262 - A is for Ambition - Hiring

Restlessness = Trajectory

We’re doing a lot of hiring at Mayday at the moment. It feels like a great time to write about the subject, both to share my learnings, as well as organise my thinking for practical application.

You won’t find an A player who is not professionally ambitious. Ambition can take many forms - for autonomy, purpose, mastery and learning. But it is always there in an A player. It is reflected in their actions. It never needs to be looked for in their words.

Ambition is restless. The idea of ticking over and not being challenged is stultifying to ambition.

What does this mean for hiring? Any time I’ve found a way to rationalise low trajectory on someone’s CV, I’ve come to regret it. Absolutely there can be mitigating factors like a significant life event that meant professional life has needed to take a back seat, and a period of professional plateauing has ensued. But evidence of trajectory, driven by the restlessness of ambition, has to be there.

This is not the same as perfectionism. Careers are lines not dots. Absolutely there may be stints of trying things and them not working out. But A players do stuff. Their ambition is restless to make things happen.