Anyone involved in the recruitment process, be they an employer or a professional recruiter, knows what a potential minefield it can be.
The sheer volume of legislation means you need to have good procedures in place as you just can't afford to get things wrong. However, as far as I'm aware there is nothing in law yet that quite covers 'personality-based' recruitment.
I raise this as last week I was networking at yet another industry event, the Horticultural Trades Association annual conference at the Barbican, and the main event was a performance by the self-styled Queen of Shops Mary Portas.
Mary's role was to give her warts-and-all opinion on the state of the nation's garden centres and so she duly did in her own inimitable way; forthright, opinionated, entertaining and generally spot on. There was nothing revolutionary in most of her findings but one thing she did highlight that struck a chord with me was the type of people good retail outlets, including good garden centres, should employ happy people!
It turns out that Mary, like many, is a big fan of Pret A Manger and has always been impressed by its level of customer service. So she asked the CEO, Julian Metcalfe, what criteria he used in his recruitment process that meant he got it right most of the time and ended up with such good people.
Apparently he was a bit perplexed by this and said: "Criteria? What criteria? I just make the point of employing happy people." Is this all a bit touchy feely, a bit vacuous, not something you can measure and mould into a 'proper' recruitment process?
Well, coincidently at the same event two years ago, Tim How, the founder of Majestic Wine (another favourite of Mary's), gave a similar keynote speech. Although he did not quite use the 'h-word', he was very clear that one of the cornerstones that enabled him to build a highly successful business was finding bright, enthusiastic and motivated people and then providing them with the backing and means to give their customers the best possible wine retailing experience.
Now I am sure that Pret A Manger does have an excellent training programme and people don't simply turn up for work on their first day with a big smile and then are told to get on with things. However, the idea of looking out for happy, positive people who will naturally treat customers and colleagues with respect and enthusiasm isn't a daft one.
Why? Because, as Julian Metcalfe reasons, even when they don't know something or make a mistake, positive thinking or happy people generally handle the situation better.
So before you go to your next interview don't forget to dig out your old REM CD and have a little sing along to get you in the mood!
The sheer volume of legislation means you need to have good procedures in place as you just can't afford to get things wrong. However, as far as I'm aware there is nothing in law yet that quite covers 'personality-based' recruitment.
I raise this as last week I was networking at yet another industry event, the Horticultural Trades Association annual conference at the Barbican, and the main event was a performance by the self-styled Queen of Shops Mary Portas.
Mary's role was to give her warts-and-all opinion on the state of the nation's garden centres and so she duly did in her own inimitable way; forthright, opinionated, entertaining and generally spot on. There was nothing revolutionary in most of her findings but one thing she did highlight that struck a chord with me was the type of people good retail outlets, including good garden centres, should employ happy people!
It turns out that Mary, like many, is a big fan of Pret A Manger and has always been impressed by its level of customer service. So she asked the CEO, Julian Metcalfe, what criteria he used in his recruitment process that meant he got it right most of the time and ended up with such good people.
Apparently he was a bit perplexed by this and said: "Criteria? What criteria? I just make the point of employing happy people." Is this all a bit touchy feely, a bit vacuous, not something you can measure and mould into a 'proper' recruitment process?
Well, coincidently at the same event two years ago, Tim How, the founder of Majestic Wine (another favourite of Mary's), gave a similar keynote speech. Although he did not quite use the 'h-word', he was very clear that one of the cornerstones that enabled him to build a highly successful business was finding bright, enthusiastic and motivated people and then providing them with the backing and means to give their customers the best possible wine retailing experience.
Now I am sure that Pret A Manger does have an excellent training programme and people don't simply turn up for work on their first day with a big smile and then are told to get on with things. However, the idea of looking out for happy, positive people who will naturally treat customers and colleagues with respect and enthusiasm isn't a daft one.
Why? Because, as Julian Metcalfe reasons, even when they don't know something or make a mistake, positive thinking or happy people generally handle the situation better.
So before you go to your next interview don't forget to dig out your old REM CD and have a little sing along to get you in the mood!
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