Attitude is a huge component of job performance. Attitude can be defined and described in different ways, but I use integrity, reliability and work ethic.
I use these three attitude attributes because I can measure them in the person using the pre-hire survey tool the Step One Survey from Profiles International.
Integrity lets me know if I can trust the person to treat information and property honestly and that they will conduct themselves with acceptable morals and ethics.
Reliability tells me about their attitude towards following established rules and procedures and in dealing with others positively.
Work ethic is the belief in the value of work and this will tell me how hard a worker they might be.
Well-known entrepreneur business man Richard Branson puts attitude and personality before other qualifications when he hires. He looks for people with great attitudes who are passionate about what they do. He doesn’t want yes people and likes those who can challenge the conventional way of doing things.
He says that you can train for skills but you can’t train attitude. I don’t entirely agree with this but I do agree that checking for attitude is the first step in the hiring process and that is why I use the Step One Survey. Why hire somebody with a bad attitude and try to change it? It’s better to hire someone with the right attitude and develop their skills so they can become top performers.
It doesn’t mean you don’t hire someone with the basic skills to do the job. You wouldn’t hire an accountant to do engineering work.
Branson went as far as picking up candidates in a taxi that he drove without them knowing in order to see how they treated the taxi driver. If they lacked courtesy and didn’t treat the driver with respect or displayed a bad attitude he would take him back to their home and not go further with them.
If somebody is skilled and talented than having the right attitude will permit them to learn new things and find the right niche for them to grow in their organization.
Testing people’s attitudes is also important because people tend to lie or exaggerate on their resume and this will force them to lie in the interview. When surveyed 80% of employers believe that most people lie on their resumes, mostly about their education passed job titles and responsibilities and also about their technical skills.
Learn from Richard Branson and higher for attitude and personality that is appropriate for the job and company and train for skill development. This is a smart strategy to develop a high performance workforceA
Stephen Goldberg