Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill
Fast Company
December 18, 2007
In a conference room on the first floor of the Houston Hobby Hilton, José Colmenares surveys a group of 13 women and 3 men and wonders which -- if any -- have the "right stuff" to become flight attendants with Southwest Airlines. Colmenares is not looking for a fixed set of skills or experiences. He's searching for something far more elusive and much more important -- the perfect blend of energy, humor, team spirit, and self-confidence to match Southwest's famously offbeat and customer-obsessed culture.
This search occupies Colmenares all day, every day, and it unfolds in hotel meeting rooms from Texas to California. Southwest has been the country's most acclaimed airline for the past decade. And runaway success attracts lots of attention. Last year, the 22,000-person company had openings for roughly 4,500 new employees -- and received more than 150,000 applications. It's the job of recruiters such as Colmenares to work through that vast applicant pool and identify the elite few who can make it at Southwest.
