Article

What I Look for When Hiring: Personality Over a Polished CV

Team chemistry, common sense and intrinsic motivation beat experience

Richard Golian10 August 2024 · 2 888 reads

Hi, I am Richard. On this blog, I share thoughts, personal stories, findings and what I am working on. I hope this article brings you some value.

Hiring for Attitude: Why Soft Skills Beat Hard Skills

Richard Golian PPC advertising, performance marketing, Mixit

Practical interviews at Mixit s.r.o.

Common Sense: The One Trait You Cannot Teach

Sure, I can teach online advertising and marketing data interpretation, but I cannot teach common sense. Either it is there or it is not. When someone overcomplicates simple tasks or ignores the obvious solutions, working with them becomes a challenge. Common sense is a quality that I try to find in potential colleagues during the practical part of the interview.

Team Chemistry: Why Cohesion Beats Raw Talent

Another thing that you cannot force is chemistry. In my experience, when there is great chemistry among colleagues, any problem can be tackled. On the flip side, without it, even minor issues seem insurmountable. If someone in the team disrespects others, or is generally toxic, it needs to be addressed. It is vital to identify these traits during the hiring process or probationary period.

Intrinsic Motivation: What You Cannot Manufacture

It is tough to spark internal motivation in someone if they do not have it within themselves. I can inspire and energize someone temporarily, but I cannot sustain that for them. Working with someone who always needs a push is exhausting. This trait is often hidden during the hiring process because many people can fake determination and motivation. The truth usually comes out in the first few weeks of working together.

So, what do I look for in potential colleagues? Good chemistry, common sense, and internal motivation. It is simple.

Summary

I have hired through practical interviews, not CVs. Three things matter more than experience. Common sense, which cannot be taught. Chemistry, without which even small problems become impossible to solve. Internal motivation, which cannot be manufactured. Experience I can teach. These I cannot.

Common questions on this article's topic

Why is personality more important than experience when hiring?

Because skills can be taught but personality traits like common sense, internal motivation, and interpersonal chemistry cannot be manufactured. In the article, these three qualities are identified as what makes collaboration effective, and what makes their absence impossible to compensate for, regardless of how impressive a candidate's resume may be.

What is common sense in a professional context and can it be taught?

In the article, common sense is described as the ability to handle straightforward situations without overcomplicating them, recognising obvious solutions rather than ignoring them. While some aspects can be developed through experience, the core capacity is either present or not. It is identified as a quality to look for during the practical part of an interview, not something that can be reliably trained afterward.

Why does team chemistry matter more than individual skill?

In the article, the observation is that when great chemistry exists among colleagues, any problem can be tackled, but without it, even minor issues seem insurmountable. Research in organisational psychology supports this: task-focused cohesion is one of the stronger correlates of team performance, and cohesive teams often outperform groups of individually talented members who lack unity. Gallup research shows that knowing each other's strengths matters more than which strengths a team has.

Can internal motivation be created through management?

Not sustainably. In the article, the distinction is clear: temporary inspiration and energy can be provided, but long-term internal motivation cannot be manufactured by someone else. Self-Determination Theory confirms that truly sustainable motivation requires autonomy, competence, and relatedness, conditions that a manager can create, but the drive itself must come from within.

How can you identify personality traits during the hiring process?

In the article, common sense is tested through practical interview tasks, while chemistry is assessed through direct interaction. However, motivation is identified as the hardest to detect. Many candidates can convincingly fake determination during interviews. Research confirms that over 90% of candidates engage in some form of impression management. The truth typically emerges in the first few weeks of working together.

What should you prioritise when building a team?

Good chemistry, common sense, and internal motivation, in the article, this is presented as the complete list. Experience and technical skills are explicitly secondary because they can be taught. The framework is simple but demanding: these three qualities determine whether a colleague will contribute to solving problems or will create new ones.

What does hiring for attitude, not experience, mean?

It is a hiring philosophy, popularised by Herb Kelleher at Southwest Airlines, that attitude and personality should weigh more heavily than existing technical skill, because skills can be taught but character cannot. In the article I take exactly this position: experience I can teach, but common sense, chemistry and internal motivation I cannot manufacture in someone who lacks them.

What is the difference between soft skills and hard skills?

Hard skills are teachable, measurable competencies such as running online advertising or interpreting marketing data. Soft skills are harder to train: common sense, the ability to work well with others, and self-motivation. In the article I argue that hard skills can be taught on the job, so when hiring I weight the soft skills far more heavily, because their absence cannot be compensated for later.

What is a work sample test or practical interview?

A work sample test asks a candidate to perform a task that resembles the real job, rather than only talking about their experience. In the article I use the practical part of the interview to observe common sense directly: how someone handles a straightforward problem without overcomplicating it. Decades of research in personnel selection find work sample performance to be among the stronger predictors of actual job performance.

What is intrinsic motivation?

Intrinsic motivation is the drive to do something for its own satisfaction rather than for an external reward. In the article I describe it as the one trait I cannot manufacture in someone: I can inspire and energise a person temporarily, but sustained motivation has to come from within. Self-Determination Theory frames the same idea, holding that lasting motivation depends on autonomy, competence and relatedness.

If you have any thoughts, questions, or feedback, feel free to drop me a message at mail@richardgolian.com.

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