The traditional way to hire anyone is to learn all about their past from their resume, online websites, and even assessments. Only if they have done it before, can they do it now. Somehow, we have become a society that believes a person’s future is based solely on what they have already done.

Yes there are some people that thrive in doing the same thing over and over and there is nothing wrong with that, but when in history have we ever moved forward by running in circles? There is no doubt that the business market and standards are rapidly changing, but yet when uncertainty prevails we revert back to what worked before without consideration of why it doesn’t or won’t work moving forward.

People are not lemmings.

So what do we change? What does hiring of tomorrow look like? Well that is up to you. Companies are learning that one size does not fit all anymore, who knows maybe it never did—it was just easier for us to assume that it did. Companies are customizing their hiring process to align with their culture. Here are three completely different examples to get you thinking:

HubSpot. When HubSpot hired Dan Zarrella, one of their priorities was Dan’s following on Twitter. He had already built a solid respectable reputation and had found a way to provide analytics to a tool that most were having a hard time understanding. This was important to HubSpot as their services are focused online and around social media.

37singals. While hiring is not something they have to do often because of their culture, when they do hire there are two main practices that they follow—1-they do the job themselves first. Until they understand the details of what the job will entail, they don’t feel they can make the right decision about who is right for the job. 2-they ignore resumes. It is no secret that most people tell some form of a lie on their resume, so 37signals takes that element out of their hiring process. Instead, they focus on the cover letter and feel that will tell them all they need to know about the person applying. They use the philosophy of “when in doubt, hire the better writer.”

Lady Gaga. I’m sure you are asking, “What on earth does Lady Gaga have anything to do with hiring?” Lady Gaga has been very open about her life prior to her success—mainly working in dingy clubs to get by. But now, she is known for her amazing attention to detail and her ability to exploit the internet. Yet she has no formal marketing training and prior to her success she never would’ve been able to land a real marketing job. But when she met with Jon Pollock, CMO of Polaroid he was impressed with what she had to say and gave her creative control of a few products and title of “Creative Director.”

So does a person’s past always dictate their future? How are you changing your hiring process?