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Sure, your new recruit looks good on paper and made in impression in the job interview, but determining if someone has the right attitude can be tricky business. Hiring for attitude has become especially popular in service-based industries and jobs that require customer contact because after all, you can teach the right person the skills to do the job, but it’s a lot harder to change someone’s temperament.

The time to get this right is during the recruitment process. Will the person fit into the company culture? Do what it takes to get the job done? Be a conscientious worker who cares about your company? Many companies are now investing in complicated and time-consuming processes including multiple interviews, structured evaluations and, in some cases, psychographic testing and simulations, but if you don’t have the time, or money, to invest in-depth hiring processes you can achieve similar results by creating a checklist of the top 15 things that are important to your organisation, in order of importance. 

For example, if you’re a hospital looking to recruit a new nurse, compassion, diplomacy, energy and confidence might be the top of your list.  If you’re looking for a new PA, then organisation, staying cool under pressure, discretion and punctuality may be the key components.  A new sales associate might need attention to detail, be highly goal orientated and have fine-tuned interpersonal communication skills.

Whether you are interviewing people on the phone, sending them an email or speaking to them face to face, always have your checklist in front of you so that your communication is specific to your requirements.

Now that the economy is on its way to recovery, good staff know they have options, and are always looking for the next opportunity. So while hiring good staff is one hurdle, getting them to stay within your organisation is a whole other challenge.

But spending a bit of time working on  a checklist to ensure the new recruit has got the goods will pay dividends in the short and long term - use every angle, strategy and tool possible to detect whether or not a sales person is qualified to join your team.  

Alex Pirouz is the founder of RIDC Advisory Pty Ltd. A Business and Sales Advisory firm partnering with Australia’s largest and fastest growing companies to further increase their revenue. Visit www.RIDC.com.au for more detail.