Omar Zenhom argues attitude matters more than skills when hiring because skills can be taught but attitude cannot. He asks candidates to describe a serious workplace mistake and watches whether they own it, explain what they did to fix it, and say what they learned. People who take accountability get hired.
Hire for attitude first and skill second. I know this sounds counterintuitive, but in 20 years of building teams, I have never once regretted hiring someone with an exceptional attitude and teachable skills. But guess what? I've regretted plenty of times of hiring people that are highly skilled with a questionable attitude. Listen, skills can be taught. Anybody can be taught anything. Attitude, on the other hand, cannot be taught. It's a choice. In the interview, I always ask this question: Tell me about a time you made a serious mistake at work. What happened? And what did you do? One of two things happen. Either some people go quiet and give a very vague answer, or they subtly blame someone else for their mistake. And others will look you in the eye, own it completely, describe exactly what they did to fix it, and they tell you what they learned in the process. That second person is the person we call back.
