who is competent to do the work but not motivated to do it. As long as the company does not hire any Level 2 candidates, they’ll be hiring the best people who apply. Since the company is using our Performance-based Hiring Quality of Hire Talent Scorecardthis makes great sense given the ranking system shown in the graphic.

But great interviewing skills are not enough to hire better people.

Second, to attract and hire Level 3s and better – the people who will grow your company – you need to rethink your current talent strategy and hiring process to implement it.

Here are the most important steps involved:

1. Define the job as performance objectives not skills and responsibilities. Start by asking, “What does the person need to do to be considered a top performer?”
2. Implement an “Attract the Best” sourcing strategy vs. “Weed Out the Weak.” Highlight this by defining the EVP (Employee Value Proposition) by asking, “Why would a top performer want this job if it weren’t about the money?”
3. Advertise compelling career opportunities, not ill-defined lateral transfers. Use the job posting as a piece of collateral marketing materialto promote the role as a true career move.
4. Implement a “Hub and Spoke” career site. Combine all like jobs into a master posting portal and let AI determine which jobs would be most suitable.
5. Put duct-tape on the Apply Now button. Ask prospects to submit an example of a major accomplishment most comparable to the major focus of the role. This will eliminate the need to filter vast quantities of resumes, reduce processing time and posting fees and improve the candidate experience.
6. Mine your weak connections. Turn your employees into talent scouts by having them identify the best people they’ve worked with in the past. This is how to leverage LinkedIn’s powerful networking features.
7. Use Agentic AI and CRM tools to build a just-in-time talent pipeline of high achievers. Shift from a transitional to a situational sourcing model with opportunity being the metric of success not time-to-fill.
8. Use AI to evaluate the resume, trend and accomplishments for a growth mindset. Our new performance-based job fit algorithm can spot the strongest candidates better than just about all recruiters and hiring managers using “Moneyball for HR!” techniques.
9. Conduct a bi-directional interview process. Offering a true Win-Win Hiring career move requires a respectful full disclosure process.
10. Close on career growth not compensation max. This career decision rubric gives candidates the insight they need to compare your offer to others they’re considering.

What I’ve discovered is that with just a few exceptions, the current crop of HR Tech tools, even those wrapped with AI, are not able to find, assess and recruit top performers. But they soon might once they learn how to play “Moneyball for HR!” But for now, for company leaders the above checklist is a good way to get started.

Don’t hesitate to reach out for quick demo of all of the above using one of your critical open jobs. Even better, attend our next Performance-based Hiring workshopand complete a critical search project using these techniques.