While hiring people with the right skills to do the job is a basic recruitment requirement, it's finding people with the right attitude that makes the difference. And don't think the idea of basing recruitment decisions on candidate attitude is a new concept.
According to Vaughan Bradley, director of leading talent ad agency HainesAttract - one of the sponsors of this year's JRA Best Workplaces survey - explorer Ernest Shackleton hired people for their attitude more than a century ago when selecting people for the Nimrod trek to Antarctica. "Shackleton got 5000 applications," says Bradley. "When he was screening and interviewing people he got them to sing songs and dance because he was looking for people who could jolly things up - it is a classic case of hiring for attitude."
Bradley says getting people with the right attitude starts with the recruitment advert as would-be applicants need to know what the employer is looking for - over and above the basic skill set required to do the job. "A well-written advert helps enormously, and will lead to some degree of self selection," he says. "People will decide if they fit the firm."
Bradley says hiring people with the wrong attitude can be disastrous for the employer and affect not only the firm but its existing staff too. He says: "The initial signs of having hired the wrong person include them not fitting in, people not wanting to work with them, or the new person being unproductive because they are not getting the support they need - because there is something wrong with their approach or attitude."
John Robertson, managing director of workplace survey firm JRA, says best workplaces have always regarded finding the "right" person as one of their more important and strategic business decisions. "They adopt a very rigorous recruitment process," he says. "And one that places great emphasis on finding people whose personal values align strongly with those of the organisation." Robertson says the recruitment process typically involves the input of existing staff. "For example, the conversation will often explore customer service experiences, teamwork, examples of professionalism, leadership style and so on."
JRA is running the JRA Best Workplaces Survey in association with the Herald from June 1 through August 31. Registrations are being taken now.
Take part in the Best Workplaces survey 2009 The JRA Best Workplaces '09 survey is run in association with The New Zealand Herald
