" alt="">12.11.2013
Why you need to find the X-Factor
Bryony discusses the importance of personality and attitude when looking to find the next member of your team.
Challenging economic times often mean consolidation and caution to many businesses, with new recruitment frequently put on hold.
Staff retention and training regularly come to the fore, combined with a move toward leaner, restructured operations. If companies do decide to show the green-light to recruitment, they are then faced with further challenges to find the right person for their business.
With unemployment on the rise, you could be forgiven for thinking that recruitment must be easy, but the truth is that finding people with the right skills remains a challenge. Given how hard it is to achieve sign-off for additional headcount, now more than ever, any new recruit has to be 100% right, without compromise.
Qualifications are crucial along with the relevant practical experience, which is why those with apprenticeships or sandwich experience from University may be more desirable to employers than those with academics alone. But even the combination of qualifications and experience is not enough in the current climate to secure a job.
The ability for potential employees to display their personality from the outset and demonstrate how they can fit into the culture of a business is essential. A lot of this stems from attitude; would you rather sit next to a negative individual or one who is positive and oozes energy? Attitude and personality; neither come at a cost, but they can be harder to find than qualifications and experience.
Employing the wrong person who carries all the right technical attributes to do the job but doesn’t display the enthusiasm or positivity to fit within the business is a bad move which can have a far-reaching impact on the business and the rest of its staff.
So how do you find the right people for your business?
The recruitment process needs to not only specify the necessary skills and qualifications required for the job, but it needs to also provide an opportunity for candidates to showcase their character. In order to expect applicants to be open and honest businesses will need to do the same – showing just enough of their personality so that jobseekers feel they can connect.
Understanding a person’s personality is really the key to whether they will fit within the business and stay long-term. Organisations need to ensure that potential employees align with their company’s vision and values, management style, team ethics and workplace environment. Cultural fit is critical to the long-term success of employee engagement, productivity, motivation and retention.
All that said companies mustn’t lose sight of the technical task in hand. The person they like the most still needs to be able to do the job, which brings me back to the start; recruiting has to be 100% right, and finding those that meet this target and will ultimately be able to help a business grow is often easier said than done.
