In the newspaper business, I was in the last generation before the arrival of the personnel manager. You were hired by editors - and editors who would take a chance on what they perceived to be talent and not hire a resume.
This quote highlights a bygone era in journalism where hiring was driven by intuition and reputation rather than formal qualifications or resumes. It underscores a time when editors played a more personal role in selecting talent based on perceived potential, fostering a more organic and possibly risk-taking environment. The shift towards using personnel managers and standardized hiring processes may have scaled efficiency but arguably does so at the expense of human judgment and the nuanced recognition of raw talent. Reflecting on this, it challenges contemporary hiring practices and encourages a reevaluation of how talent is identified—perhaps reminding us that genuine skill often exceeds what can be quantified on paper.
