Let your personality shine to crack that job interview

THE typical recruitment process has seen a gradual shift in focus towards personality and potential for growth.

This has led to more and more companies moving away from traditional interviews, opting rather for more interactive, personality-revealing hiring sessions.

Dale Simpson, curator of Radisson RED Hotel V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, says a major contribut- ing factor to this shift is the growing importance being placed on company culture.

“Healthy company culture enables a team to work like a welloiled machine and hiring candidates who are the right ‘culture-fit’ positively impacts their commitment and dependability.”

Simpson said this trend is particularly prevalent in the hospitality industry.

“In our sector, personality is key, and while most skills can be taught, personality – for the most part – cannot.

“As such, when it comes to hiring, we look first and foremost for people who have the right personality and energy for a particular role, even if this means an employee will require significant upskilling for the position. We are looking for those guys and girls who have a naturally expressive and fun-loving nature.”

In addition to boosting company culture, Simpson says that this hiring process results in higher staff retention. “When you hire based solely on past experience and qualifications, you run the risk of employing someone who isn’t a great fit to the company’s culture – and that’s not what we’re looking for. Not only is this detrimental to the greater morale of the team, but will also likely result in the candidate being unhappy and leaving, leading to a high staff turnover.

“Through a series of four interactive workshops, candidates are put in a position where their true behaviour will shine through, which allows us to really get a feel of who they are and what role they’d be bestsuited to.”

By training everyone for everything, and rotating staff on a regular basis, Simpson says that staff are able to develop a broad range of skills.

Copy supplied by Radisson RED.