Having read through it, I think he&#x27;s trying to hire for fit with himself and his team. An inbuilt assumption is that the candidates are capable of doing the role - he mentions going through their CV, or perhaps he&#x27;s already covered off skills. I don&#x27;t <i>think</i> he&#x27;s saying that skills to do the role aren&#x27;t required: so he&#x27;s not hiring graduates and then giving them the skills for the job, for example.<p>It&#x27;s a tough one, if you don&#x27;t look at whether a candidate could fit within the team (in this case they care about &#x27;passion&#x27;) then you&#x27;re storing up problems on the team dynamic front. On the other hand, as you point out, it&#x27;s difficult to hire on personality without subconsciously hiring people you like which is often people like you: which means less diversity.