What does it take to be employable over the long term? We know it’s important to develop marketable skills, which can be learned. What’s becoming increasingly important is what I call Brand U survival skills and attitudes, those that last for a lifetime. These personal life and work attitudes may be a sense of humor, adaptability, kindness, honesty, integrity, fairness, risk sensitivity, and goal orientation. As you remember, we called these the EQ, the emotional quotient.
What do you do if you don’t have the skills an employer or customer wants? We’re seeing more companies hire for attitude and train for skills. More often, I see the best companies hire smart, confident, affirmative, risk taking, sharing, and happy Brand U’s. These smart organizations have arrived at the same answer: ‘What people know is less important than who they are.’ This is more common for entry-level positions but this attitude is migrating to technical and mid-level professional as well.