The tortoise and the hare

I think when considering whether you want someone with a high potential for work performance, but low consistency, over someone with low maximums but a higher on average performance you really need to consider the nature of your business and whether those characteristics are important in the context of the position that employee might need to fill. If I had to choose between Avery (high maximum but low averages) and Jaime (lower maximal performance but higher on average) I think I would ultimately go with Jamie in almost every scenario. In a way, you got to look at the job like race. If you are only needing to do a sprint, like in the case of contract work, then having the highest maximal performance in an employee is great. A situation like this would suit Avery best as they would only need to hustle for the 6 or so months they are required to do the project and then they can be let go. Since they can achieve more in a shorter period of time provided they are adequately motivated, there is little need to worry about how they might do in the long-term as it goes beyond the bounds of their contract. However, if you view the job as more of a marathon, with projects extending for years on end, then Jamie would be a better pick. Even if they can’t hustle as hard in the final weeks of the project, the ability to maintain consistent performance throughout the project shows that they will more than likely have a higher quality overall in the position than someone that burns themselves at both ends like Avery probably would. Jamie to me should win out most of the time because contract work isn’t that sustainable to me, and when it comes to staffing I think it’s best to take a resource-based view and try and find the best candidates possible, and then retain them for long periods of time to maximize their effectiveness in whatever position they are slotted for.