Dissecting Trindent’s Values for New Applicants – Character Before Skill

Think of your next job as an investment.  When you invest in something, you first want to make sure the asset meets whatever criteria you define as a “good fit” – whether it’s the level of risk, or the rate of return, or some other factor.   Throughout your career, the same methodology should apply when you are assessing a potential employer – do they meet your criteria of what a good fit is? 

One of the most reliable ways to determine if a potential employer will be a good fit is by looking at their values and assessing how similar they are to yours. 

At Trindent, one of our three core values is “Character Before Skill”, which can be broken down into two parts.

1. Character
2. Skill

Character

Your character defines who you are.  It is the sum total of your of morals, your ethics, your worldview, your approach, your attitude.   When it comes to hiring consultants, Trindent believes that it is attitude that sets apart the candidates who will succeed from ones who may struggle.   Consultants must have the right mindset – the right attitude – if they are to succeed in their role.

In our engagements, there is no “one size fits all” solution to every challenge that our clients face; therefore, consultants are constantly juggling unknown variables while remaining versatile and persistent enough to “overcome [even] the most daunting of challenges.”  In addition, consultants must have the ability to remain positive through whatever happens.  The nature and speed of our business and engagement schedules creates ups and downs with regular frequency, so the ability to remain focused and resilient is necessary to deliver the best possible results to our clients.

The right attitude is not only for the benefit of clients but also for the team you will be working with.  Trindent teams are lean and work closely together, often through months-long engagements.  To be successful, this dynamic relies on a good working relationship between everyone on the team.  Someone who is easily discouraged or isn’t agile or just lacks the energy and motivation of the rest of the team will create a distraction to the engagement and make it difficult for everyone to function as a group.

Skill

A skill is “a learned power of doing something competently:a developed aptitude or ability”.  For Trindent, the key word from that definition is “learned”.

Consulting can be complex and demanding work; and the skillset it requires is a robust one.   However, these are skills that consultants have accumulated through advanced education and years of experience, and ones they’ll continue to hone as their careers advance.   There is, of course, a substantial set of requirements that every applicant must meet.  But we recognize that if what’s standing between us and a really great consultant who fits the Trindent mold is a missing skill that can be developed, it may not an obstacle at all.

Conclusion

Skills do not build relationships, the right mindset does. The relationships we build with our colleagues and our clients drive our overall success

Character traits are static; skills can be taught.   

Trindent likewise approaches the recruitment and selection process with an investment mindset.  We want to select the best individuals who will fit our paradigm, bring the right attitude to work, and pay dividends on the investment we make in them.

This is why, for Trindent, Character comes before Skill.