Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills

Current wisdom says, “Hire for attitude and train for skills.” That’s because it’s easier to train people in new skills than change their inherent attitudes. Humans are stubborn and don’t like change.

It’s a straightforward concept: hire the right people and build a better—and more profitable—jewelry store. While many jewelry storeowners are still thrilled by a GG from the Gemological Institute of America or a CGA from the America Gem Society, a growing number of small-med businesses are ditching traditional thinking. They’re hiring for attitude, reasoning that you can teach the right person the skills to do the job but you can’t transform even the most knowledgeable person into a success if he/she lacks the right temperament.

To find employees with great attitudes, consider the following in addition to your own questions:

1. Are you an introvert or extrovert? Tell me about a time at a previous job where a conflict arose amongst you and another staff member. How did you handle the situation? (Possibly ask a question regarding commission or lack of) This question will give you a sense of a person’s attitude, respect for others, and adaptability. It will also let you know how confident he/she is and if he can remedy his own problem without you having to get involved.
2. Tell me how you recently used humor to defuse a tense situation or How important is a sense of humor at work? Why? OR Describe a situation in which your sense of humor helped you. What would you do to make a workplace more fun? Any sales job would want cheery staff members. It’s important to keep that smile on even when you customer brings in 5 print-outs of diamonds they saw on the net or have been handed Rap by another jeweler.
3. How important is it to follow rules? Do you believe in bending the rules for a disgruntled customer? Role-play…you being the disgruntled customer. You’ll want to know how your future employee handles an irritated customer, especially if you’re not around. You’ll want to see if he/she believes in your stores culture; “The customer is always right.”
4. Tell me about a time when you went beyond the call of duty to assist a co-worker when you received no recognition or no credit. This question will give you a sense of how important teamwork and unselfishness is in the workplace.
5. Tell me about a time when you made a serious mistake with a customer or a co-worker. How did you reconcile it? This will give you insight to him/her being able to admit his mistakes and the courage to resolve it.
6. Tell me about the last time you tried something new or took on additional responsibility when there was no guarantee for success. You’ll want to know if he/she is willing to take risks, goes above and beyond the call of duty, and sometimes might not be recognized. You’ll want to know if he/she believes in bettering himself at the job.

7. What is your personal motto?

   Attitude is a critical factor for success and the one we have the most control over. If you invest the time up front to think critically about precisely what attitudes you want, and then hire only those people; you will build a better—and more profitable—jewelry store.