When a hiring manager identifies a need during the course of a project and has an open position to fill, the most common course of action is to post a job specification based on the current skill set needed and wait for a pool of candidates to appear. Post and pray. This can be the wrong course of action for two very important reasons. First, it creates selection bias and limits the pool of candidates to “whoever comes along”. Second, an overly narrow job specification based on a skill set to satisfy an immediate need creates a situation where that manager will likely hire a resume rather than a person.
The best candidates are the candidates identified, hunted down, and enticed for a particular role. They are not-so-satisfied with their current employment, underemployed, 
underappreciated, and many times very open to new opportunities. They have skills, they have a job. It just isn’t the right job. Finding a skill set on a resume that “came along” rather than finding the person capable of learning and growing in the role is the equivalent of hiring knowledge versus hiring a person and teaching them. Find the person with the soft skills necessary to thrive in the position and a proven track record for excellence and teach them the hard skills necessary to do the job and that placement will be a success not just for the current project but long term and will add to the success of the company.
Broaden your scope. Don’t limit your search to who knows the skills you need now to complete that project. Find the versatile worker who knows how to learn quickly and has a drive to succeed in every faucet of the position.
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