Most New Hires Don’t Fail Because They’re Bad at the Job…

Most New Hires Don’t Fail Because They’re Bad at the Job…

Let’s cut to it: the top five reasons why new hires fail have nothing to do with the qualifications you obsess over when writing that “perfect” job spec, it probably makes sense when you read the sentence but how can we ensure that it flows into your next hiring process?

These numbers come “Hiring for Attitude” by Mark Murphy and are based on a study of 20,000 hires over 3 years.

1. Coachability (26%): The ability to accept and implement feedback from bosses, colleagues, customers and others.

   Can they take feedback without flinching? Better yet—can they do something with it?

2. Emotional Intelligence (23%): The ability to understand and manage one’s own emitions and accurately assess others’ emotions.

   Spoiler alert: if they can’t read the room or manage their own mood swings, they’re not going to manage much else.

3. Motivation (17%): Sufficient drive to achieve one’s full potential and excel in the job.

   Are they driven, or are they just collecting another payslip? You’ll know soon enough.

4. Temperament (15%): Attitude and personality suited to the particular job and work environment.

   Great CV, terrible human. Been there? Thought so.

5. Technical Competence (11%): Functional or technical skills required to do the job.

   Yep—last on the list. The thing most hiring processes are built around.

Striking? Sure. Surprising? Honestly, not really—not if you’ve spent any time trying to fix the mess after a bad hire.

In real estate—and frankly in most sectors—the knee-jerk reaction is always the same: job spec packed with “required experience,” a tidy list of RIBA stages or Asset types they must know, maybe a task or ten for good measure.

But when I dig into what actually makes someone thrive in the business, the feedback is always behavioural:

• “We need someone who actually listens.”

• “We want people who don’t crumble when things go wrong.”

• “The ones that stick? They just get it.”

Hiring isn’t just about skills. It’s about fit—attitude, drive, adaptability, EQ, the ability to not to be a d**k under pressure.

So next time you’re gearing up to make a hire, do yourself a favour:

🛑 Pause the CV skimming.

🧠 Ask: “What does success actually look like here?”

💣 Then: “What’s failed in the past—and why?”

Build from that. Not from some Frankenstein spec of buzzwords and bullet points.

If you’re not sure where to start, drop us a message.  We’ve helped plenty of people pull together hiring frameworks that cut through the fluff and find the right human for the job.

Because great hires don’t just tick boxes—they fit the room.