Lily Shippen | Why the best hire might not have the perfect CV

I recently listened to a Ted Talk by Regina Hartley who discussed why the best hire might not have the perfect CV and it really got me thinking about how strongly I believe in this.

Two years ago, I was having dinner with my mum at a hotel in Surrey when the conversation turned to work.  At the time I was working for a large recruiter in West London and whilst I was enjoying the job, earning good money and loving the social life, I  felt that there was always a limit to how much I could offer to both candidates and clients.  Working for a large corporation and bound by red tape, I constantly  stuck my neck on the line for candidates that I believed in, even if their CV’s were not the strongest.   I still speak to some of these former candidates and some have even become clients as they have progressed in their careers.   My mum asked me what I wanted to do in the future and I simply answered “I want to have my own business, but I’m too young”.  She had started her own business in her 20’s and felt that age wasn’t a barrier.  Her attitude was that I should go for it and that was the night that I decided to set up my own company.  Within a month, I had handed my notice in and set up Lily Shippen Ltd.  Having a company with my name on the door means that I have nothing to hide behind and it’s my reputation on the line.

Whilst there are clients that we work with that are very particular on the experience that they look for, and rightly so in most cases, I do get a lot of joy out of working with clients that trust us to send candidates that will fit in within the culture of their organisation but who on paper, don’t necessarily tick all the boxes.  Once we have met the client and seen their offices, it is so much easier to imagine the type of personalities that will work and that is why we meet with all of our clients.

Regina talks about meeting successful business people and noticing a commonality that many of them have experienced early hardships in their lives including learning disabilities, death of a parent or poverty. She gives the example of Steve Jobs, whose parents had put him up for adoption at birth, he dropped out of college and suffered from dyslexia. Even though Steve Jobs definitely didn’t have the best CV, he went on to become a huge success (although I imagine not the easiest person to work with!).  On a personal note, my dad died during my GCSE’s and whilst I completed my A Levels, I chose not to go down the conventional route of University unlike all my peers and instead travelled around Australasia so my CV probably wasn’t perfect but luckily people saw potential in me and stuck their neck out for me.  For that I am very grateful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiDQDLnEXdA