The HR recruitment landscape is changing (especially in the US), due in part to the current rate of 20 percent unemployment under Barack Obama. As a result employers have altered their approach dramatically to cater for the sheer volume of applicants. In short, employers are able to be far more selective. Typical selection processes like qualifications and genuine experience is no longer enough; having the right attitude might be. In fact, according to leading figures in HR, it might be the most integral part to a positive interview. However, the difficulty for the employee then stems from portraying this successfully to an employer after being unemployed for 18 months.
Attitude over aptitude is a theory that is endorsed by Jonathan Levy, Attorney and President of Fair Measures, a management training firm: "Why do we often hire the wrong people? We don´t get the right information in the interview. We find out about their abilities, their aptitude, but not about their attitude. As a result, they may be able to adequately go through the motions of their jobs. But that´s all they do - go through the motions. They don´t have their hearts in it."
And this theory of hiring for attitude over aptitude isn’t just a fad sweeping across the HR landscape. David Fairhurst, Chief People Officer of McDonald's Restaurants Northern Europe, was voted HR magazine's most influential practitioner for the third year in a row in 2010 and maintains that attitude, not aptitude is the best practice to improve a company’s bottom line.
In an interview with MeetTheBoss.tv in June, Fairhurst outlined how trends of hiring for intangibles like teamwork, dependability, flexibility, leadership and attitude are more important than hiring for aptitude alone.
"I think the best advice is to rip up job descriptions. I'll probably get struck off my profession for saying that, but the reality is people who have the [wrong] attitude will work against progress, so to me the first thing you do is no different to that that I do in a store level around the country at McDonald's, and that is to hire for attitude. Forget the qualifications, even forget some of the experience; look at the attitude.
"So for me it's about building a team for the attitude. Hire the people who want to progress," he told MeetTheBoss.tv.
The NG Human Resources Summit, at the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, (hosted by GDS International) is designed specifically to enable Chief HR Officers to engage and interact as they meet demands of transformation and prepare for the impact their role will have on the overall success of an organization's sustainability and bottom line. CHROs, EVPs and SVPs of HR, and other top human resource executives will be present to explore critical issues essential to organizational effectiveness and relevant employment in order to compete on a global scale.
The NG HR Summit will bring together CHROs who are currently investing in innovative solutions, like employing for attitude over aptitude, and other pivotal HR issues that will positively impact their bottom line.
Like David Fairhurst, CHROs will only respond and commit to those solution providers who can link tangible cost benefits with the solutions they provide. The HR Summit will provide this vital means of communication and provide and ideal framework for new business relationships to flourish.
www.hrsummitus2011.com/
