Week 10 – Blog Post: Most Important Thing You’ve Learned

In my opinion, the most important thing that I’ve learned in this course is not one week’s specific topic, but rather the “A” method as a whole. I really enjoyed the required readings each week because I was intrigued by the concept of the A method, how to apply it, and how it benefits organizations in the real world. I think that the A method (that is scorecard, source, select, and sell) made for a really interesting linear progression in this course. While I began the term being skeptical that investing large amounts of resources into hiring and staffing would be beneficial, and now firmly believe that successful organizations need to be doing this, and that A players will find a way to elevate organizations to new heights. Of course, I still believe that there are other important areas that require investment, but I think that without a team of A players, a company will never be able to reach its full potential. While I do not plan on working as a hiring manager anytime soon, it is likely that I will find myself having to make decisions related to who I surround myself with at some point in my career, and the A method taught me how to do this in a structured way that should yield the best results. Reading through the book, I also learned how I can “reverse engineer” this concept to present myself as an A player to future employers. Learning what types of answers and traits employers should be looking for is extremely beneficial to someone such as myself, who is about to take the first steps into my career. I found the final chapter that we read particularly interesting from both perspectives. The final chapter that we covered discussed how to sell your “A player” on the position that you are looking to fill. I found this interesting from the perspective of a job seekers because now I know that even if a pay increase is not possible, hiring managers will look to compensate you in others way and this is a strong point for negotiations. I also see the benefit of learning about this from an employer’s side since losing out on a top candidate in the final hour could be detrimental. Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the A method, and I believe that it will be very applicable to my future career.