After 20 years within the recruitment industry – taking hundreds of briefs from clients for various jobs – I have never, ever (and I mean EVER!!!) taken a brief from a client for the following:

“Naomi, I need….

• A lazy person with a very bad attitude.
• Someone who doesn’t want to come to work or be part of a team.
• A candidate who turns up late and leaves early every day would be great.
• Someone who constantly makes the same mistake, over and over. Even if we have given them lots of training on that task.
• Someone who is disengaged, doesn’t want to be here, and shows us regularly with their body language that they hate coming to work every day.
• A liar and someone who fakes illnesses – calling in sick on a Monday morning when we have limited ability to cover their workload for the day would be ideal. Friday’s are another good day, especially when we know they went out for staff drinks the night before so it’s obvious they have a hangover.
• Terrible communication skills, no ability to spell or follow English grammar is a prerequisite.
• A candidate who can’t form relationships and we don’t want them to be nice to others, actually the ruder the better.
• Someone who thinks they are better than others is another prerequisite. It’s actually a deal breaker. We have to have that in every person in our office.

…You get the idea!”

Ok, so if after 20 years I have NEVER taken this brief (and to add to that, I have only ever taken briefs for the EXACT opposite)….WHY do I still have employers/clients call me on a semi-regular basis saying they have employees behaving this way????

Your employer is driving a business. They need happy, positive, friendly, engaged people in their business every….single….day. No matter how tough it gets, you are there to do a job and do it well. You are getting paid to do your job.

They need the exact opposite of the traits listed above….all the time.

So before you book in to see the recruiter to cry tears over the fact that your employer ‘isn’t giving YOU want YOU want’, ask yourself “are YOU giving them what THEY want???”

Naomi Marshall – Director
P: (02) 9271 0011
M: 0422 139 910
E: naomi@sprintpeople.com.au