Why Attitude Beats Aptitude When Hiring
Why Attitude Beats Aptitude When Hiring
By Max Freedman
Updated Jan 19, 2024
Business News Daily
You’ve finally done it: On paper, you’ve found the perfect candidate for that job you’ve had open for ages. This applicant has each and every one of the skills you were looking for. Yet when you hire this candidate, you realize your employees just don’t like them, and neither do you. This new hire isn’t cooperative or willing to learn your operations and systems. They have a bad attitude, and it’s bringing everyone down.
Eventually, you’ll probably get fed up with this new hire and want to replace them with someone else. But what if you had hired for attitude, not aptitude, in the first place and avoided this whole fiasco? Below, learn why that’s the better way to go.
Why attitude beats aptitude when hiring
According to Mark Murphy, chairman and CEO of Leadership IQ, focusing on skills over dedication or cultural fit can lead to a lousy hiring decision for several reasons.
“When most managers talk about hiring the ‘right people,’ they mean highly skilled people,” Murphy said. “But [in my research], 46 percent of [those hired] failed within 18 months, and 89 percent of the time, it was for attitudinal reasons and not skills. It’s not that skills aren’t important, but when the top predictor of a new hire’s success or failure is attitude, then attitude is clearly what we need to be hiring for.”
This suggestion rings true across industries — even those that might not traditionally come to mind when you think of offices or teams. A Surgical Endoscopy study found that psychological variables may impact a surgeon’s performance just as much as their cognitive and physical skills do. The study also noted that psychological traits can help newer surgeons overcome training obstacles. It’s safe to assume that, in other fields, too, a good attitude can lead to better employee development.
Hiring for attitude is about more than your company’s current work quality and productivity. Murphy said that attitude-driven hires directly shape your work environment going forward in ways your entire team can feel.
“Ask every one of your high performers if they would rather work short-staffed or work with someone with a bad attitude,” Murphy suggested. “Every time we do this, people always say ‘short-staffed.’”
How to spot a bad attitude in a potential hire
Murphy cited a lack of emotional intelligence, an unwillingness to learn and a bad temperament as signs of a poor attitude fit. He also emphasized that the “right” attitude looks different for every organization.
“Someone who is competitive and individualistic may be the perfect fit for a solo-hunter commission-driven sales force,” he said. “But put that same personality to work in a collaborative, fun-loving team culture, and that individualistic superstar is doomed to fail.”
How to find job candidates with the right attitude
Below are some tips for hiring job candidates with attitudes that fit your workplace.
Write down what you’re looking for.
Maybe you have a general idea of the attitude you’re looking for — positive, friendly and upbeat. That’s a start, but these qualities might not be directly tied to your team’s tasks or workflows. Instead, come up with more detailed descriptions, such as “is willing to pause what they’re doing to help a co-worker.” You can often determine whether new hires meet these criteria within their first few days on the job or, ideally, during the interview process…[MORE]
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To read the entire article by Max Freedman at the Business News Daily website, visit: Essential Negotiation Tips to Close the Deal