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.
When it comes to hiring the right talent, tools like Predictive Index (PI) and Culture Index (CI) have become staples for many organizations. These psychometric assessments help companies align candidates with job requirements, offering insight into natural behavior patterns and cognitive tendencies.
However, while effective for talent acquisition, they only address a fraction of what companies truly need to build high-performing teams. Traditional hiring insights represent just 30% of what organizations actually need for sustainable workforce success.
The Evolution Beyond Hiring-Only Tools
Aptive Index represents the next generation of psychometric platforms, doing everything PI and CI accomplish, then extending far beyond traditional boundaries. The remaining 70% of organizational value lies in what happens after the hire: optimizing current employees, accelerating team effectiveness, and unlocking leadership potential.
Advanced Hiring Capabilities (30% of Value)
Like Predictive Index and Culture Index, Aptive Index benchmarks candidates against role-specific attribute targets. These targets, based on stable innate drives rather than situational personality traits, help ensure job fit and predict engagement, performance, and employee retention.
Aptive Index's hiring advantages:
8 core attributes for comprehensive candidate evaluation, including nuanced traits like Emotional Resonance, Abstraction, and Prosocial Drive
More targeted behavioral interview questions that probe genuine fit
Reduced hiring bias by focusing on innate drives rather than personality projections
EEOC-compliant assessment methodology with proven reliability
This precision enables more accurate candidate matching and significantly reduces costly mis-hires that traditional tools often miss.
The True Differentiator: Complete Talent Optimization (60% of Value)
Most psychometric tools end their value proposition at the hire. Aptive Index treats hiring as just the beginning of comprehensive talent optimization.
Decode Team Dynamics
Visualize exactly how team members complement or clash based on their behavioral profiles and attribute combinations. Understanding these dynamics transforms team friction into productive collaboration, leading to:
Better cross-functional collaboration and communication
Reduced workplace conflict and improved team cohesion
Enhanced team performance through optimized working relationships
Strategic team composition for critical projects and initiatives
Balance Execution Styles
Understand whether your team naturally leans toward systems or standards, detail-oriented or big-picture thinking, adaptability or routine preferences. This insight helps you design workflows that leverage rather than fight against natural tendencies.
Identify Leadership Potential
Move beyond charisma or tenure to see who's genuinely wired to lead in different contexts. Whether it's a visionary Enterpriser or steady Coordinator, match leadership opportunities to authentic strengths for:
More effective succession planning and leadership development
Better organizational performance through aligned leadership roles
Reduced leadership failures from poor role-person fit
Strengthen Trust and Communication
Using Aptive Index's Trust Framework, leaders and team members learn how their attributes shape trust expectations and collaboration styles. This creates stronger working relationships and more effective team communication.
Precision Coaching and Development
One-on-one guides and relationship analyses help managers tailor communication and feedback to how each team member is naturally wired, resulting in more effective performance management and targeted professional development.
Built-in Leadership Intelligence (10% of Value)
Aptive Index doesn't treat leadership as a personality trait or promotion title. It recognizes leadership as alignment between someone's drives and role demands. Some profiles excel at driving change, while others provide stability, wisdom, and relational strength.
Rather than generic leadership development programs, Aptive Index helps you identify, support, and deploy the right leaders in appropriate contexts.
The Aria AI Advantage: On-Demand Intelligence
What truly differentiates Aptive Index from Predictive Index, Culture Index, and other assessment tools is Aria, our built-in AI assistant that functions as an embedded I/O psychologist, coach, and strategist.
Aria provides:
Instant Profile Interpretation: Complex attribute data translated into clear, actionable insights tailored to your specific role or challenge
Dynamic 1-on-1 Relationship Guides: Practical coaching for better collaboration with any teammate based on both behavioral profiles
Real-time Leadership Coaching: Navigate difficult conversations, motivate diverse teams, and optimize role fit for better outcomes
Smart Hiring Support: From drafting position targets to generating custom interview questions that probe for genuine alignment
Aria transforms raw assessment data into strategic insight, available on-demand with zero delay—eliminating the need for expensive consultant interpretation.
Measurable Business Impact
Organizations using comprehensive talent optimization through Aptive Index report:
40% reduction in employee turnover through better role alignment and team dynamics
3x productivity improvement when people work in roles matching their natural drives
67% increase in employee engagement with proper role and culture fit
Significant reduction in hiring costs and faster time-to-productivity for new hires
Enhanced innovation and problem-solving capabilities across teams
Beyond Traditional Assessment: Complete Platform Integration
While traditional tools require separate solutions for hiring, team development, and leadership programs, Aptive Index integrates everything into one comprehensive platform:
For Hiring Managers: Scientific candidate matching, custom interview question generation, team fit analysis, and optimized onboarding
For Team Leaders: Individual coaching guidance, team dynamics visualization, conflict resolution strategies, and performance management aligned to natural drives
For HR and Leadership Development: Leadership potential identification, succession planning, team restructuring recommendations, and culture development strategies
For Executives: Organizational design insights, strategic team composition for critical initiatives, and comprehensive people analytics
The Competitive Advantage
Organizations that understand the difference between hiring-only tools and complete talent optimization platforms gain significant advantages:
Talent Acquisition: Better candidate attraction and selection through comprehensive behavioral assessment
Employee Retention: Higher retention rates by ensuring people work in energizing rather than draining roles
Team Performance: Optimized collaboration and communication through understanding of team dynamics
Leadership Development: More effective leaders developed and deployed in appropriate contexts
Organizational Culture: Workplace environments where high performance feels natural rather than forced
Making the Strategic Shift
The most successful organizations are moving beyond seeing assessment as a one-time hiring screen to viewing it as ongoing strategic intelligence about their most important asset: their people.
While Predictive Index and Culture Index provide value at the hiring stage, Aptive Index delivers continuous value across the entire employee lifecycle. It equips you not just to hire the right people, but to understand them, coach them, organize them into high-performing teams, and develop them into effective leaders.
With Aria providing instant access to insights, those capabilities are always just one question away.
Ready to move beyond traditional hiring tools? Discover how complete talent optimization can transform your organization's approach to people decisions.
By afternoon, I discovered I had made a significant mistake. One that taught me a fundamental truth about trust in the workplace: it's not about what we do right, but about the expectations we don't even know we're failing to meet.
What Trust Really Means
At its simplest, trust is the belief that someone will meet your expectations. But here's what makes it complex: these expectations are often invisible, shaped by our natural drives and motivations that run far deeper than our conscious awareness.
When trust breaks down in professional relationships, it typically stems from misalignment in three key areas: character, competence, and compassion. Each person brings their own set of expectations to these components, often without realizing it.
The Three Components of Trust
Character: The Foundation
Character expectations form the bedrock of trust. While we often think of character as a universal standard - either someone has integrity or they don't - the reality is more nuanced. What one person considers a breach of integrity, another might view as practical flexibility. These differences in expectations about character and values can create invisible friction in teams.
Competence: Not Just About Being "Good"
Here's where expectations get particularly interesting. Consider this scenario from my own experience: I once had a team member deliver a project that met all our core requirements. They completed it ahead of schedule, hit all the major objectives, and felt proud of their work. Yet their manager was deeply disappointed. Why?
The manager had a natural drive for precision and detail. To them, competence meant thorough, meticulous work where every detail was perfect. The team member, however, was wired to prioritize speed and big-picture impact. Their definition of competence centered on rapid delivery of functional solutions.
Neither was wrong - they simply had different expectations about what "good work" meant. This misalignment eroded trust on both sides: the manager began to doubt the team member's capabilities, while the team member felt their contributions weren't valued.
Compassion: The Hidden Expectation
Remember Sarah? Her situation revealed something crucial about trust and compassion. By not asking about her weekend - something I wouldn't typically expect or need myself - I had inadvertently violated her expectation of leadership support and connection.
What makes this particularly challenging is that Sarah herself might not have consciously known she had this expectation until it went unmet. Her natural drive for social connection and personal acknowledgment meant that my standard "get down to business" approach felt like a betrayal of the supportive relationship she expected from leadership.
Building Better Trust Through Understanding
These stories highlight a crucial truth: trust isn't something that's simply earned through consistent good behavior. It's actively given when we meet others' expectations - expectations that are deeply rooted in their natural drives and motivations.
So how do we build better trust in our teams? Here are three key steps:
- Recognize That Expectations Vary
- Understand that different team members will have different expectations about what constitutes good character, competence, and compassion
- Accept that these differences stem from natural drives, not personal shortcomings
- Make Expectations Explicit
- Create open dialogue about working preferences and expectations
- Discuss what trust means to different team members
- Define what success looks like from multiple perspectives
- Adapt Your Approach
- Adjust your leadership style based on individual team member needs
- Build systems that accommodate different working styles
- Create flexibility in how goals can be achieved
The Path Forward
Understanding these natural differences in trust expectations can transform how we build and maintain professional relationships. Instead of assuming everyone shares our definition of trustworthy behavior, we can create environments that acknowledge and respect different working styles and expectations.The key isn't to change who we are or force others to change - it's to understand these natural differences and build bridges across them. When we do this, we create stronger, more resilient teams where trust can flourish.