Getting Unicorns
Because true unicorns evaluate your competence just as much as you evaluate theirs, construction leaders must prepare the room and use complex scenarios to win over top tier talent.
TJ Kastning
Every company says they want to hire a unicorn.
A unicorn is a professional with the maturity, wisdom, and emotional intelligence to handle messy situations. They have the cognitive intelligence and humility to adapt to whatever the moment demands. They get a positive outcome. More importantly, they make it look easy.
Competence is a massive lever for good results.
Finding these people is hard and keeping them is even harder.
The Room Must Be Ready
At Ambassador Group, we are professional matchmakers. We are not headhunters. We do not just toss resumes at a wall to see what sticks. Our job is to align top talent with the right company.
But there is a hard truth some ignore.
Top performers interview the leadership just as much as the leadership interviews them.
The biggest thing that scares away serious A-players is a naive leader. These are leaders who expect excellence from their team but lack competence themselves. They talk about core values but do not hold themselves accountable. They show up unprepared to interviews. They fail to cultivate respect. They offer no real vision. They expect it to be easy to hire top people.
A unicorn candidate sees this. They know their worth. They will protect their career from bad management and walk right out the door. We cannot send great people into a bad room. The room must be prepared.
When we partner with a client, we look for humility. If a leader is willing to be guided by our process, we can help them land incredible people. But if a leader already has everything figured out, there is nothing we can do for them.
How to Test for True Depth
If your leadership is dialed in and your vision is clear, you still have to spot the unicorn during the interview. Everyone wants to look like one.
You cannot test for high-level skills with beginner questions. Asking someone to list their past duties only gets you a rehearsed story.
Instead, bring complexity to the interview. Give the candidate a highly practical and complex scenario. Drop them into a messy problem that requires real experience to navigate.
Then, you watch.
Watch where they pick out the hidden risks. Watch where they blunder right into danger. A true unicorn will see the traps and explain how to avoid them. They will adapt to the details you give them.
This requires the leader to actually understand the nuances of the scenario. A simple leader cannot evaluate a complex problem solver. You have to know the terrain to know if they are walking the right path.
Attract the Right Talent
Hiring top talent is about finding someone who bends to the needs of the moment without leaving a trail of wreckage behind them.
If you are a construction leader who is ready to bring actual unicorns onto your team, you have to build a company they want to join. You need to lead with competence and interview with depth.
Partner with matchmakers who understand the stakes.
