Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill

While seeing this quote a couple of days ago, something deeply resonated with me. I have been studying in four different countries in the past five years of my university studies. I have come across many driven and talented people who now struggle to find employment. Naturally, I ask myself, how is this possible?

All of us sometimes see a job posting and think "Yes, that's it! That sounds just like me!" while you keep going through the job criteria, ticking off one bullet point after another. And then... well, you come across the requirement for 2+ years of experience for an entry-level position...

The job requirements then usually go on, frequently naming position-specific skills that you probably never saw before. Of course, you can look these up and start working on them through online trainings and YouTube but at the same time, you could also learn these very quickly by performing them ON the job.

Looking around me, here in Denmark, I see many talented people who have persevered in their choice of pursuing their degree abroad. I see people who got out of their comfort zone and while studying in a foreign country, they have also managed to volunteer, work part-time and create new social networks. I know, that if I was an organization, I would try as hard as I could to get these people on board and I wouldn't want to let them go. This is because I believe that while you can always train people for skills, attitudes are deeply rooted and therefore you can easily lose by hiring your candidates by filtering them purely based on skills.

To wrap this up with a more positive outlook, as a fresh graduate looking for a job on the current post-pandemic labor market, I still believe that if we persevere, if we set our mind to a certain goal, we can get there. So companies, believe in us too, give us a chance to talk to you to show that we have what it takes. I promise, you will not regret it in the future!