We hired someone that was "top of his class" in statistics and was recommended by the head of department. He was the worst employee we have had. He never did what we asked him to do, instead he would always do things a "better" way. His lecturer loved the way he was proactive an innovative but he couldn't follow basic instructions. We want to hire people who get the job done, their attitude is not important.

If we have an office with 4 introverts that barely say 2 words to each other all day, and when they do talk it's usually some type of sarcastic negative humour. We dont want to hire a super bubbly cheerful optomistic outgoing person, we want someone that will fit into the office and work well with the others. What you think is a good attitude isnt what everyone thinks is a good attitude because we have different priorities.

So their qualification should only be based on their ability to do the work. You leave the judgement of their attitude up to the interview panel.