March 2017

I’ve worked with Kim for some time now…. using science to help take some of the “unpredictability” out of employing the “right” staff.  Since 1988 (yes that long ago!) I’ve had a passion for understanding and studying personality types. (Kim and her clients often use my services for this very important task).

We all know the old adage that “you can’t make a round peg fit in a square hole” and have either been in the predicament of having to manage that situation OR even having been that “round peg” and just not fitting into the workplace. Sometimes people just aren’t a “good fit”.

I work with businesses to achieve success. Let’s face it. The ultimate goal is to make money. Whilst we certainly focus on helping you reach financial success, at Scope we know that a positive workforce and environment underpins that success. If the staff are happy, they’ll do a good job…. if not…. their quality of work suffers & output declines. They also become negative…. and eventually leave.

EVERYONE talks about work culture…. and most believe that their work culture is positive & that it is what makes them “them”. When employing new staff, business owners and managers want those new staff members to “fit in” with their existing work culture.

BUT…. and yes, it’s a rather big “but” …. few truly understand what their work culture really is and tend to describe the peripheral edges. And far too often, after working with the business, I find that in fact their understanding of the work culture is wrong!!!

So how can they expect to employ the right people???……

I help businesses to understand their work culture and the dynamics of their managers, teams and individual staff…. and then how they can positively influence them to achieve success.

My role in assisting Kim is understanding the different personalities to ensure that the new employee fits in…. not only with the work culture of the business…. but also with the nature of the role. For example, the personality profile for an Accountant is usually at the opposite end of the spectrum to a Business Development Manager.

Unfortunately, while personality profiling is a relatively simple concept to get some kind of idea about…. very few master it.

There are five or six, so called ‘experts’ floating around Brisbane and putting people in neat boxes with various personality profile tools.  I believe that understanding the mix we need and the balance of the differing aspects of our personalities is critical. We don’t all just fit in one box. (Well I suppose we all do sooner or later but we don’t like talking too much about that box! A coffin! Aargh!!). There is more to effective personality profiling than completing a short course, having people fill out a questionnaire and then regurgitating the formulated result.

Personality profiling is a VERY EFFECTIVE tool to use as part of the recruitment process….when applied appropriately.

The 3 questions of recruiting can be neatly summed up as follows:

• Can they do the job?
• Will they do the job?
• Will they fit in?

Jim Collins in his often quoted book Good to Great stated, “before you even decide where you are going get the wrong people off the bus, get the right people in the right seats on the bus’.

Where to from here? If you are going to get recruiting done right, you need to UNDERSTAND your work culture, BEFORE you employ the new staff.

Scope BC has a special offer for Acworth Recruitment’s clients…….we will provide a FREE 1 HOUR CONSULTATION to discuss achieving success for your business through your workforce.

For further information contact myself, John Flett on 0408 002 550, at john@scopebc.com.au or check out the website scopebc.co.au

Whilst I GENUINELY love being a Professional Finder (AKA Professional Recruiter).… there are days that I wish I worked on a PRODUCTION LINE…. churning out pretty boxes of different sizes and colours…. PREDICTABILITY AND SANITY!!!

A Production Line has set parameters and is designed to produce specific products to meet customer requirements. Checks and balances are in place to ensure that Quality Assurance is adhered to. And it is usually very clear as to whether or not the final product is what was expected.

A blue box with purple stripes ordered with specific size dimensions – is very easily determined to be as ordered – and is easily assessed to be “performing” as expected……and is unlikely to change tomorrow….or even next week.

Unlike boxes, people are not inanimate objects….They tend to have minds of their own, varying personalities and often unpredictable behaviours!!!!

As a Professional Finder, my clients are people, their existing staff and teams are people, and the candidates I’m dealing with are…..you guessed it…. PEOPLE. So, my working day is filled with UNPREDICTABILITY!!!

This unpredictability can lead to some rather humorous occurrences…… and too MANY frustrating and disappointing outcomes.

I think that business owners and managers tend to have a picture in place that a Professional Recruiter operates a factory with multiple production lines which can inevitably produce the “PERFECT EMPLOYEE”!!!

I wish this were true…. or even a possibility…. however, sufficed to say that my psychology degree and more than 15 years of experience in recruitment has confirmed that even with all available checks and balances in place…. this is NEVER going to be a  ‘Production Industry’. I simply cannot “produce” the perfect employee at the drop of a hat for all my clients…. I wish I could…. I desperately want to…. I’d be a MILLIONAIRE in no time…. but it’s just not possible.

My job is to capitalize on my experience to help minimise and manage the unpredictable variables.

My Approach to wrangling recruitment…. for both sides of the fence…. Clients and Candidates:

• COMMUNICATION – Listening, Questioning, Listening, Explaining, Listening…..CONFIRMING in Writing
• GENUINELY CARE – about gaining the RIGHT outcome
• PLAN – utilise proven processes and steps to gather, check, test & confirm the information
• RESPONSIVENESS – the old saying “you snooze, you lose” is very true…. Great candidates get snapped up quickly.
• PROACTIVE & INTUITIVE – experience and gut feel can put you a step ahead (however, the ability to read minds would be amazing…& more accurate!!)
• SHARE KNOWLEDGE  & INFORMATION – don’t be a “Gatekeeper”…..the best decisions are made when all of the cards are on the table
• QUALITY ADVICE – an Industry Professional has a responsibility to provide guidance and recommendations…..but there are always those horses that you take to water and choose not to have a drink.

Whilst I can work hard to put all of these things in place including testing for specific skills and capabilities…. recruitment is fraught with the need to draw conclusions on intangible factors…. people factors…. personality, behaviour, interpretation and expectations.

There are definitely days that I don’t think  too highly of the human race!!!

Whilst I regularly say that recruitment is “Not an Exact Science”…. there is in fact a lot of science around human behaviour. Personality Profiling has been around for a long time and is proven to value add to the recruitment process…. and – in my opinion – greatly underutilised.

Stay tuned for my guest blog from John Flett (Scope BC), where he will provide some insight and tips around how employers can minimise their woes and frustrations when employing through the use of DISC Profiling.

Acworth Recruitment helps take control of the Hide and Seek game to “find staff you can keep”.

Make sure you’re following on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RecruitLoop-Kim-Acworth-185674054963527/?fref=ts) as I’ll share some other great tips and information.