Not sure where I heard this, or if I made it up myself. But, it’s a winner. Everybody deals with staffing issues. In most cases, the problem lies not in the skills, but in the attitude of the person hired. You can change someone’s skill set, but you cannot change someone’s attitude. The attitude comes with the recruit. Start there. You can build a good set of skills on the solid foundation of a great attitude and end up with a terrific staffer over time. That’s how you build a winning team. Be patient. If you can pick up just one or two good people a year, you are doing well.
Idiots and Savants
97% of the world’s population is of average intelligence. 3% are roughly divided between idiots and savants. I know, I know, you’re saying, “We don’t say ‘idiot,’ because it’s insensitive and crude.” Lighten up. Would you prefer I had said “mentally challenged?” Don’t get caught up in nomenclature. There isn’t time for it. We loathe political correctness here. Idiot is a perfectly good word and aptly makes my point. Most people are not idiots. And, most people are not savants. Most of us fall in the 97%. You will recognize the idiots right away when they come in for an interview, and the savants will not be applying for a position in your firm, so don’t worry about them. Bottom line: pretty much everyone you meet that has a great attitude is a potential great recruit. Look for that extra special something in the attitude department, and when you find it, snatch the candidate up fast before someone else does.
Phone Voices are In
The first thing I want to know about a potential new recruit is, “How’s the phone voice?” If the caller is demur, speaks in a low voice, is hard to understand, uses slang, or seems to be put out with the idea of looking for a job, I keep searching. If the caller is bubbly, professional, and speaks with good diction and grammar, that candidate has cleared the first hurdle. When someone else in the office is screening candidates for me, I give the same instruction: “Only send me candidates who sound like they’re having a great day.” Callers responding to an advertisement or a networking lead are putting their best foot forward on that initial call to your office. If they can’t cut it on the call, they won’t cut it on the team.
Résumés are Out
Résumés are only useful to a point. We’ve all hired people with impressive résumés, only to be disappointed later when their true attitudes were revealed. Most of the skills you need your staff to be proficient in can be learned on the job. Look at résumés at the end of the interview, not the beginning. And, beware of screening initial interview candidates by their résumés. If they made it over the phone voice hurdle, let them attempt the interview hurdle. If someone rubs me the wrong way in an interview, it’s over. If they have a great attitude, I am thinking, “I could train this person, I could work with this person.”
I once hired a Fuddruckers counter clerk. She impressed me with her can-do attitude when serving my family one afternoon. After our meal, I went back up to the counter and asked her how much she earned. I interviewed her the following week and hired her on the spot. In terms of sheer productive output, she was the best staffer we ever had. She didn’t even have a résumé. If she had, it would have listed hamburger flipper, dental hygienist trainee, and stripper. Who knew?
I have personally seen a bad attitude ruin a workplace. It is better to teach a good attitude the necessary skills than to run damage control from an experienced poor attitude.
After a depressing interview or two I prayed that I would be seen by someone the way that God sees me. Within days I met Dustin at the Between Jobs Ministry and he later told me that he thought he would be leaving without a prospective candidate until he met me. I had not even brought a resume with me to the meeting but told him that I would have one to him by the early afternoon. I interviewed later that day and was told to come back on Friday to interview with the staff. Thursday morning, Noel called to ask me where I was and why I wasn’t at work already. He told me to start Friday morning. That was three years ago.
For the most part, I think it is hard to fake an attitude. Attitude can be used as a gauge at an initial interview. You can learn how that individual will handle a situation. To one person, a bump in the road is just a bump, but to others, a bump becomes a mountain.
Attitude is the key ingredient in building a solid foundation in a working environment. As Noel has explained, most people tend to jump the gun and hire the applicant with the most outstanding resume, but sometimes they find out later on the resume may have just been a facade. As the saying goes, “patience is a virture”, and that holds true at Senior Partners; our team is a prime example of how we are successful in this industry.
I am so pleased that I fall in the 97%. I’m also so glad Noel explained this one to me prior to sitting for the Series 7 exam. It served as my pep talk. Thanks Noel!!!
Christian values predicate humility, and humility is generally indicative of a good attitude.
Misery loves company. Don’t hire these people. They will drain you and your staff. If you are spending an inordinate amount of time with a troubling employee then they may be in the wrong job or they may not be the right person for your company.
Resumes are overrated. I cannot count the times I have seen someone hired based on “skills” only and they turn out to be hardest person to work with, without the ability to take instruction. I will take an honest desire, willingness to work and “can do” approach any day.
After my interview, when I described this company to my friends and family, I almost exclusively concentrated on the people: their intelligent and spirited interactions with me, their high regard for one another, the unique way that they made me feel valued as a person rather than a list of qualifications. These were the voices and representatives of the company, and I was sold in less than half an hour.
Grateful for this “attitude” towards hiring. I fit this bill, I think. 2nd day, still excited about my duties not knowing what they are. But, my attitude is one of extreme gratitude this morning. I look forward to being trained in this adventure.
Attitude can trump knowledge or skill. I have worked with people who have a rotten attitude and they would successfully drain the room of energy and positive thinking real quick. At that point, the skill sets of the employees were irrelevant. No matter how skilled this employee was, he did not use his skills to benefit the company but himself. Rather than being an asset, he became a skilled liability and a dangerous one as well. His attitude was like a cancer within the organization. Needless to say things did not turn out well for the employee nor the organization.