Hire for Attitude and Common Sense, Not Skill: Peter Bredlau Jr.

Nov 19, 2013

5 min read

Updated: Oct 29

Many owners hire off the resume and then, 30 days later, say the new person just was not a good culture fit. Peter Bredlau Jr., president and CEO of Quality Service Associates, an HVAC services company in New Jersey, wrote his answer on a napkin: "I hire for common sense and attitude, not skill." By the time he meets a new employee, on their first day, the skill has already been tested. The resume shows the best foot forward. So he talks to the person. Where do you want to be in 10 or 15 years? What does retirement look like to you? What makes you tick? Attitude comes out in that conversation. Common sense shows up on the job. Skill, he says, you will know about within 30 days.

Inspired by Paper Napkin Wisdom Episode 17 with Peter Bredlau Jr.

Why skill is the easy part to judge

Peter does not interview or onboard new hires. His first contact is a new employee talk on their first day. By then they have passed the tests and the interviews. So he assumes the skill is there and uses that time to learn about the person.

He often talks with people in their mid to late 30s who have been around the block. He starts by saying he is looking at them 10, 15, 20 years from now. Some react with surprise. They earn $15 or $20 an hour, or have only been in the trade a few years, so why is the owner asking about retirement? His answer is that he wants to know what makes them tick. What bubbles up is attitude.

He puts it this way. Throw someone into the job and you will know within 30 days whether the skill is there. He usually knows by the end of that first meeting whether they will last.

Why attitude decides whether your culture works

Peter spends a lot of time on culture. He could have 15 rock star mechanics, and if they are not willing to share, have fun and talk about their mistakes, he is lost.

The real value in a service company is when someone with 20 or 25 years in the trade shares what they know with someone who has two. That only happens when the experienced person checks their ego at the door. It is never bought with a wage or forced with a big stick.

Attitude also starts at the top. If you expect your team to have a good attitude and you do not, or expect them to make their calls and you do not, your reputation goes fast. For Peter, a positive attitude is one of his core values, so he has to lead it.

What common sense looks like on a roof

Peter's uncle is a math professor, so brilliant he helped correct the SATs. Peter loves him and says his uncle would agree that common sense is a different kind of intelligence.

In Peter's world it is a safety issue. His people work on roofs, in boiler rooms, on ladders and around heavy equipment. You can be the most brilliant person in the world and still fall off a roof. He wants people who keep their head on a swivel. Street smarts.

It matters more because he tells every employee to act as if they own the building. They are on the front line, deciding whether it is safe to proceed and dealing with the client. If there is a bee's nest on the roof, where is the edge, and which way will you run? If it is icy, how do you set the ladder so it will not slide? He cannot be there every day, so judgment has to be.

What it costs to let your team make the call

When Peter has a bad feeling about a new hire, he does not step in. He is careful not to give his opinion. His team acts, usually within 30 days. If someone is good at playing the game, he may put his two cents in at about two weeks, because one bad apple can hurt a lot of what a team works for.

At a talk to his local Entrepreneurs' Organization chapter, he was asked what this does to profitability. His answer was that it costs him a point or two of gross profit. He treats that as a long-term investment, and he is okay with it.

The harder cost is personal. It takes a huge amount of daily effort not to jump in, answer the question or steer someone's career the way he thinks it should go. He has run the business this way for about six or seven years, and he still takes it one day at a time. As he sees it, if your team comes to you with their own answers, you are teaching them to fish.

How a second generation owner creates his own leadership style

Peter took the business over from his father. He points out that buying a company is not that different. Either way, new leadership means a shift.

His father led from expertise, as the top technician in his field. Peter is good technically, but that is not what makes him tick. So he had to build a style that let his team grow, including letting things not work sometimes, on purpose, so they could learn. In his words, he had to pull himself out from the shadow of his dad's tree and create his own forest.

He is a positive person by nature, and he tells new employees he will never be their biggest cheerleader or a screamer. Some people read that as weakness. He is fine with that. When a contractor or client vents on his crew, he stays calm and then asks his technician afterward if they understood what happened. The other person made a choice. Nobody knows what brought them to that moment. It does not have to change your attitude toward them. Very rarely does he have to fire anyone, and very rarely does anyone quit.

How to hire for attitude and common sense this week

Peter's idea is simple, and I think it is one entrepreneurs get wrong a lot. We get distracted by the shiny parts of a resume.

In your next interview or first-day conversation, ask where the person wants to be in 10 or 15 years and what retirement looks like to them. Listen for attitude, not polish.
Ask a situational question from your own work, the equivalent of a bee's nest on a roof. Listen for judgment.
When you get a gut feel about a new hire, write it down and keep it to yourself. Check it against what your team decides within 30 days.
Look at your own attitude this week. Are you modeling what you expect from new hires?
After a tense moment with a customer, take a minute with the people who saw it and explain how you chose to respond.

Peter also admits he is not focused all the time. He is a morning person, up at five, and knows his focus fades by mid-afternoon. Knowing your own danger hours is a kind of common sense too.