Let’s keep this talent vs. experience riff rolling into a Monday. This battle is near and dear to our hearts, as you know.
Here is an experience we had recently involving a final candidate who had a strong networking ability. He has the ability to network within his industry effectively. He even networked with people incidentally – at a restaurant, in retail environment, etc. This ability was revealed throughout his assessments. He was a strong people reader, had high empathy, was people-oriented, etc.
Unfortunately during the in-person interview, the candidate wasn’t able to tactically explain his networking ability. The ability came naturally to him so he was not overtly aware of his methodology for accomplishing it. That very fact is probably the reason why he was good at it.
Natural talents can be measured using objective assessments. The talent, if used properly, should be revealed in past experiences. The aforementioned candidate had numerous contacts in his industry along with specific stories of how he met them. One thing is certain in top salespeople – their meter is always running. In the evening, on the weekend, whenever, they always have their radar scanning for a new opportunity.