Our topic for this month, for the blogs and newsletter, is “The shrinking recruitment pool.” During covid, the advent of working from home changed the whole working mindset for many. People have become less motivated, and the kind of personnel you want for your company—sales and otherwise—has become increasingly harder to find.
While there may be many out of work, they’re not necessarily those that you want to recruit for your organization. Unfortunately, these individuals have compromised and settled for less by agreeing with someone else’s ideas, not their own.
It just happened that, as an evolution of the pandemic environment, some found they could make more money by taking unemployment along with stimulus payments. Those that spread the idea of doing this made it seem as if it was a way to really survive. People who accepted this concept, and adopted it, became willing to be less than who they really were.
So that you know you’re getting someone who will be a genuinely worthy employee, there are five characteristics you should look for in any recruit.
The Five Characteristics
This is obviously a hot topic today. We know this because, at SELLability, we recently put on a webinar with the subject of the “5 Key Points for Recruits.” This webinar was aimed at a particular business sector, and we had over 100 different businesses from that sector show up.
The five characteristics are:
1. Communication—the person should have high communication skills.
2. Willingness to learn—The last thing you want in a recruit—or anyone for that matter—is someone who “knows it all already.” They must be willing to learn about your business, the field, and the particular role they’re going to have.
3. Positive attitude—Any recruit you decide to hire should have a positive attitude about the job, production, and life in general.
4. Results-driven—You want someone who will be a producer and be motivated by results.
5. Alignment with core values—You want a recruit who can agree with your company's goals, and especially your core values.
Establishing Core Values
That last point is probably the most important—the recruit being aligned with your company’s core values.
But before you can check to see if a prospective employee agrees with your core values, you should make sure you have them in the first place, that you have precisely defined them for your company. You should be able to answer questions such as:
Would you agree that integrity is included in your core values? What would “integrity” mean for your company?
Would you agree that your employees should never compromise with company standards?
Would you agree that granting importance to other people is essential as a core value?
These are just examples. You should be very thorough in defining your company’s core values.
Overall, be watchful of all five characteristics you want in a prospective employee, and you will find you are recruiting people who will actually do well in your company.
NOTE: We will shortly be releasing an online course covering these five key recruit characteristics in detail. To learn more, sign up at SELLability.com.
Back to this month's newsletter, click here: https://mailchi.mp/b1df2851f7f1/the-dangerously-shrinking-recruitment-pool
