Hire for attitude: what this means and why it works so well

What does hiring for attitude mean?

In traditional hiring models, recruiters typically look for a specific set of job-relevant skills that are needed for a certain position within the company. They’ll look at things like background, education, or industry knowledge and to understand how that candidate fulfills the experience, qualifications, or abilities required for that role.

When you hire for attitude, otherwise known as values-based recruitment, your focus is primarily on the soft skills and personal attributes that a candidate brings to the table. That carries more weight than the performance-related skill set that they offer. 

While the necessary skills for the role are still important, they’re considered a secondary factor when determining which applicant to hire. This is especially the case when you come down to two or three final candidates who may all be a very close match in terms of technical skills but there’s only a need to hire one. Attitude and company fit can quickly become the differentiating factors between several great options.

The pros and cons of hiring for attitude

While we think that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, there are plenty of aspects to consider before making the leap to this new way of recruiting. 

We’re taking a look at the best reasons to hire for attitude, as well as some of the potential problem areas that you’ll want to keep in mind.

The pros

Let’s start with the good news first. In most cases, the pros are the standout features of hiring for attitude.

• Increased employee retention: Hiring the candidate that you think will be the best cultural fit for your team—meaning someone who shares the values your company holds and believes in your mission and vision—can increase their likelihood to stay with you long-term. In fact, businesses that have highly-engaged employees see 59% lower turnover than other companies. If your new hire fits in well with the rest of the team and enjoys what they’re working on day-to-day, they’re significantly less likely to look for greener pastures elsewhere.
  
  
• Cost-effectiveness: When you hire for a skills-focused position, you’re more than likely looking for a candidate with extensive background in the industry and technical know-how that’s relevant to their role. When you hire for attitude, you have the ability to bring less-experienced individuals into the team, which will usually mean that you can pay them less. Whether it’s someone looking for a career change or a fresh-out-of-college graduate, salary expectations will be much lower if they don’t have a defined set of skills yet. While they won’t (and shouldn’t!) stay at that pay level forever, you can save upfront in the early months and years while they’re acquiring their job-specific qualifications.
  
  
• Flexibility: As a startup or small business, skill needs can change rapidly as you grow and expand. Hiring for very specific jobs may not be the most suitable option at the start as you’ll likely need team members to wear different hats and shift into different positions as you begin to identify where the company needs support. “The skills required in a startup constantly change. You’ll bring a team member into a specific role but that role could change within three months”, says Michelle Duval, Founder of F4S. Hiring for attitude allows you to recruit for company value fit, mold candidates into the positions that are most needed, and train them for the required skills as needs are identified.

The cons

Despite the fact that this hiring method is gaining steam, it’s not without its faults. Focusing on soft skills when hiring can definitely come with a few challenges of its own.

• Skill deficits: Focusing on soft skills rather than technical knowledge can lead companies into positions where the entire team is made up of “jack of all trades, master of none” individuals. Businesses can run into issues when roles require in-depth knowledge—particularly in technology or communications roles, where there is a much greater risk to the company if an employee were to do or say something wrong. When you’re trying to get a new business off the ground successfully, hiring candidates that require little to no training to fill skills gaps could be more effective in moving a company forward quickly.
  
  
• Authenticity: Beware the curse of “attitude fraud.” We all know that candidates are on their best behavior when it comes to job interviews—after all, first impressions are everything. A candidate will likely be nervous during an interview and may behave in ways that they ordinarily wouldn’t once they land that position and interact with the rest of your team. As a result, being able to identify genuine characteristics and attributes can be particularly challenging in an interview situation with a notoriously artificial atmosphere. There are some ways around this, though, like personality assessments, team shadowing, and asking targeted questions based on values.
  
  
• Steep learning curve: For any new employees, there will always be some element of on-the-job learning required, from company processes and procedures to day-to-day job requirements. But individuals with less industry experience often face a bigger challenge than those who have years of technical knowledge to draw from. Hiring a more skilled candidate usually means that, when you throw them in at the deep end, they’ll happily swim and rise to the challenge. Progress can be slow if you’re in a position of needing to train someone on how to actually do their job. A CareerBuilder survey found that 37% of employees were less productive and 32% lost time when they had to train another team member, which can be incredibly costly if your company operates in a fast-paced environment.
  

Ultimately, only you can decide whether the particular role you’re hiring for could benefit more from a “hire for attitude, train for skill” approach. 

If specific knowledge is required for the individual to be successful and contribute to the company’s growth, think carefully about whether you or the team have the time and resources to train someone less experienced. If not, hiring at a higher salary and skill level is likely more beneficial at this point in the business’ development. 

It’s also worth reflecting on the big picture and what future growth plans look like. “Hire on attitude and motivation...it’s the most transferable asset in your startup,” advises Duval. If the position is one where an individual can easily be trained and get up-to-speed fairly quickly, focusing on their soft skills and company fit will likely yield excellent results.

How do you hire for attitude?

You’ve decided that hiring for attitude over tangible skills is the right direction for your company. But where do you begin? 

Starting to think about this during the recruitment process is already too late. You need to have some foundational measures in place before you can even think about bringing in new team members for specific roles.

Before you start recruiting...

Knowing what to look for in a potential new hire can’t happen until you know what your own company values are. Do you have a defined culture or set of values that have been agreed on by the team, or are they more loose guidelines at this point? 

Using a performance management tool like F4S can ensure you hire the right candidate. The assessment tool is based on more than 20 years of research on workplace traits.

The F4S assessment asks questions and takes about 15-30 minutes to complete. The questions seek to understand how a person prefers to work, along with what motivates and demotivates them on the job.

Once the assessment is complete, F4S results are available immediately. You'll see where a candidate’s scores fall on a spectrum for each of the traits. It’ll also show you how they stack up against industry top performers and even others on your team.

This benchmarking is particularly useful when making decisions about candidates. You can compare them against the research within F4S to better understand how each individual might interact with your existing team. These valuable insights eliminate bias and improve hiring success by showing how well a potential candidate fits into the role and the team culture.

One example of a set of key insights you can learn is how you or an employee feels about company rules. We equate this to one's assertiveness, out-of-the-box thinking, compliance, or tolerance.

Gain deep insights by understanding individual and team communication preferences. This refers to the value they place on nonverbal communication versus written or spoken language. When leaders are aware of these preferences, they can increase job satisfaction levels and may even see an increase in staff productivity.