I have taken number of interviews during last few years. One thing amazes me is how interest in a person transforms him when given an opportunity with some mentoring. Numerous occasions I (you might have) have seen a person with loads of interest, good skill and limited/elementary knowledge out performing his colleagues who are skillful with loads of knowledge.
Without interest you always push for things to happen, often requiring monitoring and qualitative assessments. But other side (with interest) you just need to mentor, remaining things will be taken care.
Skill, often natural, is important one to be considered while selecting a candidate. Without skill, interest doesn’t make sense. How many times we have seen a very skilled person not doing justice to his job. Skill in line with interest (job) gives better results than anything else.
With interest, knowledge can be acquired during course of time and enriched continuously. One is lucky to find a candidate who has interest, skill and knowledge of the job he looking for. But often we get into a situation (time) where we have to make a decision with the things at hand.
If there is time to acquire knowledge then interest, skill and knowledge order make sense. But if there no time (right on the job from day one) then interest, knowledge and skill order make sense. This doesn’t mean skill is not needed. Remember all three are needed for any job.
For most part of my interviews I prefer first order i.e. interest, skill and knowledge.
