Which person would you employ?

[Rossita]

Which of these two people would you employ? For a bit of background they both started at the company at the same time and they’re both currently doing the same job. The vacancy they are both applying for is a promotion and will involve managing the department that they currently work in. The role does not require any professional qualifications.

Person A:
Highly qualified to PHD level in an unrelated field.
Has some experience from a previous role that helps in her current position.
Works very well alone and produces some really good work.
Is very committed to the department
Does not work so well as part of a team.
Can sometimes act a little ‘superior’ and has upset every other member of the team at some point.
Does not accept any constructive criticism and believes that her way is the only way to do things.

Person B
Qualified to GCSE level
Has previous experience that helps in her current role.
Is committed to the department.
Produces some really good work.
Sometimes struggles to work alone as she can lack in self confidence and needs to ask advice from other team members.
Is very much a team player, she is good at building professional relationships.
Has on several occasions managed a project which showed she was a good leader.
She is not always great at delegating so ends up taking on too much work herself.

I’ve posted here so people could vote because it makes it easier to see the overall opinion.

YABU Person A
YANBU person B

Surely this can't be serious and this is actually B writing this thread?
No way can someone who deals with recruitment actually think making a thread asking who they should hire is a good thing.

OP, whether you're actually the recruiter or person B, i"d get this deleted.

Neither - go externally. If you can't do that, you need to interview with other interviewers who don't work closely with the applicants. Tzhis will give them both a fair chance - and also to ensure that whoever doesn't get the job is aware there's been some objectivity in the process. Whilst you need to ask the same questions of both applicants, I'd make sure that there were questions which tested each of their perceived weaknesses, and see whether they're aware of them. A manager who agrees they should get better at delegating (for example) is a better bet than one who thinks they're working perfectly well as it is.

If its a high pressure job I wouldn't choose B. Promoting them when they don't have confidence to work alonr but also can't delegate could end up sending them on sick leave with stress.

If A is a bulky though I wouldn't hire either and would look externally for someone else.

Definitely B

*alone
*bully

I notice people are saying you should recruit externally.

There's nothing to say that any external candidate won't have their own issues. At least you know what you are getting with internal applicants.

Candidate B can learn to delegate!

Without knowing what the job specification and person specifications are, it isn't easy to say but, based on the information you have provided, I wouldn't promote either. I'd go externally.

I agree with a PP that it sounds as if you are person B and don't like person A.

Person A's attitude is inappropriate for the role.
Person B lacks the skills for the role.

1. Managers need to be able to work alone.
2. Confidence in the role can come with experience but self-confidence doesn't. It comes from personal development.
3. If you need to seek advice from members of the team who work for you, and who you previously worked alongside, resentment can easily develop. The people who work for you may suddenly wonder why the heck you were promoted when you clearly don't have enough knowledge as you have to ask them for advice frequently.
4. It isn't easy teach someone to delegate.
5. If person B was given the promotion, they would be person A's line manager. Given the qualities you have referred to, Person B who lacks self-confidence would have to deal with Person B who isn't afraid of upsetting people and behaves in a superior manner. B wouldn't stand a chance of handling A.

Sack the OP, hire neither.

B, always.

FTR the team will love B to be their manager. But B will go off with stress in six months because they can't manage/delegate and A will end up taking over because there's no one else and piss the team off even more.

I think we've worked in the same place 🤣

Go external.
If pushed A. I have upset people at work - mainly because they were lazy and incompetent.

B doesn't sound up to it

And how do people acquire those skills? Everyone has their first managerial role and becomes skilled through a mixture of training and learning on the job.

They both sound like a terrible fit.
A will antagonise the team, B will be out of her depth and burn out within a few months (the flaws you describe are crippling for a management position: lack of confidence, needs constant support, can't delegate?)

You need person C: someone capable, confident and agreeable.
Or maybe promote both: make A the leader, to make strong decisions and set the direction, and B the mediator/team coordinator.

CSIblond
B. It will be the making of them. People skills are half the battle in any job and A struggles with those .All B needs is some self belief. Doing the job will give them that (hopefully) .
Plus ongoing management training and soft skills also. 🌹

Neither

A will be a nightmare

B will come across weak if they need assistance in their day to day job, lack confidence and cannot delegate.

Neither.

Ive not read the full thread but I vote C. Neither candidate sounds as if they are well suited to this role.

I'd get the thread deleted and reevaluate my choices in posting, tbh.

Maybe you should look at where your employer draws the line between misconduct and gross misconduct.

Because I'm fairly confident that posting identifying information about fellow employees online and inviting the public to pass judgement on them as part of promotion decisions is going to be considered misconduct.

And if you're not a colleague then it's just a shitty thing to do.

Also I would look at years of experience - can they grow into the role?

Neither but put mentoring in place for B so that she can take on a more senior role in the future.

B definitely

What kind of a character/operator is the current/soon to leave/ ex incumbent who has been doing the role being advertised?
How can it be that they have allowed Candidate A to reject constructive criticism and plough on doing things their way? There must be a strange management culture in this company.

If just about every part of the new role would involve working as part of a team, how would it be that there has been scope to work in this department on lone tasks which are significant enough to have won Candidate A the reputation for producing of 'really good work'?

It sounds like there might be scope to shape an alternative role for A which is rather more project-based, and requiring of reflective skills, and which would create great value for the company.

It's clearly a largish department judging from the description of there having been mini-projects to lead. Maybe give B asecond-in-command to the manager role and encourage developmental training.

Are you writing about 'The Apprentice', lol, because that is how it is sounding, there being no hint coming across of a particularised type of job field.

B