Restaurant chain Caffè Nero is far more likely to compromise on skillset than cultural fit when hiring new talent, according to HR director Steve Carpenter.

Speaking aboard Aurora at the Human Resources Forum organised by Richmond Events, Carpenter told delegates that recruiting new colleagues with the right cultural fit and the right attitudes was far more important than hiring those with the right skills. Training easily tackles skills development but dealing with the wrong attitudes is a much more difficult task, he said.

Carpenter added that through hiring candidates that may not be ready for the new post, the training they receive creates a highly engaged individual. The downside of the approach, he said, has meant the organisation can lack certain skills and be less effective. By giving a candidate a post that pushes their potential, employees are stretched and commit to the business, creating a highly engaged, loyal and driven workforce.

And while the restaurant chain is prepared to compromise on skills, it does not compromise on its recruitment process for store managers, which Carpenter says involves three stakeholders who have to all agree on a particular candidate or that person is not hired. For senior talent, the process involves six stakeholders combined with psychometric testing. Should stakeholders make a mistake and recruit someone that resigns or leaves in the first 12 months, then they go before senior management to find out what went wrong in the process. Stakeholders are far less likely to make the same mistakes again in the recruitment process.

Carpenter told Recruiter: “It is really important for us to recruit with culture in mind and compromise on skills if we have to. We want people to join our business with the right attitudes and the right work ethic. The skills we need within the business are relatively straightforward to train. While we can train them, we can’t change people’s personalities and attitudes. We want to stretch and push employees, and get them into the learning and development cycle very early on in their roles.”