Startups and Business

Don’t Be a Brand-Hunting Hirer: The Fallacy of Logo-Driven Recruitment6 minute read

I’m calling out a corrosive practice that’s undermining effective talent acquisition: brand-hunting hiring. You’ve seen it – the hiring manager who salivates over a CV decked out with logos like Google, McKinsey, or Goldman Sachs. It’s as if the mere mention of these companies confers genius, competence, and limitless potential.

I’m guilty of having done it and learnt the hard way… Let’s be clear: this is an illusion. Not every song the Beatles wrote was a hit, and not every person who’s passed through the doors of a prestigious firm is a top-tier asset.

Outsourcing Your Judgement

When you hire based on brand recognition, you’re essentially outsourcing your critical decision-making. You’re placing blind trust in the hiring processes of other firms—firms with different cultures, priorities, and standards than your own. It’s a shortcut, and a lazy one at that.

Logos on a CV tell you where someone was, not what they’ll do in your business. This blind spot is where many hiring managers lose the plot. By focusing on past associations, they ignore the deeper, more critical question: can this candidate thrive in your unique environment and deliver results for your company? It’s akin to letting someone else take the wheel of your car because they’ve driven a Ferrari before. The question remains: Can they navigate your specific roadmap?

The Interview Charmer

Let’s also not underestimate the skill of interview mastery. Plenty of candidates are dazzling in a one-hour sit-down: polished, articulate, and equipped with all the right buzzwords. But being a maestro in the interview room doesn’t automatically mean they’ll shine in the day-to-day grind of your company. You’re hiring them to execute, not to charm their way through meetings.

In fact, the smoothness of a candidate in an interview can at times mask a lack of genuine substance. Confident interviewers can be skilled performers, gaming the system with rehearsed answers and strategic charm. But the best hires aren’t always the best talkers. The true test comes when they’re faced with the actual work—the kind that requires smarts, resilience, creativity, and grit.

Instead, find their Superpower Skill

Here’s where hiring for substance beats hiring for brand pedigree. I believe every great hire comes down to one thing: finding their superpower. A superpower isn’t just a talent; it’s a core skill or capability so innate that, even under pressure or fatigue, the person can still deliver on it better than most. When people are under pressure, they revert to what they know. what is it that the person knows and will always revert back to? Whether it’s an uncanny ability to drive marketing growth, close sales, or an obsession with quality technology outcomes, this is what makes someone indispensable. Can they add value when the shit hits the fan, or will they want to just hold meetings?

We hire for capabilities, not job descriptions. Ultimately, I have a thought that job descriptions should be very, very short – what capability gap are they filling, and what part do they play in filling that capability gap? Their superpower should fill that capability gap.

The superpower is what they’ll do well—even on their worst days. The brand on their CV? Irrelevant. You’re not hiring a corporate logo—you’re hiring a human with a skill set. And it’s that skill, when applied with laser focus, that drives value for your company. You need to dig past the surface and ask: what can this person do extraordinarily well when the chips are down?

…And Cultural Fit

Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast,” and this couldn’t be more relevant when it comes to hiring. Culture isn’t some abstract concept or a list of trendy perks like table tennis, birthday days off or free lunches. It’s the tangible, everyday behaviours and expectations that define how work gets done. Culture is how you get shit done. Culture is how people treat each other, how they communicate, how decisions are made, and how accountability is maintained. It’s specific, operational, and embedded in the routines that drive business outcomes.

Sometimes we forget as hiring managers that the candidate might be a total mismatch for the behaviours your organisation values. And when those behaviours clash, it’s only a matter of time before disengagement, friction, and underperformance take root. You can teach someone new skills, but if their work style fundamentally contradicts your team’s way of operating—if they don’t align with their understanding of quality, how commercial their mentality is, how problems are solved, how feedback is given, or how decisions are made—then they’re not going to thrive. No matter how impressive their resume is, if they can’t live the culture, they won’t succeed.

The Ruthless Reality

Here’s a hard truth: there’s a glut of mediocre talent floating around, even at top-tier firms. Just because someone has clocked time at a big-name company doesn’t mean they’re the next Steve Jobs. High-performing companies need high-performing people—but not everyone who strolls through the doors of Google or McKinsey is a rockstar. In fact, some of them might have coasted on the success of others, riding the wave of an impressive employer rather than truly making a mark.

What you need to look for is proof of value creation. What have they done specifically? Have they moved the needle, solved real problems, driven gross profit increases, or just been along for the ride? Logos can’t answer these questions, but a deep dive into actual outcomes can.

The Way Forward

When hiring, your focus should be on key indicators of potential beyond just brand associations. Here’s what you should prioritise:

Outcomes, not optics: What concrete results has the candidate delivered? What have they achieved beyond just being present at a prestigious firm?

Curiosity and growth mindset: Has the candidate demonstrated the ability to learn and adapt? Curiosity is a major predictor of long-term success because industries and technologies change. Hire people who are learners.

References and recommendations: Here’s a practical tip: when interviewing candidates, sketch out an organisational chart of the people they’ve worked with—both superiors and subordinates. Then, instead of calling their nominated references, reach out to people who have worked directly with them. This way, you’ll avoid getting the rehearsed, prepped responses and get genuine insights into their work ethic, character, and effectiveness.

So, the next time you’re dazzled by the glittering logos on a CV, remember that brands fade, but true talent endures. Don’t be a brand-hunting hirer. Be a talent-hunting visionary. Because in the final analysis, it’s not the brand that makes the person; it’s the person that makes the brand.

Published by Constantine Frantzeskos

I build and grow global businesses, brands, and digital products with visionary marketing & digital strategy | Non-Executive Director | Startup investor and advisor | Techno-optimist