With employment intentions remaining positive, finding suitably skilled labour has returned to the agenda of many organisations. However, a new research paper by Rookie Recruits has suggested a rethink is required for attracting rising stars.

The Rookie Recruits 'red and white' paper, Tackling the Talent Crisis, is intended to help Australian small-to-medium-sized businesses overcome the skills crisis.

Tackling the Talent Crisis challenges most Australian companies' insistence on 3-5 years experience and the tendency to compromise on the attitude of the applicant. The paper identifies the 'Core 4' attributes that characterise candidates with Absolutely Awesome Attitudes (AAA) as: enthusiastic; ambitious; hardworking; and determined to develop and grow.

Rookie Recruits' co-founder and co-author of the paper, Jason Murray, slammed 'experience over attitude' as a false paradigm that can lead to mediocre mis-hires rather than exceptional hiring practices that can strengthen and grow businesses.

"It may seem too hard and too risky for companies to hire the attitude and train the skill," said Murray. "However, we're facing a skills crisis and we must recalibrate mindsets to consider candidates who may not meet all of the job specifications, but whose gaps can be filled in a timely and cost-effective way by harnessing their absolutely awesome attitude and building on their natural talents."

Rookie Recruits five tips for selecting rising super stars are:

  1. Re-think traditional job descriptions and get clear what can be taught (skills) and what needs to be brought (attitude)
  2. Advertise or brief an agency based on both the attitude AND skills you are looking for
  3. Invest the time to talk to more applicants on the phone - It's almost impossible to pick an awesome attitude from a resume alone
  4. Ask 'unusual' questions in the interview to get 'below the surface' and see what makes someone tick
  5. Use behavioural profile tools to help understand the natural talents of the candidates. Rookie Recruits specialises in finding, preparing, placing and following through with a one-year Zero-to-Hero Coaching Program for candidates who would otherwise fail to meet most companies' first round screening process.

"Hiring for attitude requires lengthy and laborious screening, and most companies will say 'I don't have time to train someone new' and simply scream for someone who can 'hit the ground running'," Murray said. "The trouble is that if all hirers are taking this approach, they're doing their company a disservice because they're all competing for the same talent pool and missing those diamonds in the rough that can often have far more impact."

Murray added that the slavish dependency on three years' experience can be a red herring because many candidates "really have one year's experience repeated three times with no real professional growth or development during that period".

"The paradigm clearly plays out time and again because most people are hired for their skills, experience and qualifications on paper, but fired for their attitude."