October 22, 2019
Recently I was talking with a client about his hiring priorities and the most important universal characteristics of his employees. He mentioned a number of things like reliability, a strong work ethic, self-motivation, dependability, flexibility, adaptability ……
To me, these all boil down to ATTITUDE. A good and positive attitude will elevate everyone’s competencies into becoming a higher-level employee that will pay dividends for years to come. It is true that many of the most successful people of all time were not judged to be the most capable. Chuck Yeager – the famous test pilot who broke the sound barrier – was not even close to being the smartest pilot in the US Military. Tom Brady – future Hall of Fame quarterback – was taken 199th overall in the 2000 draft. He is the only player from that draft that is still in the league today, and already has six Super Bowl rings decorating his hands. Andrew Carnegie – a wealthy industrialist and major philanthropist – had little formal education and worked his way up from an entry-level telegraph runner to the head of one of the biggest steel companies in America.
We have all heard the saying “Attitude determines your altitude!”, but how do you hire for attitude? Hiring for attitude is much more subjective than hiring for years of a particular type of experience, or degree or certification, but perhaps just as or more important.
First, you need to define what is a “great attitude’. I think an employee with a great attitude has the following:
Enthusiasm
People Skills
Grit
Optimism
Big Picture/Purpose
Here are 6 tips to hire employees with great attitudes.
- Avoid “job hoppers”: I have seen many resumes where the candidate has built his resume by frequently changing jobs. Often these candidates are constantly chasing that next experience or salary goal to add to their resume or bank account. No doubt many of these candidates are talented and will fill the role you have open…for a time. It is also more likely than not that their impatience will have them moving on again when they see another opportunity elsewhere. Generally, they lack perseverance, passion, and commitment to make a long-term impact on your organization.
- Team hire: Use your receptionist and support staff to evaluate candidates. Interviewees are usually very well mannered and on their best behavior in interviews and will display the attitude and behavior they think you want to see. Meanwhile, they are more likely to express their real attitudes when they think you are not looking. They may be rude, impatient or dismissive to receptionists, parking lot attendants, and others they don’t think they needed to impress. Involve your support staff in your post-interview evaluations. You may be surprised by what they observe.
- Professional progression and continuity: Look for progression and continuity in their resume and in your position. This will help you see how they are able to finish what they start and work through difficulties to accomplish a goal. Sometimes, however, there is seemingly little continuity on their resume. After speaking with them, you may find that they are working toward a specific mission or passion in their life.
- Hire humility: Ask candidates about mistakes they have made. This reveals humility, self-assessment capability, and perhaps an understanding of their limitations. Look for signs of passing the buck, or lack of ownership as well as debilitating regret. All of these things negatively affect performance moving forward.
- Curveball questions: Ask candidates to tell you how their current manager would describe them. Watch closely for how they react as well as to what they say. Often times their body language will reveal tension and perhaps something that should be explored more to understand the attitude of the candidate.
- Mission mindset: Look for candidates that exhibit a mindset that puts the mission of the team above their personal mission. Employees will certainly work for their own self-interests. However, candidates with the quality attribute you are seeking understand that they will succeed when the team succeeds and they will not compromise the mission for their own gain.
There is no specific formula when hiring for attitude. It is more of a process, an imperfect process to reveal candidates’ true underlying attitudes. Gather information from a number of places including their resume, the interview, and references to triangulate where the specific candidate’s attitude lies.
Yeager, Brady, and Carnegie, along with many other high achievers, did not look like high achievers at first glance. They looked like they had a shortage of qualifications compared to their rivals. And while attitude probably wasn’t the only factor in their eventual success, it did have a major role. I’ll leave you with these words from Chuck Yeager…
“I didn’t look at [the sound barrier] as a barrier. I looked at it as a mission.”
