Character Is the New Competitive Advantage in Hiring.
How a law of economics suggests a new focus when evaluating candidates in 2026
35mm Photo by Matthew Kurkjian
The Age of Cheap Intelligence
AI is making intelligence cheap. What now, if we, as a hiring and labor force with a focus on indicators of intelligence in candidates, must continue to make intelligent hires, if intelligence itself is so concretely and fervently being imitated? The currency of intelligence has entered hyperinflation.
The conversations go something like this: “Yes, but humans will always be necessary”. Ok — but economics apply. So, which humans will be more valuable hires for firms? What type of real intelligence appreciates when artificial intelligence abounds? We’re discussing how AI is going to affect employers’ perspectives of employee value — “This a human should do, and this is fine for a robot.” In these popular discussions, the story of what makes us, us — humans — rings loudly if you know what to listen for.
Tech Leaders Sounding Like Philosophers
Philosophers have quietly been continuing the tradition of asking what makes us us, without a dire prompt or promise of riches, while legions of computer kids have evolved into private-equity-backed billionaire founders. Now, tech leaders, such as Geoffrey Hinton, the “godfather of AI”, and those who are profiting from AI the most, oddly, have recently chosen to draw the public’s attention to something different than their claims of the exceeding capabilities of the technology — how what makes us, us, is deeper than what AI can grasp. The philosophers chuckle.
Economic Red Flags & AI
A rule of economics: scarcity increases value, abundance voids it. Apply this to the employee and consumer experience today, being bombarded by AI marketing; how can any of us proclaim to have a sense of value around AI? Yet, concerningly, we keep reaching for our wallets. It’s conceivable that we’ve gotten a little too excited. Perhaps we should heed MIT’s forewarning from May 2024, decrying that the simple macroeconomics of AI don’t add up to the public’s expectations; the AI movement is missing indicators of success that we’ve seen in past beneficial technological advancements. Cue Han Solo’s eminent intuition, “I got a bad feeling
about this”.
MIT followed up this year in a study that sent shockwaves through media (but not wallets) that 95% of investment in AI has produced zero returns. The word zero is a red flag for everyone involved. This is a technology that economically currently serves only those holding the dollars, while the labor force and smaller businesses hold their breath: the ROI is not there, and firms are left with more confusing decisions to make and less guidance than ever on what is worth investing in. And then there’s the ever-present question: which humans are we going to hire during all this?
Hire for Scarcity — Not Skills
For those of us tasked with making hires to boost our firm’s profits [ATTN: HR], let us apply our scarcity-value lens to this overly complicated conundrum: If AI-generated text, AI solutions, and low return on AI investment are now abundant, what is scarce in candidates, and how can firms tasked with hiring leverage that scarcity for profit?
Let’s bring it back to the computer-wiz-billionaires who wish us to consider that there are enough computer programmers in the world, and that we should be pondering deeper questions, like what makes us, us. I would like to propose that in the face of overwhelming intelligence, both true and artificial, we can focus our hiring energy on a different quality, one that demonstrates someone has spent time to understand what makes them, them. We have a word for this elusive topic: character.
Character: The Last Non-Automatable Trait
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines character as: “the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation”. AI, we’ve learned from MIT economists and those who created it, cannot develop character. Here is our competitive edge — hire for character.
Where does this leave us, the HR professional tasked with hiring in the age of abundant intelligence? Applying our rule of scarcity, we must hire for what is rare, what eludes AI. Character eludes AI. Character, some sort, is fundamental to success. What kind of character is up for your organization’s leadership to decide. If your leadership team can’t clearly state the quality of character (e.g. humble, empathetic, loyal) that is valued in candidates, now is the best time to start.
3 Tips to Hire for Character in 2026
Directly relate a company value to a character quality sought in candidates. For example: In line with our company value of ‘giving others voice’, we assess candidates on a ‘serves others’ scale from (1) low to (5) high.
Identify or create personas for candidates, to be used internally, which
encourages recognizing desirable candidates by character. For example: “The Career Transitioner: Values experience and opportunity”.Invite candidates to describe moments when they acted on principle, admitted mistakes, or chose the harder ethical choice over the easier inethical one. Evaluate their responses using a rubric tied to the character qualities your organization values most.
