You’re in customer service — you have to hire the right attitude, right? Maybe not, new research says.
The old adage, “Hire attitude, teach aptitude” may get tossed on its head.
Turns out, most managers hiring for customer service positions make decisions based on personality, a Cornell Center for Hospitality Research study found. But mental ability is a key to high performance and job success, research has proven over time.
Hiring managers focused mostly on agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional stability. Mental ability was the fourth most important candidate attribute to hiring managers.
A caution here: Managers in a contact center environment don’t want to rely on mental ability alone in their hiring decisions. But researchers suggest they put equal emphasis on smarts and personality. That should set up everyone for success.
