Selecting the Right Candidate - High Potential or High Performer

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2010 in the subject Business economics - Personnel and Organisation, grade: 1,7, The FOM University of Applied Sciences, Hamburg, language: English, abstract: Selecting the right candidate when comparing high performers and high potentials is difficult and very dependent on the job, the candidate holds. In this assignment the role 'IT consultant' is being used as an example job role to show, which candidate shows better return on investment and which has better future opportunities. A high performance IT consultant produces faster monetary payoff but has limited development capabilities and will more likely run into mental illness like burnout. A high potential It consultant will not necessarily deliver short term monetary payoff, but because of his future capabilities and better alignment to the customers business, the high potential consultant most likely will generate more profit in future. High performance consultants are the better choice when planning short term engagements whilst high potentials should be preferred in long term engagements.