Gwen Gayhart

5 terrible reasons not to hire someone:

1. They’re too old.

Age is subjective. And relative. People live to 100. That makes 60 just past middle age.

2. They’re too young.

We glorify child prodigies, but are unwilling to teach (or too threatened by) young people with potential to hire them. I knew a 14-year-old who hacked into the school district’s network and a 17-year-old who started a web development agency and hired his buddies from programming class to work for him.

3. They’re “overqualified”

Not everyone wants to keep building. One of my clients had worked at the pentagon, but just wanted to go back to doing what he loved.

Besides, no one has ever validated what makes someone overqualified. No one.

4. They’re unemployed

They’re unemployed. Not stupid. Being employed is NOT A SKILL.

5. They didn’t “wow” in the interview.

I worked for a company that hired a “wow” candidate to run their division in Japan. He ran it alright. Right into the ground in less than 6 months.

When it comes to hiring, what really matters is whether someone can solve your problem.

Unless you define yours, you’ll keep turning away talented people for really bad reasons.

If you're not sure how, DM me and let's talk!

Meta just told 3500 soon-to-be former employees they were “poor performers.”

But what does that say about Meta 🤔?

Mass layoffs are brutal.
But what makes them worse?

Blaming the people you hired.

Meta’s latest round of layoffs comes with a message: those being cut were low performers.

But let’s think about that for a second....

Who hired them?
Who managed them?
Who decided they were worth six-figure salaries and stock options in the first place?

If 3500 employees are suddenly “not good enough,” that’s not a talent problem.

That’s a hiring and leadership problem.

💡 It’s easy for companies to gaslight instead of taking accountability for their own missteps and decisions.

But when layoffs hit, the truth is clear:
🔴 Hiring managers weren’t assessing talent effectively.
🔴 Leadership over-hired without a strategy.
🔴 Performance expectations were unclear or inconsistent.

Or maybe they just wanted to boost the bottom line....

📢 Let’s talk about it: If a company claims it hired thousands of “bad” employees… is it really the employees who were bad?

Or is it the company that failed to hire, manage, and retain talent properly?

Drop your thoughts below. ⬇️

If you've been dealing with a layoff or are starting to prepare for one, join my free masterclass On Wednesday February 26th to influence the outcome of your job search by learning how hiring decisions are actually made.
https://lnkd.in/erVWWV9m