TAKING A ‘HIRING FOR ATTITUDE’ APPROACH TO RECRUITMENT
4 min read
‘Company culture’ is a term that features regularly in senior directorship and board level discussions. An increasing number of businesses now recognise the value and importance of creating an environment that encourages and motivates their workforce, with emphasis placed on the physical environment, the business; values, vision, practices, policies, and the investment into employee development to ensure progression and a sense of value.
While delivering higher levels of staff retention, productivity and a generally happier workforce, creating the perfect aura within a business requires adequate time and the right people to do it – the recruitment process therefore plays an instrumental role in the cultural development of a business.
Here, Gareth Way, Chief HR Officer at global business intelligence specialist Creditsafe explains how businesses can incorporate a ‘hiring for attitude’ approach to recruitment and why focusing on an individual’s personality and ethos, as well as skill set, could prove pivotal to a company’s long term success.
The recruitment process should be viewed as the commencement of an intricate and valuable relationship – it provides a great opportunity to establish the ‘chemistry’ between an employer and candidate and whether they could be a good fit to an existing team. Even when roles require a specific level of qualification, skill or experience, line managers should place an equal ‘weighting’ on the candidates personality and ‘fit’ to their team and the wider company. In any working week colleagues spend more time with each other than their own family’s so it’s crucial that a connection is established with the ‘right’ candidate.
Identifying potential new talent
Having successfully progressed through CV sifting, once the potential candidate is sat opposite the hiring manager, an opportunity is presented for the interviewer to explore their ‘softer skills’ such as personality, work ethic and general attitude to professional life.
While for more highly skilled or more senior positions, the right skills and experience are a necessary prerequisite, putting this aside to look at a candidate’s attitude and approach to working more often than not can yield a better result. Not only will a new employee with the right attitude engage more fully with their manager and the business, the manager will also be better placed to develop a training and career development plan with the employee to facilitate long term success for them and the business.
New employees can (and should) be developed – there’s no such thing as ‘plug and play’
For both parties, a harmonious working relationship is built on having similar values and attitudes. An employee that buys into a company’s ethos is more likely to want to grow with the business and commit themselves for the long haul.
As long as the hire has the basic skill set required (you wouldn’t hire a baker to develop a website) there is no reason why companies should be afraid of hiring primarily for attitude. Taking this approach can allow you to attract the best people for your company, and once hired, identify the scope of the role they would be most suited to. For example, at Creditsafe, we have supported staff movement between disciplines depending on their personal interests, by upskilling or re-skilling them. This allows us to retain the best talent, even when that talent desires a career change.
Putting this into practice
It’s no secret that utilising this approach to hiring could appear to be a bit of a minefield for HR professionals – hiring on attitude is subjective and a far cry from the standardized or ‘tick box approach’ when it comes to looking at competencies, skills and experience specifically. It’s therefore important that if you are considering this ‘hiring for attitude’ approach to recruitment that you consider the following:
● Clearly identify your company values before you begin the recruitment process
● Ensure that the line manager plays a majority role in the final decision making
● Use tasks or activities within the hiring process that allow you to witness the candidate ‘at work’ – it’s what they do that matters, not what they tell you, they would do
● Ask them what they want out of the role and what their career aspirations are – the relationship needs to work for both parties in order for it to be a success
Out of our cohort of 1,200 global members of staff, almost a quarter of them have been with us for more than a decade, proof that this approach works. Invest in your staff and you will reap the rewards of a more engaged workforce and a working environment that nurtures success and high performance.
By Gareth Way
About the author
Gareth Way is Chief HR Officer at Creditsafe Group and is responsible for the development and implementation of the group’s global HR strategy for its cohort of 1,200 staff across 14 different countries.
