If like me you are hooked on The Apprentice and at this time of year find yourself frustrated when you watch the poor management and leadership by the apprentices you may wonder if anything can be learnt from them?
Each year we see the new batch of apprentices full of self-confidence (some arrogance) and thinking they are the best, each task we see people fail, blame others and refuse to take responsibility.
Under pressure of “being fired” we see rash decisions, refusal to listen and inability to take criticism. When tasks are delegated and responsibility shared out we see the other apprentices claim it’s so they can blame someone else (as was stated on Thursday’s show by Versatile), who won and all celebrated winning! Blame is passed for losing but shared for winning!!
In the first episode we saw Dan fired who had admitted he’d not sold to the public before, a fact that was surely clear on his CV?
So what can we learn? People who apply for this process are competitive, confident, driven, and to be that they need an element of selfishness!
People lie, people brag and people exaggerate to get the job they want, this makes recruitment difficult. Without dedicating weeks to the search and a long assessment centre (essentially what The Apprentice is) how can you find out more about the person? We recommend the use of psychometric assessments, to dig beneath the egos!
Who can really sell?
Who is motivated by what?
Who doesn’t like confrontation?
Who is motivated by money?
Who is motivated by recognition?
Who is driven to succeed?
Who is rule driven (Brett perhaps after his “specification” obsession on the first task?)?
At The HR Point we would love to carry out psychometric assessments on the apprentices, Lord Sugar if you read this we happily offer our services!
We look forward to seeing this week’s episode!