purple squirrel

American  

[pur-puhl skwur-uhl] / ˈpɜr pəl ˈskwɜr əl /

noun

plural

purple squirrels

1. Slang. a hypothetical person sought by an employer, with the ideal combination of temperament, experience, and education for a particular job.

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Example Sentences

In 1983, the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation proposed a park-wide census, also involving dye, in which it would paint 50 squirrels purple, rerelease them and extrapolate a head count based on purple squirrel frequency in the general population.

From New York Times

The push to replace Lord Jeff with a new mascot — like the moose, a dragon or even a purple squirrel — appears to be gaining momentum, as institutions around the country question their ties to historic figures who owned slaves or led Confederate battalions.

From New York Times

Given the risks out there, companies might as well wait to fill an opening until they’re absolutely certain they need someone, or until they find that “purple squirrel” of an impossibly qualified candidate willing to work for impossibly little money.

From Washington Post

As a result, employers exercise more exhaustive screening and vetting processes until they’re confident they’ve found their “purple squirrel,” H.R. jargon for an impossibly perfect, overqualified candidate usually willing to work for peanuts.

From New York Times

Michael B. Junge, a staffing and recruiting industry leader with Irvine Technology Corp. in Santa Ana, Calif., and author of “Purple Squirrel: Stand Out, Land Interviews, and Master the Modern Job Market,” says that one of his favorite interview questions is when a candidate takes the lead and asks, “If I were offered this position and joined your company, how would you measure my success and what could I do to exceed your expectations?”

From Forbes