As per the report of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), only 20% out of the 5 million students who graduate every year are employable in India. This implies that there is a substantial skill gap between the education system and the industry requirement, and there are some structural gaps in the education machinery, where the focus is more on imparting knowledge, and students are left on their own to figure out the application of the knowledge received.
Recruiters entrusted with the responsibility of selecting the right fit amongst the several applicants find it difficult to hire the right candidate from this wide gap in the system. Most of the recruiters look at the potential and attitude of the candidate while they select the candidates from a large pool of applicants.
Below are a few of the qualities which may help in identifying a candidate who may have the potential to become successful in their career:
- Drive: People who are successful have a strong drive, a strong desire to ensure that things get done in time. They take full charge in any situation and also take pride in themselves in getting the things done. They have the so-called “fire in the belly” attribute which they strongly demonstrate when you interact with them. They also take absolute ownership of whatever task is assigned to them and do not wait for conditions to be perfect before they take action. They don’t believe in perfect planning but believe more in taking actions and are also quick to modify their actions as per the changing conditions.
- Willingness to learn: These are the people who are willing to learn and are quick to admit if they don’t know something. They are motivated to improve their knowledge when they realise that there is a scope for improvement. They constantly strive to learn new skills and behaviors and are quite adaptive to changing technologies or market requirements. They believe in learning multidimensional skills and which goes a long way in increasing their chances of taking up higher roles in an organization.
- Perseverance: Successful people exhibit realistic optimism. Realistic as they believe in taking action and are always positive about the outcome. Their positivity allows them to be resilient even when things don’t go their way. They don’t take failure personally as they understand that failure is a part of the journey and have the foresight to learn from their mistakes. They have a lot of self-control and are high in their emotional quotient, which helps them to admit when they are wrong so that they can focus on the solution rather than wasting time in finding a scapegoat.
- Excellence: Excellence is a trait of aspiring to become the best in the field. People who exhibit this are thorough with their work and try to master the work they do by continuous improvement. They do not make compromises until they get what they aspire. They experiment a lot also to try and figure out creative solutions to increase their efficiencies.
- Communication skills: The ability to effectively communicate is one of the strong attributes of high performers. They have the ability to use different communication tools as per the audience and achieve the outcomes they set for themselves. They have excellent listening skills which help them understand the problems clearly and are articulate in providing solutions in a simple manner that can be easily understood by others.
- Teamwork: Successful people are good team players and have the ability to build rapport with their peers. They go out of the way in helping their team and are easily approachable. They know the strengths and weaknesses of their team and are able to align different capabilities of their team members towards the common objective.
- Visionary: The ability to see the bigger picture is one of the key attributes that all successful people exhibit. They always start any work with a ‘Why?’. They dream big and are able to think through different ways of achieving their dreams. The vision/dreams keep them excited and enthusiastic as they believe that each day they have the opportunity to work one step closer towards their dreams.
While there might be a minimum threshold level of technical skills required for undertaking any job, it becomes far easier to train a person exhibiting the above-mentioned attributes for the desired level of skills. Since most of the workforce completing formal education lacks the technical skills, the phrase ‘Hire for attitude and train for skills’ is becoming all the more relevant nowadays.