What really does hiring for attitude mean?

It simply means that you hire someone who'll get the job done - in the right way, without cutting corners, and thinks about the customer before his/her own job security. Has more empathy and passion than the person next to them.

You oft hear the phrase, 'Skills/tools/domain/industry stuff can be thought", but of what use will it be if the learner isn't ready?

The readiness to learn, to fail, to risk, to succeed, to roll-up-the-sleeves and get the job done, to be the hardest worker in the room, are all traits that differentiates the candidate from the pool.

It's not a successful recruitment formula.

It just increases your chances of finding someone who'll have a whatever-it-takes skill to succeed.

Candor

It's an art.

It's easier said than done.

It's an uncomfortable place to be in.

It's not a people-friendly way to run the HR function.

Yet, candor delivers every single time.

We are tuned to not be brutally honest with each other. And the longer we practice it, we'll start implementing it on ourselves. And that's where the danger lies.

Most often the reason cited for not using candor is- culture. That's a fallacy because culture is itself formed by the very people who either use candor or not. We engage with people more than just once. We work with the same team for 10-12 hours a day. Think about all that you and the team can achieve if you were to use candor in your communication. You can start saying 'No' to an unreasonable request, speak up in team meetings, have open conversations about bad behavior, give and receive constructive feedback, the speed of execution improves drastically (suddenly everyone knows what to expect).

Candor is not an excuse to become a jerk. It's really just candid dialogue, to talk freely about insights, share observations, call out what's working or not (think about that 2-hr mindless PPT that you last sat through). The biggest disservice is NOT being candid with the person in front of the mirror or a friend/colleague/peer on what they must be told, and not what they want to hear.

Is candor easy? Nope. It's also a lot tougher to learn the art of using candor. It's painful (sometimes more for yourself than for the person in front of you). You'll learn the art, one conversation at a time. Push back on fear of perception, that nagging thought that you'll hurt someone's feeling, and the fear of consequences.

It's not easy. But, you'll never know unless you start. And that first conversation starts with the one you have with yourself.