The Top 10 Things More Important Than Skills & Experience in Hiring
For decades, hiring managers have been fixated on two primary factors when evaluating candidates: skills and experience. These are typically gleaned from resumes, those time-honored documents that have been the cornerstone of the hiring process for far too long. But it's time to ask ourselves: In today's rapidly evolving business landscape, are skills and experience really the most important factors to consider?
The Resume Relic
Let's face it: resumes are relics. They're snapshots of past experiences and skills, often carefully curated and increasingly unreliable in the age of AI-generated content. Even if we could guarantee their authenticity, two critical questions emerge:
- Can resumes reliably tell us about a candidate's skills and experience in today's rapidly evolving job market?
- Are skills and experience even among the top things we should be looking for in a candidate?
The truth is, the resume-centric approach to hiring was never foolproof. It became the standard because, for a long time, it was the best option we had. But in today's dynamic business landscape, it's time to look beyond the paper and focus on factors that truly predict success.
The Top 10 Factors More Important Than Skills & Experience
Here are ten factors that might be more predictive of a candidate's success than their listed skills and experience:
1. Hardwiring and Innate Drivers
Understanding a person's core motivations and natural tendencies can provide invaluable insights into how they'll perform in a role and within a team. Tools like Aptive Index can help uncover these crucial attributes. These innate characteristics often determine how effectively someone will apply their skills and experience.
2. Adaptability and Learning Agility
In a rapidly changing business environment, the ability to adapt quickly and learn new skills is often more valuable than existing knowledge. A candidate who can pivot quickly and absorb new information will outperform one with a static skill set.
3. Culture Fit and Values Alignment
How well does a candidate's personal values and work style align with your organization's culture and mission? This alignment can significantly impact their job satisfaction, productivity, and longevity with your company.
4. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills are crucial for effective collaboration and leadership. High EQ often translates to better team dynamics and customer relationships.
5. Problem-Solving Approach
How a candidate approaches complex problems can reveal more about their potential than their current skill set. Look for creative thinking, analytical skills, and the ability to break down complex issues.6. Resilience and GritThe capacity to persist in the face of challenges and bounce back from setbacks is a strong indicator of long-term success. This trait often separates high performers from the rest.
7. Potential for Growth
Assessing a candidate's capacity and desire for development can be more valuable than their current skills. Look for curiosity, eagerness to learn, and a history of personal and professional growth.
8. Collaboration and Teamwork Skills
The ability to work effectively with others and contribute to a positive team dynamic is crucial in most modern workplaces. These skills often determine how well a person can apply their individual abilities within a team context.
9. Alignment with Future Organizational Needs
Consider how well a candidate's potential aligns with where your organization is heading, not just where it is now. This forward-thinking approach can help future-proof your workforce.
10. Diversity of Thought and Experience
A candidate's unique perspectives can bring valuable diversity to problem-solving and innovation within the organization. This diversity often leads to more creative solutions and better decision-making.
Moving Beyond the Resume
Does this mean we should toss resumes out the window? Not necessarily. They can still provide useful context about a candidate's journey. However, they shouldn't be the primary factor in hiring decisions.Instead, we need to develop more holistic assessment methods that take into account the factors listed above. This might involve:
- Structured interviews that probe for adaptability, problem-solving skills, and cultural fit
- Psychometric assessments to understand a candidate's innate drivers and potential
- Job auditions or simulations to see how candidates perform in real-world scenarios
- Reference checks that focus on a candidate's soft skills and ability to learn and grow
Conclusion
It's time to move beyond the resume and rethink what truly matters in hiring. By focusing on factors like innate drivers, adaptability, and cultural fit, we can make better hiring decisions. This approach not only leads to more successful hires but also opens doors for candidates who might have been overlooked in a traditional resume-centric process.The future of hiring isn't about finding the person with the perfect list of skills and experiences. It's about finding individuals with the right potential, drive, and alignment with your organization's values and goals. By prioritizing these ten factors over traditional skills and experience, you'll be well on your way to building a more dynamic, adaptable, and successful workforce.
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In the landscape of professional assessments, personality tests have dominated for decades. However, a different type of assessment—the conative test—offers unique insights that traditional personality assessments can't capture. These tests measure not who we are (personality) or what we know (cognitive), but how we naturally take action when faced with problems to solve.
Typing "conative" into your device will cause it to get red squiggly-lined, and maybe even autocorrected to "cognitive." But trust us, it’s a real word.
What is Conation and What Do Conative Tests Measure?
Conation comes from the Latin word "conatus," meaning "effort" or "striving." It represents our innate drive to act and solve problems—the natural, hardwired tendencies that influence how we approach tasks, make decisions, and interact with our environment.
While personality tests measure adaptable behaviors and preferences shaped by experience, conative tests measure more stable, innate drives that have typically been consistent since our teenage years. These drives represent how we are hardwired to work when free from external pressures.
Conative tests measure attributes such as:
- Natural pace and approach to tasks
- Innate tendencies toward structure versus flexibility
- Drive for precision and detail
- Motivation to influence outcomes or lead
- Need for social interaction versus independent work
- Adaptability to change versus preference for consistency
Benefits of Measuring Conative Traits
Understanding conative traits offers several advantages over solely relying on personality assessments:
1. Greater Stability Over Time
Conative traits tend to remain more consistent throughout adulthood, while personality can shift significantly based on environment, roles, and experiences. This stability makes conative assessments particularly valuable for long-term career planning and development.
2. Prediction of Natural Performance
Conative assessments help predict how someone will naturally perform in various environments. When someone's conative drives align with their role requirements, they often experience:
- Reduced stress and burnout
- Higher job satisfaction
- Better performance with less effort
- Longer tenure in roles
3. Insight Into Team Dynamics
Understanding the conative drives of team members reveals natural strengths and potential friction points, allowing leaders to:
- Optimize task allocation based on innate strengths
- Improve communication by acknowledging different working styles
- Create more balanced teams with complementary drives
- Reduce unnecessary conflict stemming from different approaches
Popular Conative Assessments in the Market
Kolbe A™ Index
One of the pioneers in conative assessment, the Kolbe A™ Index measures four "Action Modes":
- Fact Finder: How we gather and share information
- Follow Thru: How we organize and arrange
- Quick Start: How we deal with risk and uncertainty
- Implementor: How we handle space and tangibles
The Kolbe uses a 1-10 scale for each mode and focuses exclusively on these conative elements without mixing in personality factors.
Predictive Index
While Predictive Index doesn't specifically label itself a conative assessment, it measures what they call "drives" and needs through a two-list methodology. These drives—Dominance, Extraversion, Patience, and Formality—share similarities with conative factors, though they represent a blend of motivational and behavioral elements rather than pure conative traits.
Aptive Index: A Hybrid Approach to Assessment
Aptive Index represents a next-generation approach that combines elements of both conative and adaptive measurement, designed specifically for today's workplace challenges. The name itself—a blend of "adaptable" and "conative"—reflects this hybrid nature, measuring both hardwired drives and how these express themselves in workplace contexts.
Scientific Foundation
Aptive Index measures eight key attributes that research shows directly impact job performance and satisfaction:
Primary Attributes (ISCP)
- Influence: Drive to impact people, events, and outcomes
- Sociability: Drive for and energy gained from social interaction
- Consistency: Drive for stability, routine, and methodical approaches
- Precision: Drive for accuracy, adherence to rules, and attention to detail
Standalone Attributes
- Emotional Resonance: Ability to deeply connect with emotions
- Prosocial: Drive to support others and contribute to collective wellbeing
- Intensity: Natural pace and sense of urgency when approaching tasks
- Abstraction: Capacity for abstract thought and innovative problem-solving
The inclusion of Intensity as a distinct attribute is particularly valuable, as it measures a person's natural pace and sense of urgency independent from their preference for structure (Consistency) or detail (Precision). This distinction helps explain why some individuals can be simultaneously methodical yet quick-moving, or flexible yet deliberate in their pace.
User Experience Advantages
Designed for practical application in modern organizations, Aptive Index offers:
- Mobile-first platform design for easy access
- 8-minute average completion time versus 60+ minutes for many competitors
- Clear, actionable insights without requiring extensive interpretation
- Modern user interface following contemporary UX principles
Practical Implementation
Rather than purely theoretical insights, Aptive Index provides practical applications for:
- Hiring and selection decisions
- Team composition analysis
- Leadership development
- Conflict resolution
- Communication optimization
The Reality of Conative Assessments: Transparency Matters
While conative tests provide valuable insights, it's important to understand their limitations and proper context:
Stability vs. Rigidity
Conative traits are relatively stable but not completely static. They can shift subtly over time or in response to significant life events. The key distinction is that these shifts are typically:
- Gradual rather than sudden
- Limited in magnitude
- Often temporary during extreme circumstances
For example, someone might show slightly different conative patterns during major life transitions or periods of high stress, but their core tendencies generally remain recognizable.
Accuracy Trade-Offs
Shorter, more accessible assessments like Aptive Index prioritize practical usability and adoption. This creates inevitable trade-offs:
- Depth vs. Accessibility: More comprehensive assessments may provide deeper insights but require significantly more time and expertise to administer and interpret.
- Specificity vs. Applicability: Highly detailed assessments might capture nuanced variations but can become impractical for organizational use.
- Theoretical Purity vs. Practical Value: Some assessments maintain strict theoretical boundaries between conative, cognitive, and affective domains, while others like Aptive Index intentionally incorporate elements that have proven practical value for workplace applications.
Complementary, Not Comprehensive
Conative assessments should be viewed as one valuable tool in a broader toolkit for understanding human potential and performance, not as a complete solution. They work best when combined with:
- Skill and experience evaluation
- Cultural fit assessment
- Interviews and reference checks
- Performance data
Conclusion: The Future of Conative Assessment
As work environments become increasingly complex and dynamic, understanding conative drives becomes even more valuable. Modern assessments like Aptive Index reflect this evolution, combining scientific rigor with practical usability.
The most effective organizations recognize that conative assessment isn't about fitting people into rigid categories but about creating environments where everyone can contribute through their natural strengths while developing strategies to address areas of potential challenge.
By understanding the stable yet nuanced nature of conative drives, organizations can build more effective teams, reduce unnecessary friction, and create the conditions for both individual fulfillment and collective success.
Looking to explore how conative assessment could benefit your organization? Learn more about Aptive Index's modern, mobile-friendly approach to measuring innate drives and optimizing team performance at aptiveindex.com.
Every business leader knows that people are their greatest asset—and often, their greatest expense. But what's less understood is the real financial impact of hiring mistakes, misaligned teams, and underutilized talent.
The organizations thriving today aren't just hiring differently—they're thinking differently about what predicts success. They've moved beyond gut feelings and resume scanning to make people decisions based on data, science, and proven insights about human behavior.
Here's why this shift matters more than ever.
The Hidden Costs of Traditional Hiring
According to SHRM, the average cost of a bad hire is 30% of that employee's annual salary. For a $100,000 role, that's $30,000 in direct costs—before factoring in team disruption, lost productivity, or missed opportunities.
But the real expense isn't just the obvious failures. It's the slow drain of:
- Talented people in misaligned roles who underperform despite their capabilities
- Teams that struggle to collaborate because they don't understand each other's working styles
- High-potential employees who leave because they were never in the right fit to begin with
- Projects that stall because you have smart people working against their natural strengths
These costs compound daily, whether you measure them or not.
The Science of Better Decisions
Modern psychometric science reveals something counterintuitive: skills and experience are poor predictors of long-term success. What matters more are the hardwired drives that determine how someone approaches work, processes information, and interacts with others.
These innate attributes—things like the need for influence, preference for social interaction, drive for consistency, or attention to precision—remain stable throughout someone's career. They're the invisible forces that determine whether someone will thrive in a role or merely survive it.
Organizations using attribute-based hiring are seeing:
- 40% reduction in turnover through better role alignment
- 3x productivity improvement when people work in roles that match their natural drives
- 67% increase in employee engagement with proper role and culture fit
The data is clear: when you align people's hardwiring with role requirements, everyone wins.
Beyond Hiring: The Multiplying Effect
While better hiring matters, the real transformation happens after people join your team. When you understand how your people are naturally wired, you can:
Optimize Team Dynamics: Teams that understand each other's working styles collaborate more efficiently, turning potential friction into productive collaboration.
Accelerate Development: Instead of generic training programs, you can provide targeted development that builds on natural strengths while addressing specific growth areas.
Improve Leadership Effectiveness: Leaders who understand their team members' drives can adapt their management style, creating environments where people naturally excel.
Reduce Turnover: People stay longer when they're in roles that energize rather than drain them.
The performance gap between aligned and misaligned teams often determines whether organizations hit their goals or miss them entirely.
The Questions Smart Leaders Are Asking
Progressive organizations aren't asking "How much does better hiring cost?" They're asking:
- How much is team misalignment costing us in missed opportunities?
- How many talented people have we lost because they were in roles that didn't fit their natural drives?
- What would 10% better execution across our teams be worth to our bottom line?
- How do we build competitive advantage through our people, not just our products?
These leaders understand that in today's environment, every hire matters. Every team must deliver. Every investment must drive measurable impact.
The Technology That Makes It Possible
Modern assessment platforms combine rigorous science with practical application. The best solutions provide:
- Scientifically Validated Measures: Using factor analysis and statistical validation to ensure reliability
- Role-Specific Targeting: Matching candidates to the specific behavioral requirements of each position
- Team Optimization Tools: Understanding how different drives interact and complement each other
- AI-Powered Insights: Translating complex data into actionable guidance for leaders
This isn't about adding complexity—it's about adding clarity to the most important decisions you make.
The Competitive Advantage in Plain Sight
You wouldn't manage finances without dashboards. You wouldn't make strategic decisions without data. Yet many organizations still manage their most important asset—their people—based on intuition and hope.
The competitive advantage goes to organizations that understand this shift and act on it. When you know how your people are wired, you can design roles, teams, and cultures that bring out their best work.
That's not just good for employees—it's transformational for business results.
Making the Investment Decision
The mathematics are straightforward:
- Avoid one mis-hire: Investment positive
- Retain one key employee longer: Investment positive
- Help one team execute 10% more effectively: Investment positive
But the real value compounds over time. Better hiring leads to better teams. Better teams deliver better results. Better results create sustainable competitive advantage.
The Future of Work Is Data-Driven
Smart leaders recognize that the future belongs to organizations that make people decisions based on science, not assumptions. They're investing in tools and approaches that help them:
- Hire for potential, not just past performance
- Build teams with complementary strengths
- Develop people based on their natural drives
- Create cultures where everyone can thrive
This isn't about following trends—it's about building sustainable competitive advantage through your greatest asset: your people.
For leaders who are serious about scaling with intention and building consistently high-performing teams, understanding what drives human behavior has moved from "nice to have" to "essential for success."
The question isn't whether this approach works—the data proves it does. The question is whether you'll be among the leaders who embrace it early or those who catch up later.
AUSTIN, Texas (November 20, 2024)—Aptive Index, a leader in psychometric assessment and behavioral insights, is thrilled to unveil the results of its most comprehensive validation study to date, demonstrating the exceptional accuracy, reliability, and relevance of its innovative tools. This rigorous research further solidifies Aptive Index as a trusted partner for CEOs, business leaders, and HR professionals aiming to transform their hiring and team-building strategies.
The comprehensive study involved over 400 participants and integrated data from thousands of prior assessments, solidifying Aptive Index’s position as a leader in psychometric evaluation. Results demonstrated that Aptive Index consistently outperforms industry benchmarks in measuring personality and work-style attributes essential for successful organizational alignment.
Aptive Index uses seven key behavioral and hardwired work-style traits to help businesses match people with roles where they will thrive. This approach goes beyond traditional methods by looking at how someone’s natural tendencies align with the needs of a job or team. The result is lower turnover, stronger team connections, and more satisfied employees.
The study demonstrated exceptional reliability metrics across all key indicators. The four primary attributes of Influence, Sociability, Consistency, and Precision showed outstanding composite reliability scores ranging from 0.831 to 0.889, significantly exceeding industry standards. These core measurements were further validated by strong test-retest correlations, with Sociability showing particularly robust stability at 0.922. Factor analysis revealed high construct validity with Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) values between 0.781 and 0.892, confirming the assessment's precision in measuring distinct attributes. Collectively, these metrics establish the Aptive Index as one of the most reliable and scientifically validated tools available for talent optimization and strategic hiring decisions.
Further findings revealed the Aptive Index’s impact on reducing employee turnover, a key challenge for businesses worldwide. By aligning candidates with roles suited to their strengths and natural work styles, the assessment directly addresses the costly consequences of turnover, which can range from 30% to 150% of an employee’s annual salary. Aptive Index enables companies to foster more cohesive teams and improve retention rates by ensuring the right fit for every role.
Aptive Index also excels in promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through its assessments. Rigorous analysis confirmed that the platform is free from demographic bias, supporting fair and inclusive hiring practices. This feature empowers organizations to build diverse teams while maintaining the highest standards of accuracy and integrity.
“Our mission at Aptive Index is to help organizations make smarter, data-driven decisions that empower individuals and teams,” said Jason P. Carroll, Founder and CEO of Aptive Index. “This validation study demonstrates not only the precision of our platform but also the tangible benefits it brings to the workplace, from reducing turnover to promoting inclusivity.”
Click here to download the full validation documentation. [Aptive Index Comprehensive Validation Report.pdf]