So there I am with my wife. We have the stereo on pretty loud, I am rocking out and jamming around the house. My wife looks at me and asks “Are we listening to the same song?”
Unfortunately, I was born with a disability. For whatever reason, from the day I came out of my mom’s womb, I was denied the pleasure of having any rhythm. To picture my dilemma more clearly think of Steve Martin as Navin Johnson in the “Jerk”. As Navin says “It was never easy for me…?”
Yes, neither Navin or I will ever have Rhythm.
Some People Just Don’t Have It
Some people just don’t have aptitude for the skills they may need. Give me singing lessons, take me to the guitar teacher, or buy me a trombone. I may get a bit better, though, like Navin with his troubled past, he could never dance like his siblings and I will never sing like a rock star.
Don’t Waste Your Time
Even if Navin or I had some small innate amount of rhythm, training us for these skills would be neither fast or simple . If it were simple to teach people to continually perform at high levels, then the education and coaching business would be significantly smaller.
They May Be Fakin’
Attitude can be faked. Once again we turn to our hero Navin as he sits in a French restaurant:
“He doesn’t realize he’s dealing with sophisticated people here. Marie, now just stay calm. Stay calm. Don’t look down, don’t look down! Look up! Just keep your eyes up and keep them that way, o.k.! Waiter there are snails on her plate. Now get them out of here before she sees them! Look away, just look away, keep your eyes that way! You would think that in a fancy restaurant at these prices you could keep the snails off the food! There are so many snails there you can’t even see the food! Now take those away and bring us those melted cheese sandwich appetizers you talked me out of!”
“Trust but Verify.” This was Ronald Reagan’s motto. It is easy to fake who you are in an interview, though a candidate’s hard skills can be easily measured. Either through testing or a well thought out technical interview, it is simple to objectively measure whether someone has the skills to do the job they are applying for.
“Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills.” Is a saying in the HR world that is almost accepted as a universal truth. The suggestion of this aphorism is that attitude is more crucial than skills, which in the real world just isn’t true. So, don’t be a JERK. “Trust but Verify” your candidate’s skills. Attempt to find the candidate with the best skills for the job position, and then use attitude as an additional supporting factor.