Crucial Qualities to Look for When Hiring Talent
For companies, turnover and hiring new employees may be time-consuming and pricey. Companies must not only fight to keep as many diligent employees as possible, but they must also attempt to make excellent hiring decisions to prevent the need of re-investing on new hire training.
But, let’s take a step back for a moment, from the ‘how’ to the ‘what’. What are the attributes of a good employee and applicant that you should constantly look for, out of the dozens of soft skills and personality traits that exist? Knowing what to look for in a potential employee increases your chances of recruiting the best people and minimizing the awful expenses of a bad hire.
Key Qualities of a Good Employee
Before reading the items below, I would like to point that especially with talent, there is no one size that fits all. Different organizational circumstances dictate different parameters for what makes a good resource. However, I believe generally speaking organization will be looking at the following:
Long term potential for growth with the company
Recruiters should look for traits of dedication and longevity attributes in an interviewee’s resume. When new hires come in with a proven record of achieving excellent outcomes, sustaining a growth strategy in your company is significantly easier.
Encourage new recruits to speak about their accomplishments in the past, and explore on how they achieved specific professional goals. Hiring managers should seek for applicants who are determined to push the boundaries and have a strong desire to succeed in the future.
Enthusiasm and passion for work
Look for people who are passionate and enthusiastic about their work. You can assess this by reviewing at their past employment history, professional affiliations, or educational path. People who enjoy what they do tend to remain at organizations longer than those who merely work for the pay check.
Look for the right personality and skills
When interviewing candidates, it's critical to assess their "fit" in two ways. To begin, assess their suitability for the job based on prior knowledge, skill capacity, and overall capabilities to perform the relevant tasks.
Next, assess their overall fit for the company by envisioning how well they would personally "fit" into the culture. Because, an applicant’s work ethic, uprightness, keenness to learn, presence and the connection with the rest of the team are often far more crucial than learnable skills.
Go-getter or self-starter
Few things bother an employer more than having to repeatedly direct an employee over basic responsibility. Alternatively, you want someone who will not only complete the tasks assigned to them, but also identify the need for new projects.
A suitable approach to assess this ability is to give the prospect some job role and ask them how they would tackle it. A self-starter will think outside the box about what to bring to the table.
Constant improvement
With the constant advancement of new technology, it is crucial to hire individuals who can rapidly adapt and enhance their skills. It's a significant plus when an employee is familiar with the ever-changing technology that is directly linked to your business and competitors.
They can not only provide you with a fresh perspective, but they can also effortlessly teach those around them, saving you time and money on hiring an outside source.
These traits are part of what makes a good employee, but they're not the whole story. That's why, if you want to hire the best people, it's important to work with experts who know how to recruit top talent.
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