How "Good enough" hiring kills great teams
Every great team dies the same way: One rounded-up hiring score at a time.
“I was between a 2 and a 3, so… I gave them a 3.” That sentence has destroyed more companies than bad products ever will. Because when you round up a 2.5 to a 3, you’re not being generous. You’re lowering your bar.
Here’s what really happens: You hire someone you’re lukewarm about. They shape what “good” looks like. Standards slip. Top people stop applying. Your team gets weaker, gradually, then all at once.
The fix isn’t complicated. It’s just uncomfortable.
What happens when you round up
Hiring someone you're not excited about, someone who won't transform your team for the better, doesn't just fill a role. It quietly shifts your reference point.
That person becomes part of your team's daily reality—in meetings, making decisions, working on what matters. And just by being there, doing the work at their level, they start to define what the bar for good is at your company. When you interview the next candidate, the comparison isn't against some abstract ideal. It's against the team you actually have.
This is where standards drift. The candidate who might have felt like a clear no six months ago now seems reasonable. Not because they've gotten better, but because your sense of what "good" means has quietly adjusted downward.
The effect compounds. Each hire that's just okay makes the next okay hire feel more acceptable. And meanwhile, the people you really want to work with—the ones who would elevate the team—start looking elsewhere.
The best candidates don't want to be the smartest person in the room, they want to be challenged by it. If they can't see that happening at your company, they're gone before you even know they were interested.
That's the real cost of rounding up. Not just one mediocre hire, but the gradual erosion of the standard that attracts exceptional people in the first place.
Why we round up (and why we shouldn't)
You’ve been interviewing for weeks. Your best candidate took another offer. The team is burned out, the roadmap is behind, and everyone’s asking when you’ll finally hire someone. So when candidate #27 shows up and they’re… fine, you start negotiating with yourself:
“They’re not too bad”
“We need someone”
“Maybe they’ll grow into it”
Stop. Not bad isn’t good enough.
Because the truth is hiring pressure never goes away. If you compromise once, you’ll compromise again. And each compromise makes the next one easier.
The only way to build a great team is to protect the bar, especially when it hurts.
What these scores should actually mean
Before you can protect the bar, you need to know where it is. Too often, a 2.5 gets rounded up because no one wants to block a maybe. But when you hire someone you're not excited about, you've already lowered the bar.
Not bad is not good enough. Not when every hire shapes the culture and especially not in small teams.
A real 3 means:
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You're confident they'll raise the team's level
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You'd advocate for them without a hiring gap
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You'd be really disappointed if they chose another offer
If you can't say all three, it's not a 3.
And a 4 should be a "we can't afford to pass on this person." They reset the bar. You walk away thinking: we'd be lucky to have them and that makes your next great hire easier, not harder.
If you give a 4, you own it. You argue for them even if others disagree. You don't revise it in the debrief (unless absolute deal-breaking info comes to light.) If you're not ready to fight for them, it wasn't a 4.
That kind of strength should be rare. If you're handing out 4s regularly, you're not evaluating, you're inflating.
Practical ways to protect the bar
Standards are easy to set, hard to keep. Here's how to make them stick when it matters most.
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Get specific about what exceptional looks like for this exact role. Don't just say 'strong engineer' define the exact skills, experience or way of thinking that would actually move your team forward. Write it down before you start interviewing.
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Default to 2. Uncertainty isn’t neutral. It’s a no. If you’re not sure, call it a 2. Don’t round up because the candidate was nice or the team is tired.
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Never hire because 'we need someone.' You always need someone. If you wouldn't hire them without the pressure, don't hire them with it.
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If you give a 4, own it. That score means you’re willing to stand behind the candidate, even if others disagree. No quietly backing down in the debrief. No “maybe I was too generous” unless absolute deal-breaking info comes to light.
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Don't revise your individual score. You interviewed for what you interviewed for. You can be proved wrong, but you saw what you saw. Your perspective doesn't change just because the group is leaning another way.
These are small habits, but they make a big difference. Standards aren’t held by policies they’re held by people. You protect the bar by refusing to make exceptions, especially when they feel reasonable.
You’re hiring a standard, not just a person
Every hire sets a standard. Not just for the work, but for who belongs on your team. Hold the bar high and strong people take notice. Let it slip, and you quietly build a team that the best people avoid. It's easy to justify a maybe, 'just this once.' But that's how good teams go sideways. Gradually, then all at once.