# The filter you are running
Leadership · diagnostic · https://build-here.africa/book/chapters/09-02-the-filter-you-are-running.html

## The symptom

A search for candidates turns up nothing. The conclusion comes fast: "there's no talent here."

## The signal

Look at what your channels show you, what your criteria actually measure, and who stays outside your field of view.

## What's going on

Every channel shows some people and hides others. Your network shows the people you already know. Social media shows the people who post. None of them describes the capability available.

For two years I ran a filter based on visibility and took its output for a fact about the people available. This book exists because I was wrong. A public portfolio is good evidence. Its absence proves nothing: a great deal of useful work stays internal.

Look for evidence tied to the work: something built, a precise explanation of a contribution, a short exercise prepared together. For someone starting out, a personal project already shows a capability. A short, clear, comparable exercise beats unpaid real work.

Separate what someone must know on arrival from what the team can teach. The second list is often longer than you think, and it opens up your search.

## Check this

For one search, write down the activities of the role and the capabilities to look for. Offer at least one way to show them that requires no public portfolio.

Compare the channels used and the stages where people leave the process. After one cycle, remove one obstacle.

## To discuss

How can someone with no public portfolio show us what they can do?