[slfnflctd]

> different skill levels

Not nearly enough people in the hiring chain understand the importance of this.

Whether an employee can get along with co-workers is probably by far the most important metric in most jobs, yet it's mostly ignored because it's hard to test for. I guess companies hope they'll figure out if someone's a bad fit while they're still in a probationary period or something.

The most skilled worker in their field is useless if they can't cooperate and communicate effectively with others.

With the loyalty, willingness to learn and work ethic you can usually expect from an initially lower-skilled employee (along with lower wages/cost), a little training could turn them into a hugely valuable team member in fairly short order if a company makes an effort to ramp them up properly. Giving more of these people a shot will dramatically increase your odds of finding team members who work together well and become greater than the sum of their parts.

This idea of ignoring everyone who doesn't fit a ridiculously narrow criteria causes a whole lot of missed opportunities across the board. You end up hiring a bunch of elites-on-paper all trying to outmaneuver each other into the most possible money who will be gone in 2-3 years, while 'less attractive' candidates who would actually care about the work and tend to stick around get tossed in the garbage without even being seen.