[JimboOmega]

The thing that always got me is that even if they do exist, the candidate selection methods are, at best, a very unreliable way to identify them.

Still, it really fed into the "only hire the absolute best" mythos that has spread in countless other harmful ways. Consider the aphorism "A players hire A players, B players hire C players".

The general message of all of it has always been: "You must hire the very best, even one merely good employee will poison the well and ruin everything".

Yet hiring practices are, as I said already, imprecise... which creates all sorts of bizarre behavior in the attempt to snag the "very best".

[craigyk]

Yes, "only hire the best" hurts everyone. What they should have been doing is hiring more and firing more. At least you'd have a better idea of how well a person does in the context of your environment.

[chii]

i suppose this is what a probation period is.