What burnout has to do with your hiring model, and how to fix it

Let’s talk about burnout. 

April is recognised as Stress Awareness Month, but let’s be honest: awareness alone hasn’t exactly moved the needle. If anything, burnout is still being worn like a badge of honour in some hiring processes. You know the type: "thrives under pressure," "always gives 110%," "self-starter who never switches off." 

Sound familiar? 

It should, because you’ll see those exact phrases in job ads all the time. And they’re not just fillers; they’re clues that companies might still be selecting for burnout instead of protecting against it. 

So, let’s pause and take a moment to ask: are we hiring the right people, or just the most willing to overextend themselves? 

🚩 The traits we confuse for talent 

In assessment terms, we’ve got names for these behaviours: high conscientiousness, extreme achievement striving, over-indexing on agreeableness. None of them are inherently bad. But when they come bundled together in one person, especially without boundaries or emotional regulation, they can be a fast track to burnout. 

And yet, they look like high potential. These candidates are usually charming, proactive, ready to please. They ace interviews. They say yes. A lot. 

Until eventually, they don’t. 

High drive isn’t the problem

Let’s be crystal clear: we’re not saying don’t hire ambitious, driven, hard-working people. Your business needs them. 

What we are saying is: when you identify those traits in someone, you also inherit a responsibility. If someone’s built for high performance, the least we can do is build them a culture that supports it sustainably. 

You can’t expect someone to operate at 120% forever just because your assessment gave them a high "drive" score. You’ve got to build in rest, psychological safety, and systems that value recovery as much as performance. 

So what should we actually be looking for? 

Here’s the thing: sustainable performance comes from different psychological ingredients than short bursts of effort.

Think self-efficacy, the belief that you can handle what’s in front of you, without feeling overwhelmed or losing focus. Think emotional regulation, the ability to stay cool when things get messy. Think healthy ambition, not compulsive overwork. 

Good assessments can help you spot those traits. Great ones can do it without making candidates jump through 12 flaming hoops and a logic test written in Klingon. (You know who you are.) 

And if your assessments are still rewarding overwork, penalising people who set boundaries, or designed to “weed out the weak”, that’s not high standards, that’s outdated thinking.  

✋ And what should we stop doing? 

If you’re still assessing for “culture fit” without defining what that means, stop. You’re probably hiring mini-me's and calling it intuition. 

If your ideal candidate is “high energy” but you’ve never measured energy management, stop. You’re are likely rewarding output over sustainability. 

And if your assessment process happens to be longer than your onboarding, consider this your friendly nudge to revisit that balance. 

💬 Let’s talk candidate experience (because it matters) 

Here’s the surprising part: candidates know when they’re being assessed for the wrong things. 

We’ve seen it in the feedback, those red flags get picked up fast. People can smell when a company values optics over outcomes. It’s not a great look. 

But when assessments reflect real-world challenges, respect the candidate’s time, and measure what matters, that signals care. It builds trust. It improves fairness. And, yes, it makes hiring better for everyone involved. 

 🌿 A gentle nudge for spring 

So this month, instead of posting about burnout on LinkedIn and carrying on as usual, we invite you to take five minutes to audit your hiring criteria. Ask yourself: 

• Are we rewarding overwork? 
• Are our assessments promoting sustainable performance? 
• What would it look like to build a high-performing team that doesn’t burn out? 

Until next time,

Nicola Tatham, Chief IO Psychologist, Sova