The first era of talent spotting was marked by choices made on the basis of physical attributes of a candidate. If we wanted to erect a pyramid, dig a canal, fight a war or harvest a crop, we chose the fittest, healthiest, strongest people we could find.
The second era, emphasized intelligence, experience and past performance. Throughout much of the 20th century, IQ—verbal, analytical, mathematical, and logical cleverness was seen as an important factor in hiring processes, particularly for white-collar roles, with educational pedigrees used as representations. If we were looking for an engineer, accountant, lawyer, designer, or CEO, we would scout out, interview, and hire the smartest, most experienced engineer, accountant, lawyer, designer or CEO.
The third era of talent spotting was driven by the ‘competency movement’ and is still prevalent. The technological evolution and industry convergence had made jobs much more complex, often rendering experience and performance in previous positions irrelevant. So, instead, jobs were decomposed into competencies and looked for candidates with the right combination of them.
Now we are at the dawn of a fourth era, in which the focus shifts to ‘potential of an employee’. In a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment competency-based appraisals and appointments are increasingly insufficient. What makes someone successful in a particular role today might not tomorrow if the competitive environment shifts, the company’s strategy changes, or he or she must collaborate with or manage a different group of colleagues. So the question is not whether our company’s employees and leaders have the right skills; it’s whether they have the potential to learn new ones as well.
Three factors are accelerating the change:
Globalization compels companies to reach beyond their home markets and to compete for the people who can help them do so.
Demographics of hiring pools facilitates the change.
Companies not properly developing their pipelines – infrastructure for training/retraining of employees aids the change.
Therefore, it is becoming essential for job seekers to have a potential to learn and address new challenges as well as develop a wider network. Besides, what one knows, it is important whom does one knows.

– Prof. (Dr.) N. K. Garg
(www.nkgposts.com)