Aptitude and not Attitude is in need of hour of the 21

st
Century
Attitude is a very important aspect in our daily lives. Lets analyze this
word carefully. Attitude can be defined as your feelings towards
yourself, towards others and the world around you. Aptitude on the
other hand can be defined as your natural inherent talent or your natural
tendency to pick up abilities. Now having understood both of them,
which one do you think is more essential? s it your feelings towards
others or your natural inherent talent and ability to grasp?
!eidi "oholt once said, #A winning grin is no good if your aptitude
stinks$. Lets take a %uintessential e&ample in todays world.
'obseekers these days face difficult challenges. (he days of donning
your best suit and turning on the charm during a face)to)face interview
have long gone, replaced by an increasing range of sophisticated
assessments called aptitude tests. An attitude test gives you a
hypothesis of what someones personality might be like, not a
guarantee. (he only way you know if it*s correct is through a
conversation, asking which bits are true, which are useful, which don*t
ring %uite right, so in this case testing a persons aptitude would prove
to more concrete and accurate.
Attitude tests have a very poor rating in predictive validity. +eople do
,obs with a wide range of attitude. -ven if you stereotype, for e&ample
by looking at an audit department, there will be e&troverts and
introverts, imaginative people and those who are more constrained.
.hen there are skillful ,obs to be offered, for e&ample an architect*s
,ob, they put up an advertisement saying /architects with good aptitude
are needed as that is what is going to get the ,ob done. !e may have
the attitude but if he does not have the right aptitude he can never do
,ustice to a skillful ,ob
Attitude can be achieved Aptitude has to be learnt or is genetic. Lets
take another e&ample. A boy having good aptitude gives his board
e&am and passes with flying colours. Now can a boy merely having the
right type of attitude, go into the e&amination hall and pass with flying
colours? n this case, when the first had his aptitude tested, the right
attitude to go ahead in his desired direction automatically entered the
e%uation. Not many take attitude tests but all companies do take
aptitude tests for the simple reason that if the person they are dealing
with does not have the right skill, his attitude is not of any importance
and with lack of aptitude your attitude is also short lived.
.hen someone is climbing a mountain, he climbs 012 of it with his
aptitude and the rest 312 with his attitude. No one can climb a peak
simply with his attitude. (he same e&ample applies when we tread the
mountains and hills of our day to day life. t is our aptitude that is going
to help us cross obstacles and deal cleverly with them and not merely
our attitude.
4obert +ease from 'ohnson 5*6onnor 4esearch 7oundations, presently
famous for his articles in a renowned newspaper, recalls a ,ob where he
recruited technical and software engineers. !e said that the firm usually
relied on a balance of aptitude tests and interviews. 5ccasionally theyd
take a risk on someone whose aptitude was low, but had a great attitude
seeming perfect for the ,ob. 8enerally, that was a mistake. Aptitude
tests try to measure intellect and reasoning, and usually involve
numerical or verbal assessments and that is what is going to get the ,ob
done.
Attitude is of two types, namely positive and negative and all of us
know how the word /attitude has completely changed its meaning
today. .hen we say the word we need not even mention if it is positive
or negative. As we can see, times have changed.
As mentioned earlier, you may have a wonderful attitude but without
an aptitude 95: ':"( 6ANN5( 8-( A '5; <5N-= Attitude is fine,
but its aptitude is what makes you shine. (hus would like to conclude
with the fact that it is aptitude and not attitude which is in need of hour
in the >3st century.

) "hreyans "heth
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