Top skills and characteristics when hiring someone/trying to get hired

Whether you are hiring someone, or trying to get hired yourself, this article addresses the age old question, “what are the skills and characteristics of a great candidate?”

Integrity

Some people think being great while working with others is most important, some think being able to do the job is most important, and while there are many great options for potential best characteristics for an employment, nothing beats plain old honesty and integrity. There is nothing more damaging to company relations than someone who can’t be trusted. The problem is this is one of the hardest metrics to quantitatively measure and assess. You can see how someone did on past projects, you can get a vibe from quantity and quality of references on someone has done in the past with co-workers, but identifying honesty can be very challenging. If you are trying to get the job, make sure you point out that being honest is something that you value highly. Mention how you think lying by omission is still lying. Indicate that you realize the severity of how honesty plays a role in any business environment. If you’re an employer, be looking for employees that exude such principles.

Work well with others/team player – Communication skills – Culture fit

I’ve hired and fired a few people in my business career. While I do think that a candidate is required to be able to do their job (what will end up being #3 below) to be considered a top characteristic of a great employee, this should also be expected and implied when the candidate takes the job. This is why I place the cliche “team player” characteristic at #2 on the list.

Employers like to ask questions such as “Do you like to work alone or as a team?” in an attempt to feel out applicable responses. There’s a reason I have “Communication skills” in the title. What working well with others really means is a majority of someone’s communication abilities. Do they set expectations? Do they communicate goals? Do they speak constructively or in an attacking manner? Do they minimize noise? Do they share company information internally freely and willingly? Do they cooperate on projects that they aren’t assigned, just to help the company and co-workers? Do they make sure the other received the message correctly? Do they communicate professionally which leads to an attempt to work with others rather than work against others? Finding people who fit your culture, whatever it may be, is crucial to long-term success and building employee brand loyalty. It’s equally important for both sides of the exchange, both employer and employee, to find the correct culture fit to maximize work enjoyment.

Able to do the job

Let’s be serious for a moment. Even if a person is able to work well with others and is honest and forthcoming for the most part, that still doesn’t guarantee their a good candidate for hire. They plain-out need to do the job they are applying for (unless additional/specific training is required of course). If you’re the potential candidate then you need to bring proof that you have done something tangible. If you’re the hiring party, you need to be looking for proof of their experience.

Strong work ethic/Drive/Goal-Setting

Most research and surveys have found this to be one of the top hiring traits that employers are searching. They need people who are driven, who actually strive to work hard, to learn, to grow. This is usually highlighted through the use of not only business goals, but life goals as well. This includes steps and actions required to reach goals as well as an assessment period of goals either completed or failed. Businesses need people who are willing to go above and beyond the normal business hours should the need be.

Leadership experience

Inspiring individuals and teams is a vital skill in the modern world, and will be for centuries to come if not for eternity. Great leaders help organizations run smoothly and with competence. It increases productivity, enables employees to work well under pressure, strengthens confidence in the team, and improves communication. Employers should be looking for such talent, and employees should be striving to deliver a great leadership experience.

Problem Solver

Teams are there for one reason, to solve problems. Having someone on the team that has always displayed an ability to solve problems is vital to your team’s success. Problem solvers can help teams get over difficult humps and can lead to competitive and comparative advantages.

Dependable/Reliable – Consistency

Most bodybuilders don’t win because they did things pretty good. Most of them have to be perfect with their diets and exercise to win the biggest trophies and championships. CONSISTENCY is the name of the game. The ability to deliver time and time and time again is crucial to provided sustained value in today’s business environment. Those who are dependable are worth their weight in gold.

Able to cope with conflict in a work environment

A vital skill that is often overlooked is the ability to copy with conflict. Conflict is inevitable in almost every scenario, even when people don’t work directly with each other. Indirect conflicts can occur as well, where employees don’t even see each other. Most companies have some process, such as outside sales handing off sales orders to production, or quality teams handing off products to delivery teams, in which even though people might not have direct contact, conflict could easily arise. There’s nothing more harmful than individuals that know how to handle conflict and overcome it. There’s also nothing quite as bad as employees that feed into conflict. They can bring organizations to a screeching halt, or worse, reverse the direction of the company.

A decider

One characteristic that is needed by literally every company, and in most roles, are good deciders. Those are people who can make sound decisive actions that end up producing real business value. Although managers can not micromanage every scenario they are responsible for, the ability to do and to take the blame for any poor decisions is paramount. People who can make sound decisions that lead to business value will never run out of style.

7. Able to make good decisions with on-the-spot, made-up scenarios?

Curious minded

Curios people make great employees. They often look into means/avenues that others might otherwise miss. It’s always good for business, and more fun, to have people around who think outside the box.

Healthily competitive

People who like to compete can be a great addition. This is because they don’t have to be encouraged to give effort, they simply give the effort because it’s self-motivated. In most cases, competitive people have benefited from past competitions, either being good enough in something to win, or hopefully they at least learned from their loss. On a more positive note, competitive juices create a winning attitude. That winning attitude is great positivity for the company as long as it’s kept within realistic check.

Able to Learn/Willing to Learn

People who are always looking to learn are like getting in on a good investment before it became a good investment. They can pay dividends. As an employer, employees that are always trying to learn are usually gaining skills that put them above their latest salary/wage. Even if you have to pay them more, they are usually delivering more and more value than their costs. As an employee, there’s nothing quite as good for your promotion and raise futures as continually learning and applying that learning to provide more profitability. Employers should be looking for people who work hard outside company hours to build their skills, while employees should invest in themselves when not at work.

Open to responsibility

This pertains to everyone, but not equally. Obviously management requires more responsibility taking, but it’s still beneficial to have as much of your team as possible willing to take on responsibilities. Every company wants to employ people who will admit to making a mistake and learning from it.

Able to multi-task

I’m not a big fan of multi-tasking. Switching tasks usually eat away at productivity. …but in today’s business world, employees need to be able to juggle a variety of responsibilities and wear numerous hats. Being able to provide value across a variety of platforms/divisions is what employers need, and what employees should be striving to deliver. To better be able to do this, companies are utilizing project management resources such as Kanban boards and project management software that enable task tracking and prioritization.

First impression/appearance

People who take care of themselves will always have an advantage over those who don’t. Even people who don’t take care of themselves look at those who do as a positive trait, one they wish to obtain themselves one day. This is because it is usually associated with the habit of setting goals and acting consistently to achieve those goals. These are very positive traits for any business. These are the people who can see the forest and the trees at the same time.

Ability to adapt/Change management

The old say goes, “the only thing that is constant/certain is change.” Companies need employees that are not only willing, but also able to change. It’s important that candidates display the ability to adapt quickly, especially in more agile environments. The future has more and more electronic devices, not less, so employees need to be able to easily adapt to any new technology.

Flexibility

Companies can sometimes have a need for work hours that are abnormal, or some types of work that aren’t involved in the original job description, yet needed nonetheless. Companies need employees who are willing to go above and beyond, who won’t leave the company high and drive when it’s crunch time, who will be there, once again, for the team when needed.

Multitasker

Now this can be misleading because I’ll be the first to say that generally multitasking can be very dangerous and time consuming, and lead to poorer quality. Usually “task switching times”, when aggregated, lead to higher levels of non-work time and account for more overhead costs. An example of this would be people who switch constantly from task to task, they will have to take some time to reacquaint themselves with the task when the switch back to it.

That being said, it’s vital that a person, not be able to necessarily switch from task to task quickly and often, but that they can see the bigger picture and take a farther step back. They can see multiple projects and/or operations working together synergistically and, even if focusing on 1 problem at a time, is able to see the bigger picture, prioritize tasks/jobs, and attack with a multitasking strategy.

Caution level/risk-aversion level

It’s vital that a firm bring on someone with the proper risk-adverse outlook and philosophy. This might mean someone who is different than the norm, but will act as a balancing act to help provide differentiated strategies, processes, and operations. For most companies, they are looking for people who are realistic in their implementations and worldview. Many can overpromise yet underdeliver, some are willing to bet the house and go all in on unsound strategies. It’s important that candidates be level-headed and that risk management is always in the business repertoire.

Self-awareness

People who know who they are and what they want are usually better at understanding the world around and how they can benefit the company/firm. They also realize what they excel at, and where they need improvement. They can focus on their strengths and delegate/avoid their weaknesses. It’s vital that employees utilize their strengths to provide even more value to the company.

Active listener

Every company needs people who can give their full attention to a discussion, repeat that information back for verification, and remember that information. Active listeners ask questions that dig deeper to the root of the issue, towards the important meat and potatoes of the topic. Listening before jumping to conclusions is very important.

Professionalism

Companies seek professionals who can treat co-workers with courtesy, not just most of the time, but all the time. Period. When someone else needs help, they help. There are no limitations to being their for others, even people they may not personally like or get along. Respect is given, continuously, to everyone despite how others act towards them. They raise the bar in the work environment.

Doesn’t take things personally

It’s important to exude the ability to receive and process constructive criticism. This goes hand-in-hand with professionalism. Being able to look at things objectively, instead of personally, enables employees to look at the problems and focus on solutions, instead of thinking of revenge or trying to get even with team members. It facilitates smooth team operations and helps the team overcome tough hurdles.

Dedicated to mastery

We live in the information age. Change has never been more rapid. In order to maximize value to the company, employees need to maximize their skills. People dedicated to mastery make time in their busy schedules to work on their skills and improve on them. The more people that a company can have that are dedicated to mastery, the more new ideas and skills can be utilized.

Positive mindset

Now thoughts of people giving hugs and words of encouragement are the first things that pop into people’s minds when they think of positivity. What I’m talking about though is a perspective, an attitude. You don’t have to be flamboyant to be positive, you can do so reserved and still carry a big positive stick. Positive people see failure as input, as long as they learn from it. Positive people are also heavily solution oriented, always looking for ways to solve problems rather than focusing on the problems only. It’s important that companies employ positive employees as negative employees can bring down the entire team(s).

Detail-oriented

Sometimes, and for some positions/roles, paying attention to the small details is as important as strategic managers seeing the big picture. Detail-oriented employees submit less mistakes, they can pick up on various behaviors and trends that others might miss, and they are usually, but not always, more adept at emotional intelligence because they can notice body language and verbal language that others might not pick up on. Detail-oriented people can save a company from making serious mistakes that could highly cost the company.

Long-term plausible

Companies want employees that you can see with the company for a long time. Turnover is costly and any employee that can show their potential for a long-haul stay should be given higher consideration.

Advanced degrees/Certifications

Now there are plenty of people with degrees, and advanced degrees, that aren’t the ideal employee. That being said, it does say something about the fact that they have some subject matter training. It also says something about their drive and determination. Sticking through 4+ years of additional schooling, and beyond with advanced degrees, often making less money up front

It’d be wise to open a candidate to the potential of a trial day or week where you could bring them in and see how things work out. Assess their ability to learn and pick up new tasks. It could incentivize them to start with a fresh mindset that they are invested in the company from the start, even if just in an attempt to prove themselves for hiring. It could set a tone in the company for kaizen, or continuous improvement.

It’s also always important to check in with references.

Things that BAD candidates do:

1. Know-it-alls – These people are by far the worst team members possible. They will kill more relationships than they nurture.
2. Only communicate to people that have positions of power. This could mean they are just opportunists and not really fully involved with the inner workings of the company as a whole.
3. Needy people
4. Overly narcissistic
5. Lack of commitment
6. Don’t aim for more than the minimum
7. Too many personal demands – Now everyone has demands, but it’s important that they don’t get in the way of business operating smoothly. People who need to be pampered can overextend already stretched resources and deviates away from the company’s goals. It also sets a dangerous precedent for others on the team. It can also come across as favoritism. This is really just basic risk management.

Nobody is perfect in hiring. You might be a great candidate, or you might hire the absolute worst candidate. …but if you’re someone trying to get employed, or if you are the one doing the hiring, following the items above will net you more good opportunities/hires than bad.