Picture this. You’re looking at two kinds of people to fill up a position in your organization. One of them has a very impressive skill set and the other will fit into your company culture perfectly because of their past experience. Who do you choose? Tough situation, right? Let’s take a look at both the possibilities and figure out which would be the best choice.
Skills
Skills are important and if your candidate is high on the skill factor, you know that they’re a good bet. Acquiring certain skills requires some focus and determination and this should prove that they possess both these qualities which can come in handy for your organization. What’s more, despite the number of people hunting for jobs, there is indeed a paucity of skills and talent. So why do you want to leave someone who has the right amount of training and talent?
Work Culture
You know how your company works and if you can identify a candidate who can appreciate and understand this fact, then you know that getting this person on the job will be a pleasure. Not only will training be easier but getting them to understand certain aspects would be simpler and faster. After looking at their resume and talking to them in person, you might appreciate that they have the right knack and the appropriate experience which would make them perfect for your organization.
Choosing the right mix
This is easier said than done but ideally you need to choose someone who has a mix of both characteristics, skill and work culture. If such people are hard to come by, you need to re-evaluate factors within your organization, especially your hiring process and your hiring announcements and see what can be changed for the better.
Personality vs talent
In the end, this is what it all boils down to. If a person is skilled but shy and applies for a job in a company which is known for its extroverted employees, then who will be happy here? Neither the employee nor the company. Skills can be acquired but personality cannot change overnight. While this gives culture an edge over skills, sit back and reflect for a moment, why this is the case.
If you can envision certain scenarios within your company involving both types of people, you will get the answer to your question. If someone doesn’t have all the skills you’re looking for, but fits perfectly into your work culture, they do need a second chance. This is because skills can be taught in training sessions while no amount of orientation will fix the personality of a person who is not suited to your work culture.
If you want your employees to stay with you, you need to ensure that they have the right kind of on-boarding process and their initial experience is pleasant and not stressful. This is irrespective of their personality types or their skill sets, so it eventually becomes dependent on how much support you are willing to provide them.
If office politics to be a company work culture, do you choose a quite, hardworking, straightforward skilled employee or a person who is cunning, low skilled but popular in office?
From my experience, some of my own clients who are low profile, hardworking and no-nonsense type ended working for political companies or bossess. Eventually they changed jobs because…it is just not them and no matter how hard they try to ignore the politics, it will still affect them. Take home message – no one can force ourselves to be what we are not in the long run. So you will eventually leave. It will be unfortunate that some companies go downhill as the decision makers focus on the wrong things.