The Indiana Hoosiers went 12-0 this season.
While blue-chip programs stockpiled talent and ran players through grueling practice schedules, Indiana did the opposite. They had zero 5-star recruits. They built an older, more experienced roster. They practiced well under the league’s 20-hour weekly cap.
Their coach, Curt Cignetti, put it simply: “You get the right people on the bus, they prepare the right way, and you got a process, anything’s possible”.
They didn’t just ignore conventional wisdom, they had the conviction to go against the grain and build around what actually mattered to them.
Which got us thinking…
What should hiring teams go all-in on this year? And what should they be willing to leave behind?
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IN: Hiring for clarity
OUT: Hiring with FOMO
Stop chasing the candidate everyone else wants. Start defining what success looks like in the role, then find the person who can deliver it.
IN: Real conversations
OUT: The email vortex
Pick up the phone. A 10-minute call solves what 14 emails can’t.
IN: Talent development
OUT: The “plug-and-play” myth
Your strongest people often aren’t the ones who arrived “ready.” They become invaluable because someone invested in developing them.
IN: Fast follow-through
OUT: Slow decision-making
The best candidates are off the market in days, not weeks. Speed is a competitive advantage.
IN: In-person collaboration
OUT: Trying to make remote happen for everything
Some work thrives remotely. Some doesn’t. Remote isn’t fetch…stop trying to make it work where it clearly doesn’t.
IN: Measuring outcomes
OUT: Measuring effort
No one cares how many hours your hire logged. They care whether the work got done.
IN: Building relationships
OUT: Transactional hiring
The best hires come from networks you (or your hiring partner) have invested in over time, not job boards you panic-post to at the last minute.
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Reply and tell us what you’d add to this list. (And yes, we’ll be tuning in on Monday night.)
Until next time,
Your Spherion South Central WI & Northern IL team