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Monday, February 28, 2011

"Attitude": An Important Component of the Hiring Decision

A candidate's "attitude" can be a strong predictor of their future performance, however, not all interviewers probe this dimension of an applicant's capabilities during the interview process.  This is especially relevant given attitude is closely tied to motivation and job performance.
A three-part behavioural-based skills assessment can be utilized during the applicant screening process to access for effective attitude: 
  1. Firstly, the interviewer needs to design a behavioural question that is based on a real life challenge the applicant will face in their new role at your organization.  This will allow you to assess the candidate's effectiveness of managing through adversity.
  2. Secondly, the interviewer must be prepared to explore or probe the response the candidate provided in responding to the "challenging situational-based" question as stated above.
  3. Thirdly, the interviewer should ask the candidate what end result they expect to achieve from their proposed actions.
 This approach to questioning is known as the "O-SAE" approach to behavioural-based interviewing:
  • O-S, stands for "obstacle situation" (e.g., "tell me about a time when you faced _____?")
  • A, stands for "action taken"  (e.g., "what actions did you take?")
  • E, stands for "end result" (e.g., "what was the end result?")
How the applicant responds to these behavioural-based interview questions will provide the interviewer with indicators of whether they have a "can do attitude" and will persevere to achieve their goals, or choose to explain why the goal could/can not be obtained.  Interviewers who utilize this approach to screening and selection will increase their odds of hiring a candidate with the right "attitude", and thus, right fit for the organization.

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