You might want to think before you answer. Or better yet, when you examine the last 5 hires your company or you made, which took precedence; Skill or Attitude?
One might want to watch the previous TED TALK http://www.ted.com/promos/TEDTalksEducation about our country’s education system nightmare to understand this one. (Yes there is a correlation here, follow me on this one). IN the TED talk, which aired on PBS last week, presenters discuss failing education system which teaches to a standardized test, so we teach kids to memorize in order to pass a test. The answer is what we seek, we are not teaching kids to be creative, grow organically and really learn the process. We are not educating winners, we are educating “followers who are standardized” and we are surely not producing the next generation of hard work ethic, nose to the grindstone work force…. But I digress.
The point is this, every presenter talked about how the one thing that excellent students who achieved more , did better and excelled where the ones who had an innate desire for success, they had a desire to achieve and do, they had what one person called “gut desire to do better”. Doing whatever it takes against all obstacles, a Harlem school is graduating 100% with 98% going onto college for instance. But how do you attract these “do’ers”?
Do you hire and recruit skill or attitude- and which is more important? Some might say both, but I would challenge you to decipher and weight them in comparison. I challenge you to think of this as a new paradigm in your hiring and it will also change how you define jobs, recruit and in the end will determine how well you master the art of recruitment for your company. Are you recruiting to the “test” or are you attracting the best of the best?
Do you want employees that memorize or ones that strategize? Employees that you teach to “test” or those that creatively overcome challenges and bring fresh perspective to your company?
I would venture to say it’s more about attitude, resolve and “gut desire” than skill-set, experience or degree.
Constructively Yours,
Britanie Olvera
Building Team Solutions Inc
www.btsjobs.com