Screams in HR: When Convenience Trumps Competence

Picture this: you’ve got a vacancy for a highly specialised role, let’s say Scientific Communications Director. A job that demands genuine expertise: years of experience in publications, scientific strategy, medical affairs, the works.

You post it, and suddenly the applications roll in.Not the usual scattergun CVs either, but excellent candidates. People who’ve spent their careers honing exactly the skills you asked for. People who could step i nto the role tomorrow and deliver.

And then… they get ignored.

Why? Because Brenda from Accounts threw her hat in the ring. She’s never written a scientific publication in her life, but she’s already on the payroll. HR thinks it’ll be an “easy transition.” And, of course, her salary expectations are comfortably lower than the professionals who actually know the job.

So instead of “let’s hire the best,” it becomes:

• “They’re internal, so it’ll be simpler.”

• “They already know the company.”

• “Why pay more when Brenda will do it for less?”

  
  

And just like that, convenience beats competence.

The result? A critical, specialist leadership role gets filled by someone wildly underqualified, while the experts - the ones you went out to market for in the first place - are left hanging.

This is the corporate hiring paradox of today: companies claim they want knowledgeable specialists, but when push comes to shove, they’ll default to what’s cheap, internal, and convenient.

But here’s the kicker: cutting corners on capability isn’t saving you time or money. It’s just setting you up for a bigger mess down the line.