Sunday 30 July 2017

The HR Dilemma!

The most pressing question for any recruiter across the world is – Shall we go with Attitude or go with Skills? It is very easy to find supporters of each view and plenty of reasons why we should go with either option.


When the quest is for that ideal employee, then the decision to go with Attitude or skills is totally dependent on the prevailing circumstances, but the following factors will help you make a better choice. 

1. Start-up vs Established company

If you are a start-up and looking forward to growth, it would be more helpful to go with people with character. The challenges faced by start-ups are multi-directional and due to budget constraints, it is not possible to hire people for each specific role. Ideally start-ups would like to have those precious diamonds who possess both attitude and skills but then, these theories are best left untouched.

2. Fresher vs Experienced

If you are looking for freshers, then it would be helpful to go with the attitude, because almost all graduates don’t possess the skills to be placed directly into live environment. If the company is investing time and energy into training any resources, then it is better that the resource possesses good character. The story is different with Experienced people. We expect them to know things and so it is necessary to check that they possess the skills as per their experience. Though it is highly beneficial if you have experienced people with good attitude, as they are the ones who are going to train the next generation of employees in your company. 

3. Individual vs Team work

If the profile requires to work solo on given tasks, then the skills do take up the important position. The quality of work in such scenario is hugely dependent on the skills of the employee rather than the attitude of employee. On the other hand, social skills and the right attitude take up the priority while working in teams. The skillsets of all the team members can complement each other and it won’t impact the quality of work.

It is not a viable option to have only employees with attitude or skills in an organization and the balance is to be kept. The reason is many times you require people with skill set, who can have the work done for you irrespective of their attitude. Attitude won’t help when you have to meet deadlines. So, while you are looking to hire people with attitude, make sure that they possess the right learning abilities. When the people have right attitude, they are motivated and flexible which makes them more open to learning new skills. But the learning will only happen as per their individual capacities which is more or less not upgradable.

As an individual, one should always try to improve in terms of both attitude and skills. If you have the right attitude, then it becomes slightly easier to learn new skills. Improving attitude is way more complex and difficult than improving skills. Improving attitude is like changing who you are, changing the habits, and changing your perceptions which is not an easy thing to achieve. Skills on the other hand, can be easily taught by workshops and training.

I understand this is an endless debate and most recruiters do give more preference to attitude over skills but it is necessary to keep the right balance between the two as both are equally important. In conclusion – Hire Character, Train Skills.

Originally Posted : http://bit.ly/2vSpxAq

0 comments:

Post a Comment