Walk into any hiring kickoff meeting and you will often hear a familiar line: “We need someone who checks every box.”
That line is understandable. Companies want to reduce risk, accelerate onboarding, and avoid costly hiring missteps. But in our experience, recruiting for the water and wastewater industry, the best hires are rarely those who simply match the job description. The most impactful hires are the ones who stretch it.
The Risk of Hiring Only for the Resume
When you define the role too narrowly, you limit your candidate pool to people who have done the job before, in exactly the same way. While this approach may feel safe, it often overlooks those who can improve the role, evolve the function, and bring a different kind of value.
Think about the last person you promoted internally. Were they the most experienced candidate on paper, or were they the one who asked better questions, led without a title, and showed the ability to adapt?
The reality is that most jobs evolve. Your hiring criteria should evolve with them.
Skills Can Be Taught. Vision and Agility Cannot.
In our industry, technical capability is essential. But what separates high-impact hires is not just what they already know. It is how they think, how they learn, and how they contribute beyond the task at hand.
Here are a few qualities we encourage our clients to prioritize over checklist-style hiring:
A problem-solving mindset. Do they look for root causes, or do they focus only on fixing symptoms?
The ability to communicate across levels. Can they engage with field staff and senior leadership in equal measure?
A sense of ownership. Do they take responsibility for outcomes, or do they simply complete assignments?
Learning agility. Can they absorb new systems, technologies, or regulatory frameworks quickly and apply them effectively?
These are the traits that will still matter five years from now, long after the bullet points on the resume have faded in importance.
Innovation Does Not Come from Uniformity
In an industry facing tightening regulations, workforce transitions, and pressure to modernize, innovation is not optional. It is essential.
Some of the best talent we have placed came from adjacent industries or from roles that were not a direct match. What they brought to the table was a fresh way of thinking, a broader view of operational strategy, or a more modern approach to leadership.
Job descriptions capture what has worked in the past. But hiring should be about building what is needed next.
Final Thought
Hiring for fit is important, but hiring only for familiarity can lead to stagnation. When you hire for potential, and support that person with onboarding, mentorship, and clear expectations, you are investing in someone who will grow with your organization rather than simply fit inside it.
At Hunter Crown, we work with companies that want to build for the future. If you are ready to reframe your approach to talent, we would welcome the opportunity to help.
Written by: Ron Dermady, Vice President of Operations at Hunter Crown
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