In private equity, and in other ownership structures too, the way people read CVs is changing. Take the doctorate. There used to be a German saying that however muddled your thinking, as a doctor you’d always command respect. That’s completely gone today.
Where degrees and universities (Cologne, WHU, KIT, RWTH, St. Gallen and so on) were once the key that opened doors, a different paradigm is now coming into focus: attitude, not just skill.
With digitalisation and AI, expertise goes out of date faster than ever. A brilliant degree shows that someone could learn in the past, but it doesn’t guarantee they can keep up with the uncertainty and pace of the future, and above all bring the team with them. Our clients ask about this more and more.
The classic requirements, “we don’t want anyone from a large corporation”, “but there must be a top-tier consultancy on the CV”, “ideally a dual qualification”, “at least a good university”, are fading fast.
Credentials are static: they describe what someone has done. Attitude is dynamic: it describes what someone will do.
Soft skills such as resilience, curiosity, team spirit and a strong focus on solutions are much harder to teach and sit deeper in the personality than hard skills.
It’s relatively easy to teach a motivated employee how to use new software. It’s almost impossible to teach a highly qualified but pessimistic loner a positive team culture or genuine enthusiasm.
Some of the key ingredients of a winning attitude:
- A growth mindset: the belief that abilities can be developed through effort.
- Adaptability: a willingness to leave familiar paths and embrace something new.
- Cultural fit: do the candidate’s values match the company’s DNA?
Studies regularly show that wrong appointments rarely fail for lack of expertise, but mostly for lack of integration or motivation.
Of course, a surgeon can’t operate without passing their exams, and a structural engineer can’t inspect bridges without a degree (let’s leave finance and defence ministers out of it for now). Credentials are still the indicator of basic competence.
Investors who have the courage to back people with the right spirit build more resilient and innovative teams. Certificates don’t solve problems; people with the right attitude do.
You’ve all sat on the employer’s side too:
how do you see this tension? Have you ever been turned down for lack of credentials?
