Hope this is acceptable. Just caught up with a friend I was manager of who reminded me of how she got the job.
We had a requirement for a person to manage a heap of data via spreadsheets plus data entry into a large online database that was not user friendly interface.
I put in the skills requirements to HR. Just skills and experience were critical, no qualifications were relevant. HR dick put in standard minimum qualifications because that would ensure skills. I could not get it changed.
Get the applications and all but one had the qualifications but no experience (young). One had years of relevant experience but no qualifications (older). I scored her high, HR dicks wanted to throw her application out for no qualifications – and both had a reputation for always going for younger recent graduates. Lost the argument and ended getting a smart talking kid.
He lasted about a month. I was a bastard as he could not do any of the minimum spreadsheet analysis so I was not nice. Complained to HR. They said teach him. I tried not to be too patronising while teaching. Lots of 'why didn't they teach you this basic skills'. He left.
HR chose next in the list. Young, qualifications, No skills. She lasted 6 weeks. I tried to teach. She was smart enough to realise wrong person for the role.
Have to readvertise. I finally convince senior exec role is skills based. They tell HR to require skills test plus interview. I set up the test as intermediate spreadsheet skills minimum with some harder optional actions.
Luckily two older women with experience but no qualifications. One just coming back from raising kids to school age. They had 30 minutes to do as many as they could. 20 minutes would be enough time to do the minimum with intermediate skills.
10 minutes in the qualified ones were struggling. The 2 older women were happily ticking off their list. 20 minutes in and these two signed off about the same time, including the optional stuff. Funny thing as I watched, they both checked for more stuff when they realised the time, thinking they had missed something.
When I checked the results, qualified ones barely finished minimum. Two older women had both 95-100% accuracy plus done all the extras. One had done then using queries and pivot tables. The other had used complex formulas and pivot tables.
Both interview reasonably well. Senior exec is on the assessment panel. He sees the skills work, then tells us he wants one with query skills for a new job he was planning. HR dick was complaining about no qualifications cos there was cute young woman third on the skills (but still crap).
So we got to offer jobs to both, and they both were excellent. The one I was managing sits down at 4week review and says she wants to go to 3 days a week. Reckoned she could still do all as she had set up macros to do the boring stuff. She did, and is still working there 10 years later with a team. I retired few years back but we catch up as friends.
Both women brought in some brilliant spreadsheet based budget planning and monitoring systems for all the managers, senior execs and CEO. Senior exec raved so much about how useful the skills test was to other managers, CEO brought in a policy to review all new jobs for skills test options and finally every pd said relevant experience OR qualifications. HR dick left soon after due supposedly to conflicting priorities. Rumour was sexual harassment charge.