If you were in need of a knife thrower

...you’d have all of your candidates get behind a line and throw a knife at the same far-off target. One by one, you'd carefully take note of their accuracy, and find a clear winner in short time.

Here's what you wouldn't do:

• Ask your pool of throwers to submit a document stating how many times they’ve thrown a knife, when, what kind of knife they threw, what they threw it at, where they threw it at, or how many times they hit their target.

• Ask your pool of throwers to submit a document that states how passionate they are about knife throwing in general, how enthralled they are with you and your mission and your culture and your values, and why they would especially love to throw knives for you.

• Ask your pool of throwers to talk on the phone or in-person for hours as you ask them arbitrary questions about how they got into knife-throwing, what they find most challenging about the sport, past failures, past successes, lessons learned, former employers, how long they plan to keep at it, or even what they do when they’re not throwing knives.

It sure sounds ridiculous when you say it that way.

But, of course, it is ridiculous. Ridiculous that anyone would even consider not giving someone a shot because of what they wrote, or said, or didn’t say, or neglected to mention, or forgot to include.

…

Worth noting that—if you really needed a knife thrower (and you were short on time)—you might ask your friends for referrals. Which makes perfect sense—because hosting a contest is time-intensive and expensive—and if just about any unerring knife-thrower will do, you might as well pick the one your friends suggest.