| Companies Demand
Technical Skills, Search for the Right Attitude
"We hire for attitude and train for skills,"
declared Lorraine Grubbs-West, director of field employment for
Southwest Airlines. "We ask questions such as ‘When was the last
time you laughed at yourself and why?'"
Half of the world’s aerospace workers are
employed in the U.S., while a third of the people in the industry
work in Europe. |
Such questions are designed to determine if job
seekers will "fit" with the company. For although the tight labor
market has airlines and aerospace companies looking high and low
for people who have know-how, these companies want to ensure that
new hires also will be compatible with their corporate cultures.
David Vaughan, president of Irvine, Calif.-based
Vaughan & Co., an executive search firm, said despite stiff competition
for aerospace engineers, particularly in software and electrical
engineering, some companies are not hiring otherwise qualified job
candidates due to "fit" issues. "The applicant may be technically
competent and what a company needs, but [companies are asking] ‘Is
that person going to be a part of our team?' I am seeing companies
pass on people who don't fit, regardless of their experience."
Dwight Streit, vice president and executive
director of TRW Space & Electronics Group's advanced semiconductor
business in Redondo Beach, Calif., said, "Obviously, we focus a
great deal on hiring people with the appropriate skill sets, but
they also have to be the kind of people we believe will build their
careers here."
To help identify "fit," Rockwell Collins has
adopted a team interview process in which candidates are selected
based on skill and then interviewed for behaviors consistent with
the company's values, explained Ian Davis, the company's human resources
manager.
"We want people who have the ability to work
in an environment where there are many unknowns and where the requirements
shift," said Davis. "They must also have demonstrated the ability
to learn new skills and have a record of creating something from
scratch. We probe to see what people have done, how they have handled
things when they were successful and also when they were not."
General Electric also targets people who have
the skills and the right values. If one or the other is missing,
the company works with the individual to develop the missing attribute.
The worst-case scenario is an individual who has the skills and
can make the numbers, but never develops values consistent with
GE's. Eventually, such people leave the company.
Delta Air Lines officials say they have a single-digit
employee turnover rate because most of their workers share the company's
values.
According to Dana J. Dalton, Delta's system
manager of employment, "We seek people who align with our corporate
values of safety, customer-focused professionalism, world-class
performance, trust and respect, teamwork and participation, speed
and simplicity, technology and flexibility. Our retention rate is
terrific because Delta folks are happy with our company and prove
it by their feet—they just don't leave."
Michael Langford, director of human resources
for Galaxy Aerospace in Fort Worth, said the essential ingredient
for his company's workforce is a customer service mindset paired
with technical ability.
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