As a hiring manager, part of your job is to help people make the best career decisions.
To be effective in this role, try using Benjamin Franklin’s decision-making hack. He developed and shared this technique with a friend who was facing a difficult career choice.
To make the decision, Franklin advised his friend to first make a simple list of pros and cons.
He then suggested using the following technique to simplify the list:
- Analyze the pro/con list and apply estimated “weights” to each item.
- Strike out items on each list having the same weight in a 1:1 ratio. One equal weight pro cancels-out one equal weight con.
- Remove additional items by looking for situations where one pro would equal the weight of two cons (or vice-versa).
- If there are still a lot of items on the list, look for other weight ratios to eliminate more options (for example, one 3-weight pro would equal three 1-weight cons).
Eventually, the list will be reduced to a manageable size and the right decision will emerge.
Many people have adapted Franklin’s original advice to make it more defined and measurable.
Try it out with the next candidate who seems to be on the fence. It may transform you from being a recruiter into being a trusted advisor.
