A Good Attitude + A Good Aptitude = A Good hire

  • Author: krish

Organisations are continuously looking at inventive and innovative approaches to address their recruitment requirements. While technical skills are tangible and are well written out in resumes, identifying attitude in a 30 min interview continues to be a challenge.tweet this!
The candidate for obvious reasons wants to put his best foot forward. He has probably role played most of the typical questions that would be asked during the interview and has already thought through the most impressive answer for these set of questions However, it is extremely important for the organisation to be able to assess whether the candidate will fit the role and blend into the culture of the organisation at the same time perform his role in the best possible manner. How many times have we heard of what one bad apple can do …
Some measures that Organisations can take to hire candidates with the right attitude are:

    • Have a ‘thorough’ reference check.

Reference checks are an excellent way of finding out details about the candidate that otherwise wouldn’t surface during an interview or in the resume. When a person is being hired into an organisation, they also bring in their character and personality. During the reference check if emphasis is laid on examples or instances where the candidate has done well or done badly should throw in some insights into their personality traits. Talking to the peers or friends should also give you some finer nuances about the person’s strengths & weaknesses and asking the right questions will also give you an insight into their character

    • Focus on Employee referrals from high performers

“A man is known by the Company he keeps”. In my experience I have always noticed that high performers tend to hang out with other high performers in the company. Similarly they probably have friends who are like them. Since the current high performers within the company already have the desired attitude, they make a great recruitment channel to attract good talent

    • Pay attention and listen carefully to the candidate’s answers

Common questions like “when was the last time you did not achieve your targets and why?’ can throw a lot of information on the candidates attitude. Employees with the right attitude would focus on the learning’s from their failures, while the ones with a poor attitude would tend to the blame the organisation and do not display any signs of ownership.

    • Discuss the job in detail

While explaining the role to the candidate, ensure that there is clear communication and the candidate knows exactly what to expect. It’s alright to mention long hours, stiff targets, difficult clients etc if that is the truth. Being honest may dissuade candidates with a poor attitude to take up the offer and if they sound uncomfortable its best not to hire them. Clearly indicating the qualities that the ideal candidate should have will deter the ones who don’t possess them leading to lesser ‘poor quality hires’

“Attitudes are contagious” tweet this! is something all of us would have learnt through experience. If you invest the time and energy upfront to think critically about what attitudes you want and then hire against that target, the reward can be invaluable. As a successful ambassador you have the power to set the tone for your organization’s success in recruiting, screening and hiring world class individuals with world class attitudes. So what kind of legacy are you planning to build?

Author: krish