Recruitment Tip: Attitude Will Always Trump Skill
A person’s attitude encompasses their personality, outlook on life, work ethic and how they respond to challenges.
These are elements that can’t be taught on the job. You can fill in any gaps in skills and experience with training, but you can’t teach attitude.
A candidate with a good attitude is more likely to strive for improvement, aim to exceed expectations, get along with a wide range of people, show flexibility and possess good teamwork skills. In addition, a positive attitude is contagious, which is a big benefit for any workplace.
Similarly, a bad attitude will seep through your company culture and your existing staff will notice it immediately.
Recruiting solely on a candidate’s knowledge and experience without considering their attitude and if they are a good cultural fit is a recipe for failure and risks displacing other staff members. Employers should recruit for cultural fit and ‘coachability’ and not rely solely on experience and technical capabilities.
