A 99 percent score will not grow your firm. Courage will.
Most owners hire the best paper in the pile. Then they wonder why nothing moves for 2 months. I run a marketing firm without a degree of my own, and I stopped reading certificates a long time ago.Most owners hire the best paper in the pile. Then nothing ships. I stopped reading certificates.
- A score proves somebody can answer questions that were written for them. Real work never arrives like that.
- I am a 3 times dropout by choice, and I do not look at CVs when I hire for my marketing firm.
- Judge a candidate on what they can finish in the next 30 days, not on what they studied.
- Run 1 test before any offer. 1 small real job from your own work, paid, 3 days, goal only, no method.
- Courage is what I weigh for the roles that make things. For HR I weigh listening instead.
In this article
I am a 3 times dropout. By choice. I do not have a degree and I run a marketing firm. So you can guess how much weight I give to the top line of a resume.
Every owner I meet has the same pile on the desk. The best marks go to the top. The big college name. The certificate with the gold seal. That person joins, everyone is happy for a week, and 2 months later nothing has actually gone out the door.
A high score tells you one thing. This person can sit in a quiet room for 3 hours and answer questions that somebody else wrote. That is a real skill. It is just not the skill your firm is paying for.
01A score tells you about an exam, not about your work
Think about what an exam really is. Somebody picks the questions. Somebody tells you the date. The answer already exists and your job is to find it and write it down neatly.
Your firm is the opposite of that. The question is not written anywhere. Nobody knows the answer, including you. The client changes their mind on a Thursday. Half the information is missing and you still have to decide. A person who is only good at exams goes quiet right there, because nobody handed them the question.
- 3times I dropped out, by choice
- 0degrees on my wall
I am not against learning. I learn more now than I ever did in a classroom. I am against the idea that a stamp on a paper proves you can do the job. What someone has actually done beats what someone has been certified to know.
The 2 kinds of candidate sitting on your desk
A certificate
Work they already finished
They wait for a full brief
They ask what the goal is and begin
They look for the correct answer
They try the smallest version and check
Only what they were taught
Anything that gets it done faster, AI included
Being wrong
Being slow
A 99 percent score proves somebody can answer a question. Your firm needs somebody who can act without one.
02The 4 things I look for instead
When I hire for my marketing firm, I am looking for 4 things. Not 1 of them appears on a resume.
4 things that matter more than marks
- 01They can invent
They find a new way when the old way stops working.
- 02They already use AI, automation and ads
Nobody told them to. They picked the tools up on their own.
- 03They take calculated risks
They weigh the cost, then they are willing to be wrong in public.
- 04They move fast
They finish this week what most people are still planning next month.
Put all 4 together and you get the word I use for it. Courage. If you make me choose between the very smart person and the less smart but truly courageous person, I take the courageous one every time. Smart alone sits in a chair and thinks. Courage puts something real into the world on Tuesday and fixes it on Wednesday.
03Ask what they can finish this month
Here is the switch that makes hiring simple. Stop asking what this person has studied. Ask what this person can finish in the next 30 days.
I use the same question I use when I build an AI helper for my own business. What role am I hiring for, and what would that person need on day 1 to do the job well. Answer that honestly and the interview writes itself.
Write the role as this month's work
- 011. List the 3 jobs
Write the 3 things that must actually get done in the first 30 days.
- 022. Say the goal, not the method
For each one, write what a good result looks like. Do not write how to do it.
- 033. Make them plan 1 out loud
Hand them job number 1 in the interview and give them 10 minutes to say how they would start.
- 044. Ask about last month
Ask what they finished in the last 30 days, and ask to see the thing itself, not a description of it.
That last question is the quiet killer. Most people cannot name 1 thing they finished last month. Not because they are lazy. Because they were busy inside things that never ended. The person who can open their phone and show you something real, even something small and rough, will do the same for you.
04The 1 test to run before an offer
Never give an offer on a conversation alone. Talking is cheap and some people are brilliant at it. Before any offer I want to watch the person work once. 1 test. 1 small real job, paid.
The small real job
- 01Pick something real
Take 1 small job from your actual work this week. Not a made up puzzle.
- 02Give the goal and the date
Tell them what a good result is and when you need it. Say nothing about how.
- 03Pay them for it
A fair, small amount. You are buying 3 days of their attention, not asking for a favour.
- 04Give them 3 days
Short enough that they have to start today. Long enough that they can finish.
- 05Stay out of the way
Answer a question if they ask one. Do not check in and do not steer.
You learn more from 3 days of real work than from 3 rounds of interviews.
Keep the job small on purpose. If it is big, you are using a candidate as free labour and everybody can feel it. 1 page, 1 ad, 1 sheet, 1 small fix. That is enough. The way a person handles a small job is exactly the way they will handle a big one.
05What to watch while they do it
The finished work is only half of what you are buying. The other half is everything that happened on the way to it.
Look at this when the 3 days are over
- When did they start. Today, or on the last afternoon.
- Did they ask 1 or 2 sharp questions, instead of 15 scared ones or none at all.
- Did they reach for AI and automation on their own, without you suggesting it.
- Did they hand it in on the day they said, even when it was not perfect.
- Did they tell you which part they were unsure about, instead of hiding it.
- Did they do 1 small thing you never asked for that clearly helped.
I would rather have the person who handed in most of it on time and told me plainly which part was weak, than the person who went silent for 3 days and gave me something shiny with a hole in the middle. The first one I can build a team around. The second one I will be chasing forever.
And if they missed the date without a word, you already have your answer. That is not a hiring decision any more. It is just a fact about how they work.
06Courage is not the right answer for every seat
I have to be honest about where this stops, because I have watched owners take 1 good idea too far.
Courage is what I weigh most for the roles that make things. Marketing, ads, automation, anything where the job is to try something and learn fast. For other seats I weigh something else. For HR, I want communication and the ability to sit with a person heart to heart and really understand them. A bold HR person who cannot listen will do damage. The question is never who is the best person. It is who is the best person for this seat.
So decide what this seat has to produce, then do the simple thing. Give them the real job for 3 days and watch.
Take the role you are trying to fill and write the 3 things that must get done in its first 30 days. If you cannot write them, your problem is not the candidates.
07Questions, answered
Should I stop asking for a resume completely?
No. Read it in 30 seconds to see where someone has been, then put it down. Spend the rest of the time on what they can finish this month.
Is it fair to ask a candidate to do real work before an offer?
It is fair when the job is small, the goal is clear and you pay them for it. It stops being fair when it is big, vague and free.
What if a strong candidate refuses the test?
Ask why, once. Some have real reasons, like a current job and no spare hours, and then a 10 minute live plan can take its place. Someone who thinks the work itself is beneath them has told you something useful.
Do I need someone who already knows AI and automation?
You need someone who picks up new tools without being pushed. If nobody told them to use AI and they use it anyway, they will learn the next thing the same way.
How do I hire for courage without hiring chaos?
Courage means a calculated risk, not a careless one. Watch for the person who names the cost before they try, and who tells you quickly when it did not work.
If you are not sure whether your next hire is the real problem or the way your firm is loaded right now, run the Capacity Diagnostic and find out which one it actually is.
Digital PratikA 37 year old, smiling, practical Gujarati, a Kathiyawadi businessman. Founder of JorrDaar LLC, Dubai.
