Secrets to Recruiting the Right Talent
How to Assess Attitude Before You Hire The Wrong Person
Recruiting candidates with the right attitude is not exactly a secret. What is a secret, or at least is misunderstood, is how to determine whether a candidate has the right attitude.
It’s widely suggested that employing people with the right attitude dictates how well your operation or organisation performs. Imagine for a minute that every single employee had the right attitude — the difference it would make to the results you achieve and the organisational culture, not to mention your own sanity?
Of course, it’s a pipe dream and unrealistic, but some change and improvement in employee attitude is always good, and it often stimulates a shift in overall culture.
What is Attitude?
In relation to employees, attitude defines the way an employee or candidate might think or feel about work. This determines how an employee will behave in a workplace.
What is the Right Attitude?
Unfortunately, the candidate with all the right attitudes rarely exists, if at all. So, the question is, what are the essential attitudes you’re seeking?
The essential attitudes and behaviours most managers and employers want are people who:
- Turn up every day
- Put in some effort
- Learn the job
- Get along with the Team
These attributes are primarily established by asking the right questions. It’s also important to use other parts of the recruitment process to uncover a candidate’s attitude. Assembling information from reference and compliance checks, resume presentation, and even observation of the administrative stages creates a better overall picture of the candidate and their suitability for your role.
Your goal is to recruit a candidate who, based on all the information, is most likely to be retained in the long term. It’s fair to say, it’s untenable and toxic to retain an employee with the wrong or bad attitude.
Frances "Frankie" Hipolito has one of the best attitudes I’ve come across. The sun was shining on me the day Frankie applied for a forklift job. I knew in about 5 minutes he had the right attitude, the sort I was looking for, but he gave so much more. Frankie is positive, upbeat, energetic, motivated, a Team player who is committed, hard working, Mr dependable, especially when it's busy, and just a pleasure to work with. I’d have to recruit at least 1000 people to find another ‘Frankie’.
The Epicentre of Attitude - Values and Beliefs
Beliefs and values shape attitude, which in turn elicits a certain type of behaviour. Values and beliefs seldom change in people’s lives, so that makes them quite predictable in assessing and recruiting candidates.
Values are the principles and standards that serve to guide decision-making or enact certain behaviours. Understanding this can be helpful to see if there is alignment with company values. Gauging someone’s value system requires extensive questioning and evaluation, so it can be time-consuming but is an effective part of an overall hiring process.
Beliefs are usually formed at a very early age and are ‘ideas’ that we hold as true, even if contrary to all evidence. Uncovering beliefs in an interview has some benefit, particularly as it relates to cultural factors in the workplace. But unless you’re an extremely skilled interviewer or psychologist, trying to ask belief-based questions the right way and knowing when to probe could lead to the wrong outcome. Belief-based interviewing can lead to selection distortion, including discrimination, personal biases, stereotyping, or disguised politically correct answers.
Understanding a candidate’s key beliefs and values as part of the overall recruitment process is a valuable exercise. It helps explain or validate a candidate’s attitude when it comes to cultural fit. Aspects of a candidate’s values and beliefs can also help evaluate the ‘person/fit’ element of your selection process.
Behaviours
You may have heard the expression “past behaviour predicts future behaviour”. It’s a well-known and widely applied rule of thumb for recruiters.
The premise is that if you've always done something a certain way, you're likely to do that same thing in the same way again. It follows for work performance.
Behavioural questioning is both the easiest and most effective way of gauging employee attitude. However, discovering what action a candidate took in a particular situation needs some context.
So, before launching into a whole bunch of carefully crafted behavioural questions, you should consider some important assumptions:
- The environment under which the behaviour was displayed;
- The time frame since last behaving that way;
- The role type, i.e. task based versus responsibility based
Situation, Action, Outcome
Behavioural questions should reveal information which is relevant. How a candidate acted 15 years ago is probably not. Ideally, you want the candidate’s explanation of the action they took to be recent and relatable to your operation, the selection criteria, and the attitude you’re seeking. A simple way of ensuring that the answers are providing you with the right details is to split each scenario question into three parts.
1. Situation: Setting the scene for a relevant and recent example. The key here is to choose your situation so that it's both likely the candidate will have an example but also aligns with your selection criteria. Confirm that the situation was either the candidate acting alone or, if in a group, the part they played. This can be useful in assessing how they work in a team and collaborate with others for a specific outcome.
2. Action: Naturally, you’ll want to know what action was taken, but you may also want to delve deeper to understand the candidate’s decision-making process. Look for specific, rather than vague answers. Asking them to outline the steps they took almost always provides enough specifics to address the criteria. And be sure they are not recounting something they helped a work colleague with.
3. Outcome: It’s important for the candidate to verbalise what was solved or achieved through their action. The answer in itself can reveal their ability to relate a result to an action. The answer can explain other things also, such as goal orientation, drive, motivation and their cognisance of results. Every operation and organisation is underpinned by results and outcomes. People who recognise this fact are much more likely to perform with the right intent and purpose.
Answers are sometimes what the candidate thinks will sound good, not necessarily what they actually did. It would be fair to describe that as dishonesty, but often because a candidate’s motivation to get the job is so strong, they think that answering with the right response will increase their chances. Reinforce that their honest answers give them the best chance of being successful.
But there is another questioning method that is also quite effective in getting an honest and candid answer.
Implied Threat of Reference Check
To overcome candidate embellishments or selective omission, you’ll sometimes get the real response by digging deeper into the answer with probing, follow-up questions. Another effective questioning technique is to ask the candidate, “how would your supervisor or manager describe the action you took?” This is called an ‘implied threat of reference check’ and can be escalated by letting the candidate know that you will be speaking to their former manager to get their perspective. And yes, there’s a whole range of issues relating to reference checks, which is for another article.
Summary
There are many ways candidates are assessed and recruited, and hiring success is not about one or two important criteria forensically examined; it’s about creating an overall picture based on reliable, relevant information and evidence across several interconnected criteria. How long it takes for your candidate to get back to you is definitely a behaviour which may connect with other forms of evaluation.
Whether you’re recruiting an Operations Manager or Factory Hand, the secret to recruiting great people is:
- Place a very high weighting on attitude, regardless of the role.
- Use behavioural questioning to understand their attitude and how your new employee is likely to operate.
Using these techniques and understanding the importance of attitude, values, and beliefs can significantly enhance your hiring process. This approach is particularly valuable for companies in Perth and across Australia. Whether you are headhunting or simply looking to fill a position quickly, ensuring your candidates hit the ground running and align with your company culture is crucial. Business consultants and hiring professionals often emphasise the importance of this holistic approach to recruiting the right talent.
For more tips on selecting the right people to work for you, check out our blog "Is your business like the entrance to a department store".
If you need support in finding the right people for your team, get in touch with us today at 08 9477 7999 or email us at hello@irp.net.au and we'd be happy to chat with you!
FAQs
What steps should be included in an effective hiring process?
An effective hiring process should include clear job descriptions, sourcing candidates, screening resumes, conducting interviews, checking references, and making a job offer. Ensuring candidates fit the company's culture and have the right attitude is also crucial.
How can I ensure a candidate will hit the ground running?
To ensure a candidate can hit the ground running, look for prior experience in similar roles, assess their problem-solving abilities, and ensure they align with your company's culture and values. Providing a thorough onboarding process also helps.
How important is it to search for candidates with the right attitude?
Searching for candidates with the right attitude is crucial as it often determines how well they will fit into your company culture, their willingness to learn, and their overall performance and retention in the long term.
How can I quickly fill a vacant position without compromising on quality?
To quickly fill a vacant position without compromising on quality, use a streamlined hiring process, tap into your existing network, consider temporary-to-permanent hiring options, and work with recruitment agencies or consultants.
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