Should you hire for Attitude only?

 I keep hearing people say that we should all hire for attitude. But is attitude all you should be looking for? The term “attitude??? has been used in such a general way that it simply just doesn’t cut it anymore.

What does “Hiring for Attitude??? really mean? What does it really mean when someone says that you should “hire for attitude????

What about a person’s personality and aptitude? Are they not important considerations at all? What about Cultural Fit with the organization and the team? Is this not important also?

Based on my experience, hiring based solely on attitude does not cut it anymore in today’s fast changing and highly competitive business landscape. What we should be looking out for is a right combination of Cultural Fit, a good dose of great attitude, great aptitude and excellent personality. The correct balance and mix of these traits will give you the right candidate. And that is exactly what we all should be looking for when hiring – the RIGHT candidate!

Most organizations end up with bad hires because they look out for tangible factors such as skills, qualifications and experience. And most hirers fall back on these tangible factors because these are factors that are easily verifiable and they feel comfortable operating within the confines of quantifiable measures.

But the truth is hiring the best qualified, best skilled and highly experienced people do not always guarantee employee success! The most successful, passionate and motivated employees are those who fit in well with the team and organization culture and are highly flexible and adaptable. Flexibility and adaptability are the hallmarks of employees with great positive attitude and they also possess great learning aptitudes towards their work and their environment.

Ultimately you should not be looking to hire the best people for your organization. You should be looking to hire the RIGHT people for your organization and that implies that you should hire for a good cultural fit, positive attitude, great learning aptitude and pleasant personality.