I always focus on hiring for Attitude and Aptitude. If you have a bad attitude I can't help you with that. If you have aptitude and a good attitude we can tea

I always focus on hiring for Attitude and Aptitude. If you have a bad attitude I can't help you with that. If you have aptitude and a good attitude we can teach you whatever you need to learn to be successful on our team. What I know about every person ever is they came into this world with little to no knowledge, they had to learn to eat, walk, talk, run, etc. If we focus too much on a candidate's experience and background we miss out on their potential future value. One of the greatest employees I ever hired was a pool man, literally cleaning pools for a living when I met him. He was a hobbyist computer hacker and I asked him how he'd like to do that full time. He learned and turned out to be an amazing asset to my team. I have many stories like this over my long career. It's not about the school you went to, or what social circles you hang out in, in the end it's about your passion and ability to learn and get shit done. All this said I do worry that our systems are not creating the space for people to find their passion while they hone their skills and find a career path.