September 15, 2008 by Phil Gerbyshak
Filed under Business
Please take 60 seconds to click in and share in the comments what matters more:
I’ll share your feedback next Wednesday. Reasons why you prefer one or the other is even better!
[...] Slacker Manager, Phil and David tackle the question head on: Experience or Attitude: Who would you rather hire? Similarly, at Leadership Turn, Miki notes that most managers look first for direct experience when [...]
[...] Slacker Manager, Phil and David tackle the question head on: Experience or Attitude: Who would you rather hire? Similarly, at Leadership Turn, Miki notes that most managers look first for direct experience when [...]
[...] the question head on by going to their readers for feedback. Who would you hire? Someone with Great Experience or Great Attitude? Click over and share your thoughts? Who would you rather [...]
[...] Gerbyshak over at Slacker Manager asked his readers to "take 60 seconds to click in and share your comments about what matters more, Great Attitude or… I took some time last night to read through the comments and then I left my comments. Many of the [...]
[...] nearly 2 weeks, and 25 comments, and asking all you smart people what you would hire for, Attitude or Experience, here’s what I learned from [...]
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I would say that it depends.
Normally I’d say hire for attitude. An employee with a great attitude who is willing to learn will usually win out over an employee with a poor attitude and 20 years experience.
That said, if you are hiring for a specific skill set for a mission critical system, perhaps Experience is your better bet.
Did I answer the question or just make it more murky? :)
I would have to agree with Eric. In the long run attitude can go a long way and the experience can be grown. A person’s enthusiasm can make their work more productive and could spread in the department (vs a bad attitude can being production down to a halt).
If experience is the requirment, attitude can still go a long way with proper training. In the short run or short project then experience would be an asset. But if it is a hort project it may be better to have the person with a great attitude be trained by the experienced one. But I am also supposing the short-term would be contracted out if need be.
I’ll take attitude over experience any day!
Skills you can teach over time….attitude is something you must bring every day.
Experience if I hiring via elance for a small, specific project. If I am looking for a long term person (employee or contract), attitude wins any day.
The caveat of course is that they must have a basic level of experience that shows me they are capable of picking things up in the area I need them to perform.
Great attitude
I try to hire for aptitude and attitude.
Skills can be taught, but aptitude and attitude seem to be much harder to change in a person…
Actually neither – talent counts more for me but after that attitude then experience.
Has to be attitude. I’ve had some people work for me that have had lots of experience, but with their attitude they’ve just gotten in the way and not really helped progress matters much. By the same token, give me someone with the right attitude and they can be grown into the job (and while they’re learning will also help to look at things differently, which an experienced person may not because “we’ve always done it this way”_
In general, attitude. The person with a good attitude can grow and adapt as needed to fit the firm’s needs. If I was in a pinch and needed a turnaround person whom I could not dedicate training time to, I would go for experience. Unfortunately, this is the short-term view and best avoided.
The only experience I really look for is the experience that demonstrates the kind of attitude I want a person to have.
Attitude. Over time, you gain experience. It’s very hard to bring an attitude around, though it is possible, given time and patience. Unfortunately, there is a limited amount of both in business.
Attitude every time! And the proof is in research you can see using the link in my name.
Also, for a little fun, there’s this…
What Makes 100%? What does it mean to give MORE than 100%? Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%? We have all been to those meetings where someone wants you to give over 100%. How about achieving 103%? What makes up 100% in life?
Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help you answer these questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.
Then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
And
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
But ,
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%
And,
B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
2+21+12+12+19+8+9+20 = 103%
AND, look how far ass kissing will take you.
A-S-S-K-I-S-S-I-N-G
1+19+19+11+9+19+19+9+14+7 = 118%
So, one can conclude with mathematical certainty, that While Hard work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will get you there, its the Bullshit and Ass kissing that will put you over the top.
I have hired for both and unfortunately have come to the conclusion that one over the other doesn’t work. It has to be a combination. You can have enthusiastic people that you believe in that just can’t get it done. You have those with the skills who have no people skills. I’d have to take the experience though over enthusiasm – unless their position includes motivation. Verifiable experience – something more than a list on a resume….
It depends – experience for when the individual’s skills and work experience is for a position in which the job description is well-established, and the internal and external factors are well known. Attitude for when the individual will be placed in a situation where everything is new or has changed (or gone topsy-turvy). In this case, a positive attitude can help a person reach out to others to help get the job done.
Attitude without a doubt.
Hey Guys! I wanted to stop by when I had some time to read the comments on your question of attitude and experience. I find the comments VERY interesting for two reasons.
First, the vast majority of people said they would hire attitude over experience. I find that very curious because I don’t believe that hiring managers effectively interview for attitude. I believe that between the job seekers desire to make a good impression and the hiring managers desire to make a good hiring decision in as little time as possible, MANY people with bad attitudes get hired EVERY day. If you don’t believe me, take a look around your company. How many of those people have bad attitudes? Did they bring the bad attitude when they came or did the attitude develop since they came on board?
The second reason I find the responses curious is that only a few people spoke to experience and yet as an interview coach, I can tell you that most hiring managers are looking at experience before they look at attitude. Attitude is on the barometer, but it usually comes up once the candidate pool has been narrowed down to the top 2-3 candidates. And then we typically look at who will make a better fit in the organization and who we “like”. That’s my two cents. I will be writing about this over at Interview Chatter. Thanks for the inspiration.
Darlene
Interview Guru
http://www.interviewchatter.com
@Darlene: Well you’re not going to take a total newbie and put them on a mission critical role that requires Sr Architect level experience. You’d set them up for failure, no matter how good their attitude is.
The question was hypothetical as in reality you hire for both.
But to fine tune the example if you had the choice between a rock star and the attitude problems that come with it, vs. someone who’s “good” but great attitude…
For managers who have/had employees with difficult attitudes… you burn all your time on them, which is a shame when your time should go towards the good staff.
But, you make a good point. When hiring… evaluating attitude is tough. Nobody trains how to evaluate that, and if it’s even truly possible.
In the Empire, we try to evaluate personalities. Extrovert, introvert, ability to communicate, if they’re highly opinionated… For example if you ask “What do you think about VaderSoft Windows Vista”, and they go “oh that’s crap. What were they thinking…”
That’s would score low with me (and not just because Vader is my friend). But someone who gave a response of “It has it’s issues. Strategically they took a gamble on releasing a product too early because deadlines had passed, and it didn’t pay off. But they’re compensating by working with vendors to get drivers updated, etc…”
That’s good balanced opinion that’s objective, and gives me a sense that they have a positive and logical attitude.
@Darius – I absolutely agree with you about the newbie. In your example the newbie wouldn’t get the job if I need someone with Sr. Architect experience.
In all of my years as a hiring manager, attitude was never what I looked at first. I always looked at experience and narrowed the field from there. Attitude was a part of the discussion prior to making my final hiring decision, but never was it something I was looking at as criteria for hiring.
Darlene
Interview Guru
http://www.interviewchatter.com
Experience or attitude? Great question… And relevant. This Q has probably factored in every hiring decision I’ve made in the past 15 years. I agree with Susie and Darlene. Sorry Miki… There are no formulas. There are people… And teams. Who is the best fit for my team?
Thx for the call, PG.
No apologies needed, Troy. I don’t disagree with you. But after 20+ years headhunting in high tech and 10+ years teaching managers better hiring skills experience has taught me that candidate attitude is what makes the difference between a successful hire and one that isn’t. Skills can be rectified, but the wrong attitude can continue to wreak havoc even after the source is gone.
Attitude along with aptitude will always win over experience. No matter how much experience one may have, they still have to learn the ways of doing things in a company and adapt to it.
Well said, Bob, and oh so true!
Miki, Bob… I don’t disagree. Attitude is HUGE. I have worked with my share of disgruntled or generally grumpy SMEs and dispite all their experience, I would have much rather traded them for capable people with positive attitudes.
I have to disagree with Darlene when she said, “Attitude was a part of the discussion prior to making my final hiring decision, but never was it something I was looking at as criteria for hiring.”
Not having attitude as one of the three main hiring criteria is a leading cause of bad hires. Attitude is part and parcel of cultural fit and cultural misfits do more than fail, they can damage or even destroy a team.
I agree with Miki. What people are forgetting is that you are not hiring someone most of the time for just one project or assignment. In most cases, you want to hire someone with good attitude and aptitude to not only be a good team player but also come up to speed in a short time and learn the way the company operates.
Some people have tried to peg a round hole with a square object.
Of course attitude matters more than experience and that’s why any of the company has emerged and grown.
People with experience can turn to perform zero if the attitude is not there and if attitude is there anyone would perform.