The TV show “Traitors” has just returned for a new season, are you watching? I’m not usually a fan of reality shows but this one had me hooked from the start. It gives a great insight into human behaviour and motivation.
If you haven’t seen it, the premise is that a group of strangers meet, and bond, at a Scottish castle. They work together on tasks to earn cash. However, a few of the participants have, secretly, been made “Traitors”. They meet each night to “murder” a “Faithful” in a bid to claim the prize pot for themselves. The “Faithful” must work out which of these new friends is actually out to kill them!
So, what has this got to do with fashion recruitment? At the start of the show the host asks the contestants about their motivations, why they’re there, what is important to them in life, how it would impact them to walk away with the prize. It got me thinking how a business is about people working together as a team, yet everyone has their own motivations, their own needs that have to be met to keep them a “Faithful”.
In the show, it’s amazing how quickly a faithful can be converted to a traitor if they feel they are vulnerable. This is exactly the same at work, if an employee feels that their job doesn’t meet their needs on ethics, quality of life, or sense of security then they’ll be off. In a study conducted by The Energy Project and The Harvard Review, only 29% of respondents felt a sense of safety and trust at work. Let that sink in for a minute – 71% of respondents did NOT feel a sense of safety and trust at work!
Almost always when an organisation first comes to me to recruit, they give me a job specification with a list of tasks. I’m usually met with a look of utter surprise when I ask, “why would anyone want to leave their current job and come do this one?” They haven’t thought about that at all. This understanding is absolutely key to making a successful hire. This is why, at LIFE, we don’t rely on job adverts and a database of people just looking for a job. This is why we’re VERY choosy about which brands we represent. Our methodology is all about approaching passive candidates and finding out their motivations, what makes them a “Faithful”. I often wonder how much time companies waste by interviewing people who appear to meet the company’s needs without having first assessed if the business will meet the candidate’s needs. Without this understanding the hire is on shaky ground right from the start. If you’re responsible for any sort of hiring in your business, how do you assess if you can give the person you’re interviewing what they need? Most interviewers are simply trying to work out if the interviewee meets their tick list. We’re always happy to have a chat about how you can recruit for the first year of employment, not just the start date.
LIFE - A Recruitment & Retention Consultancy for Fashion Brands.
