Hi, I'm Jan König 👋. I'm one of the founders of Jovo, 28 years old, and live in Berlin. < Go back to learn more.

What talented people often have in common

Today, I went to a meetup with an interesting talk on hiring digital professionals. Although the speakers provided great insights into recruiting processes, the conclusion was something like this: in the end it's about how well you listen to your prospect employees, how empathetic you are when approaching them, and how you can help them grow personally and professionally.

This is nothing new (and I don't want to be too philosophical), but I had a similar conversation about SEO the other day. It seems like the most talented people (disregarding functional skills) are really great at listening to and understanding their users/customers, potential partners, etc...
  • SEO = understand what people look for and how you can keep them on the page
  • Sales = understand customers' problems and how you can help
  • Marketing = understand where your users currently are and what they care about
The problem is: People didn't attend the meetup today to learn more about how to better listen to future employees, but to learn "hacks" on how to hire great people. If listening and empathy is such an important talent, why aren't people putting more emphasis on this skill?

Do you have any books, videos, articles on stuff like this?
-Jan

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