Hiring for attitude, not for skill

Alex Markels has written an interesting article over at US News about his experience of quality in action at a ‘Four Seasons’ hotel. One quote in particular caught my eye:

“…the only way to achieve such consistency is to "hire for attitude, not skill," then train workers thoroughly and treat them with the same respect [you] expect them to show hotel guests – a golden rule he calls the company's "ultimate secret" to success.”

Obviously there are limits, but the approach the Four Seasons takes does remind me of the recruitment process of one of the largest and most successful consulting companies in the world (a company I used to work for back in the day).

You can really work with very junior staff on projects, if they have ‘the attitude’, and the right world view.

In fact I’m convinced that there are some successful consultants out there whose main tacit value proposition is providing ‘attitude osmosis / infection’ to their clients.

— Jason Bates

Tags: attitude, four+seasons