Massive Income

Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill

Recruiting and hiring the right people to fit the Southwest culture is a very high priority, as it is at Ritz-Carlton, Men’s Wearhouse, and other exemplars of BD. According to Barrett, they are religious about it. Some companies may claim to hire for attitude, but Southwest backs up its claim with rigorous procedures to hire for positive attitudes and a straightforward dedication to weeding out anything different. Hiring is critical, Barrett says, because you cannot institutionalize behavior. Instead, you must identify those people who already practice the behaviors you are looking for. Then you can allow Employees to be themselves and make decisions about Customer service based on common sense and their natural inclinations.

Hiring at Southwest is a two-step process. The first step is a group interview, conducted by Employees, where candidates’ interpersonal skills can be observed. Next are one-on-one interviews, where the questions are designed to uncover candidates’ attitudes and orientation toward serving others. These hiring criteria apply regardless of the job function because all Employees play a Customer service role, internally or externally. Every job at Southwest is a Customer service position.

All new Employees at Southwest go to a new hire class at the University for People. There, they receive a Freedom Planner that describes benefit plans, people programs, services, and opportunities available to Employees of Southwest. The purpose of the Planner is to help new Employees understand how these programs can help them achieve their personal goals. Freedom is one of Southwest’s themes. They talk about giving Customers the “freedom to fly” and their latest ad campaign is, “You’re now free to move about the country”. The Freedom Planner is intended to help Employees develop their own sense of personal freedom in eight ways:

• Freedom to Create Financial Security
• Freedom to Pursue Good Health
• Freedom to Work Hard and Have Fun
• Freedom to Make a Positive Difference
• Freedom to Learn and Grow
• Freedom to Create and Innovate
• Freedom to Travel
• Freedom to Stay Connected

Does this kind of Employee program work? Consider this. In 2001, the People Department at Southwest received nearly 200,000 resumes. They conducted more than 27,000 interviews, and hired 6,406 Employees. Since 1997, Southwest has been among the top five in Fortune’s list of the Best Companies to Work For in America four times. In 2001, Southwest Employees received more than 30,000 Customer commendations and over 13,000 internal commendations for their “Positively Outrageous Service”. This company is a superstar in Customer service, and it accomplishes it through hiring, development, and retention of outstanding people.

Donna Conover, Executive Vice President of Customers, says that Employees can be terminated for having bad attitudes, even if they are good at their job.^[15] However, hiring for attitude makes life so much easier for everyone. She likens it to coaching teams. If a player is coachable-listens, has a good attitude, wants to work hard to achieve the team’s goals-then you can teach them anything and they will work hard to learn. Under these conditions, it’s easy to stick with Employees through the learning curve and support them through the mistakes that are an inevitable part of risk-taking and growth.

^[15]Donna Conover interview with Pamela Wise (March 1, 2002).

Taken From : Winning Behavior-What the Smartest, Most Successful Companies Do Differently