Hiring for attitude blog post.

Today I am going to be talking about “hiring for attitude” a topic that many recruiters and experts in the industry discuss. I think over recent years this has become more prevalent than ever. Especially with more emphasis being put on who we are – our quirks and intricacies rather than our demonstrated abilities and what we put on our resumes.

Hiring for attitude and the selection process.

I know what you’re thinking – how can I hire for attitude, when I am looking at a sheet of white paper on my computer screen?  You’re right, you can’t. Hiring for attitude comes when you meet a person. But, you can select that person by loosening up a little bit on your set “criteria” when reviewing applicants.

If for example, you hire people with a minimum of 5 years experience, you may be losing out on quality applicants who fit your company culture better.
Say you’re filtering candidates by a certain certification you really would love them to have, that’s fine. However, could you review candidates who don’t have that and ask them to obtain it IF they’re offered the role? Again this will broaden your reach with new hires.

Hiring for attitude at the interview process.

So you’ve become a little easier going on the candidates you’re getting in. Loosened up on your super strict criteria and are seeing a higher volume of candidates for the role. Great, but what next?

Well the first and most important thing is… focusing on their attitude, you guessed it – its the attitude that matters. So.. what do we mean when we say this? Recruiters and recruitment experts have been saying for years that hiring a good attitude is better than hiring a resume.

A couple of examples of this could be; You get a candidate with a wealth of experience who can come in, hit the ground running and be an expert in the role. Fantastic, but is that candidate likely to want to try new things? Learn new things? Help others to develop? Probably not.

Next up – you have candidate who only has around a year’s experience, BUT they’ve been promoted from their last company twice, have a solid work history and come to the interview full of beans and stories. They admit – they’ll need some training and development and an investment of time from the company. But they’re willing to learn, willing to try new roles & willing to develop their skills & abilities (which in turn benefits the company) They’re also much more likely to want to grow with the company and be promoted.

And finally – you have a candidate who is a novice in this area, their resume is a little hard to understand. They cannot clear up reasons for having multiple roles in short spaces of time. This type of attitude is often a red flag. They’re likely to be either unreliable, or easy to poach for a slightly higher salary – meaning they don’t usually embrace the company culture or make lasting connections with clients or team members.

So what is your take away from the above? Which option do you think would most benefit the business as a whole?

Recruiters can help!

If the whole hiring for attitude thing scares the living daylights out of you. Then personal best worldwide can help. We screen candidates in a variety of ways with a variety of methods and tools to help bring you the best possible fit for your organisation. There are many recruitment companies, recruitment consultants and talent acquisition specialists around. We are different from the rest – consider us your recruitment partner. Working seamlessly with you to achieve your hiring goals!

We hope you enjoyed our short blog today!

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