"New hires must be better than previous employees"? Understand correctly for effective recruitment

“New hires must be better than previous hires” is a familiar recruitment mindset in many companies. The reasoning behind this perspective sounds reasonable: if each new hire raises the standard, then the quality of the team will continue to improve over time.

However, in reality, many companies find themselves in increasingly difficult recruitment situations, with extended hiring times, rising costs, but no corresponding improvement in team effectiveness. The issue does not lie in the lack of qualified candidates, but in the misapplication of the essence of the “hire better people” mindset.

Few people know that this perspective has a clear academic foundation in the Lake Wobegon strategy, a recruitment model studied using mathematical methods. Understanding this strategy correctly helps companies avoid common mistakes and build a more sustainable team.

The Perspective “New hires must be better than previous hires”

“New hires must be better than previous hires” is a recruitment mindset that suggests each time a new hire is made, the company should only select candidates with capabilities higher than the average level of the current team, in order to improve organizational quality over time. This mindset has a scientific basis in Lake Wobegon strategy, a recruitment model analyzed through probability and statistics.

The important point to emphasize is that the “average level” here is not subjective, but can be determined according to specific measurement criteria regarding capability and work performance.

The Academic Origin of the Lake Wobegon Strategy

The Lake Wobegon strategy originates from the research The Hiring Problem and Lake Wobegon Strategies by Broder and colleagues. This research views recruitment as a repeated decision-making problem: each time a company hires a new person, the quality of the team changes, thereby affecting subsequent hiring decisions.

The study indicates that companies can compare candidates with the current team in two ways:

• Mean value (average)

• Median value

The choice between these two comparison methods creates very different consequences for the organization, even though it may seem like a minor conceptual difference.

The Difference Between Hiring Based on Mean Value and Median Value

Hiring Better Than the Mean Value

When a company only requires candidates to have capabilities higher than the mean value of the current team:

• The hiring conditions are relatively flexible

• The candidate pool is broader

• The hiring speed remains stable

The quality of the team still improves over time, although the rate of improvement is not very fast. This approach is suitable for growing companies that need to hire enough people to ensure continuous operation.

Hiring Better Than the Median Value

Conversely, if a company only hires candidates with capabilities higher than the median value:

• The hiring standards become much stricter

• The number of candidates meeting the requirements decreases significantly

• The hiring time extends

This strategy helps raise the standards of the team faster, but comes with a significant trade-off in speed and the risk of staff shortages. In fact, this is why many companies feel that “hiring is becoming increasingly difficult,” even though the labor market still has many candidates.

Why Do Initial Hiring Attempts Have a Significant Impact?

An important conclusion from the Lake Wobegon study is: initial hiring attempts have an disproportionate impact on the quality of the team later on.

When the team size is still small, each new hire can significantly pull the average and median levels up or down. If a company hires the wrong person in the early stages, the comparison standards for subsequent hires will be skewed, making recruitment increasingly difficult.

This explains why many companies:

• Find it increasingly difficult to hire later

• Raise hiring standards too high

• Spend a lot of time searching for the “perfect fit”

Common Mistakes When Applying the “Hire Better People” Mindset

Misunderstanding the Concept of “Better”

In reality, “better” is often equated with more years of experience, higher degrees, or higher salaries. However, academic research measures actual capability, not just relying on superficial signals.

Not Measuring the Average Level of the Team

Many companies lack clear data on the current capabilities of the team, leading to candidate comparisons being entirely based on feelings.

Rigid Application at All Stages

The Lake Wobegon strategy is not an “immutable law.” If applied rigidly during a period of rapid expansion, companies may inadvertently slow their own growth.

How Should Companies Correctly Apply This Mindset?

To avoid falling into the trap of “never being able to hire anyone,” companies should:

1. Clearly define the core competencies needed for each position at each stage

2. Compare candidates with the required competency level, not the ideal level

3. Combine recruitment and training to enhance team quality over time

This approach helps companies balance between personnel quality and hiring speed, rather than just focusing on “raising standards at all costs.”

Jobcadu: Practical solutions for recruitment challenges

The Lake Wobegon strategy shows that recruitment is an optimization problem, not an emotional decision. In fact, recruitment platforms like Jobcadu help businesses standardize recruitment requirements based on necessary competencies, rather than vaguely comparing candidates to the "old ones".

Through Jobcadu, businesses can:

• Build job descriptions that closely match actual needs

• Approach candidates based on suitable competencies

• Reduce the risk of hiring the wrong person at critical stages

As a result, businesses can correctly apply the spirit of the Lake Wobegon strategy: sustainably improving team quality, rather than creating self-imposed recruitment barriers.

Key points to remember

• “New hires must be better than previous hires” is not an absolute rule

• The Lake Wobegon strategy has a scientific basis but comes with clear trade-offs

• Hiring based on average and median values yields very different results

• Initial hiring decisions strongly affect the team later on

• Businesses need data and tools to apply the strategy correctly

Recruitment is not a race to see who can hire the best talent, but a process of building a team suitable for each stage of development. Understanding the mindset of “new hires must be better than previous hires” and the Lake Wobegon strategy helps businesses avoid common mistakes while optimizing quality, speed, and sustainability.

If your business is:

• Struggling to find suitable candidates

• Wanting to standardize the recruitment process based on competencies

• Needing to balance between talent quality and recruitment speed

Jobcadu helps you solve that problem by connecting businesses with suitable candidates based on actual needs, rather than just relying on degrees or years of experience.

Register now at Jobcadu to start recruiting more effectively:
👉 https://jobcadu.com/employer

Hire the right person – at the right time – for the sustainable development of the business.