Did you ever play a musical instrument? If you did when you were a kid, inevitably you ended up in the band or the orchestra or in a group music lesson. What was striking to me in that environment was how we were all playing the same notes (mostly) using the same instrument but getting really different results. I’m not talking about the kids who couldn’t play the piece. Even during tuning you could hear the differences between us. Some sounded great while others were awful. Same instrument, same notes. The difference? Ah, that’s the subject of today’s screed.
The difference is what I like to call “the stuff you can’t teach.” You hear that in sports all the time – someone has great instincts about how to play the game. It’s a skill set that goes beyond everything they teach. After all, you can’t teach kids to see the field of play like Jordan or Gretzky did even if you can refine their passing techniques.
Always hire the person with the stuff you can’t teach. You can’t teach smart. You can’t teach work ethic. You can’t teach a sense of humor. I had breakfast with a friend the other morning who told me the story of the best hire he’d made lately. For a sports project, he hired an artist who isn’t a sports fan but had the most creativity. He could teach her sports.
Most hiring managers get too focused on the specific skill set needed to do a job – does the candidate know Omniture or accounting or how to respond to an avail request. Those things are important but teachable. If we’re really hiring for the long-term, I’d argue that it’s worth investing in the candidate who may know a bit less but who has all the stuff you can’t teach. Obviously the more senior the role the more the candidate has to know in addition, but my choice ALWAYS is to look at smart, dedicated, ethical, and in perspective over almost anything else.
Does that make sense?
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Consult Keith 
Very true! And something I wish more employers knew, believed and acted upon! Another thing you can’t teach is attitude with people. I inherited an employee who, no matter how much she strove to get everything done in a more or less correct and timely fashion, and how much she improved in her phone manners (I did have to teach her to say please and thank you!), and how much I worked with her, there was just no social grace, no ability to hear herself as others heard her (and in the hospitality business, that skill is a must). Of course, I have been lucky enough to run into several employers who did hire people who may not have had the specific book-learned qualifications, but had at least some of the “stuff you just can’t teach”. And it’s a good thing because otherwise I would never have been hired for most of my jobs (a degree in French doesn’t qualify you for much…)!