Building Sustainable Teams: Why Competence Based Recruitment is the Key to Growth

Many leaders take pride in their intuition. They believe they can spot a great colleague within the first few minutes of a coffee chat. But if we are honest with ourselves, that gut feeling is often just a reflection of our own biases. When we hire based on how well we click with someone over a coffee, we aren’t necessarily building a high performing team. Often, we are simply building a mirror.

At Grade, our focus is the entire employee journey. We know that the first step has to be the most intentional. Recruitment isn’t just about filling a vacancy as quickly as possible. It is about designing the future of your culture through a methodology called Competence-Based Recruitment.

Moving from Vibes to Evidence

Traditional hiring usually leans on vague ideas of culture fit. Our approach replaces that uncertainty with a structured process focused on what a candidate can actually contribute.

By identifying the specific competencies required for a role, meaning the behaviors and knowledge that actually lead to success, we create a level playing field. This makes the process both fairer and more predictable. Instead of looking for someone you would like to have a beer with, you find the person who will actually help the team reach its goals.

The Science of People

You wouldn’t develop a product without a roadmap, and we believe you shouldn’t build a team without a solid foundation in research. Our work is anchored in the research of Dr. Malin Lindelöw. With over twenty years of experience in psychology and work life research, her methodology gives us a professional advantage that goes beneath the surface.

By grounding the process in her work, we gain a clear perspective:

1. A clear process that ensures every hire is treated with the same consistency.

2. A deep understanding of work psychology to help us see why certain candidates perform the way they do.

3. The ability to use critical reflection questions to challenge our own assumptions and find true talent.

The Employee Journey

Recruitment is just the beginning. When you hire based on clear competencies, you aren’t just getting a productive employee for today. You are gathering the insights needed to support them for years to come.

Because we define these competencies early on, we can map out a person’s future growth with precision. We don’t have to guess where a new hire needs support because we already have the roadmap. This is how we ensure that scaling your company also means scaling the potential of your people.

If you look back at your recent hires, can you point to the evidence that predicted their success? If the answer is no, it might be time to move away from the gut feeling and toward a more sustainable way of growing.