I’m not going to surprise anyone with this concept, although I think it’s often forgotten during the hiring process and in the drive to fill open requirements: great companies become great by having great people. Wow, how shocking, right?

Yet time and time again, organizations aren’t really trying to hire the best. They’re just trying to hire the easiest ones. Candidates who apply to your job offers. Candidates obtainable for less than the important midpoint. Candidates who are faster to interview. In other words, candidates who don’t need to be sold, who are ready to jump on board, because they are unemployed or just miserable where they are.

But what successful organization wouldn’t point to the people they have on staff as the main reason for their success?

For any key position—and I don’t mean just the C-suite, but any role that can affect the company’s bottom line through increased revenue or cost control—the recruiting effort must go beyond publishing and reorganizing resumes.

The best candidates must be identified, selected and invited to participate in the conversations. The opportunity must be sold, not just presented in a job description format.

I’m not suggesting that openings stay open forever until the perfect person walks in the door (in fact, the other problem is when you DO have a great candidate, too often window-shopping for too long creates a problem, and when you realize you already have a superstar, someone else moved faster and hired the person, and you’re back to square one), but wouldn’t it make sense to go an extra step, either through a third party recruiter who Can you do more direct sourcing for yourself, or an internal recruiter who knows how to truly sell the company, and go out and find additional candidates to ensure you have a solid roster to make the best decision possible?

Ultimately, the success of your organization depends on hiring the best people available. So invest some time and money, and find that person, pronto!