This is a guest post from Carolyn Krokus. Carolyn is a contributor for 365 Business Tips and can be found enhancing blogs by writing lively and relevant content. She is a professional digital marketer, which has helped with branding and implementing new strategies.
Companies are always looking to improve their teams and interdepartmental synergy. A great way to start this initiative is to hire new talent. Before hiring on a random selection of employees, it is necessary for managers to comprehend which qualities are essential for the next top employee.
When looking to expand a growing team, many hiring staff might feel inclined to just fill the position. Taking shortcuts might put a team at more risk by hiring an inadequate candidate.
Hiring managers should first look for qualities that will help fulfill the role and secondly, search to find a candidate that can also fit the unique company culture.
What to look for in new employees
When imaging a perfect candidate, they can have an assortment of attributes such as, showing up on time, volunteering themselves within the workplace, always starting new initiatives that are beneficial and long-lasting, and so on. But some hiring managers still allow for things to slip under the radar when undergoing interviews. Below are some thought-provoking ways on how to look for the best qualities when hiring new employees.
Managers should understand which qualities are needed for each specific role
Both hiring managers and recruiters need to have all their details in check before going on a hunt for new talent. Many job seekers will come across very generic sounding job descriptions. It happens all too often, that job descriptions begin to sound repetitive. At times, it can even be difficult for some applicants to distinguish one job description from another. Each job description should be strategically planned out, instead of listing a bunch of nonspecific responsibilities.
Hiring managers should be quick to highlight certain qualities that will be successful for each unique job opening. For example, if a job requires a lot of behind the scenes work, it might be best to not hire the candidate with the most face-to-face experience with previous clients.
Managers need to be proactive by placing each candidate accordingly, along with their best qualities, for each individual position. Doing so will ensure employees feel valued in their line of work. According to Forbes, “66% of employees say they would ‘likely leave their job’ if they didn’t feel appreciated”.
It is crucial to hire a person who is capable of growing into a position. If managers aren’t careful with their selection of applicants, managers might pick a person who is uninterested in growing in the position, leading them to feel unappreciated. It is vital to hire a person based on their qualifications that will inevitably help fulfill a position and continue to grow.
To attract the appropriate candidates, managers shouldn’t be afraid to steer away from generic job descriptions. This will only help attract top-performing candidates, but also help candidates get excited for when applying for the position.
Look for long term potential
Managers are free to ask what their new employees’ long term goals are within the industry. These types of questions are needed in order to slightly challenge the candidates in their interview. Depending on how the applicants’ answer these type of questions, will help give managers the insight they need to know how serious the applicant is about staying long term.
After managers get a sense of their candidates’ long term potential, managers should be quick to see how much applicants are willing to grow into a leadership position if they receive an offer letter. Asking these types of questions will help get a sense of where a new employee is heading professionally and how long term they intend on being.
Managers can’t hold employees captive and should allow employees to explore other responsibilities in the industry. Every employer hopes that their employees are being challenged and getting enough skillset out of their job, for it to be enjoyable. Employers should also strive to have a low turnover rate with their employees. Having a low turn over rate, not only attracts more top talent but keeps things enticing within the in-house competition.
In order for employees to feel more inclined to stay committed to a position or certain role, management should have resources readily available to offer up to their employees. This is so employees never feel as though they have plateaued or undervalued for a certain position. Employees are more inclined to keep their head in the game long term if they can clearly see the value in the work they are doing.
Do candidates actually have what it takes to complete the job?
Managers need to apply some pressure, during the interview, to see if new employees’ qualities are sufficient enough to complete the job given their past experience. Managers need to be careful when reading through applicants’ resumes and not be afraid to ask candidates about their past experience.
Some of the strongest candidates can come from in-house referrals. Managers should be aware and take caution when current employees are referring their best-friends for a position. This situation might call for a disaster of distraction. But, if enough in-depth research proves that the referral has all the vital qualifications, then a referral program is both cost-efficient and less risky when searching for new talent.
In most cases, hiring managers are more inclined to just rush to fill a position, rather than to take the proper time and find an adequate employee. According to Jobvite, “65% of recruiters report that the biggest challenge in hiring is a shortage of talent.” Employees might indicate they are hard workers on paper but might act otherwise in a work setting. Many managers make the mistake of hiring someone ‘who has a great personality’ and ‘can learn on the job’.
Managers are all too often are tempted to hire mediocre employees. There are some candidates out there that have astounding can-do attitudes but they still can’t seem to hit deadlines and provide consistent results. Can-do attitudes are great to have around the office, but the qualities of an employee should come first, then the personality fit.
Differentiate themselves from their peers
Great managers are able to pick out a great employee from a mile away. While some managers might hire on the low hanging fruit, other managers go more in-depth with their applicant search. Applicants need to be able to identify their strengths and learn how to properly communicate their strengths within the workplace. No manager wants to work with an employee who embellishes themselves with confidence. There’s a time and place to shine in a work environment. No matter how discrete or modest an applicant might be, an attention to detail kind of manager will notice the strong work mentality.
There are many benefits that come from hiring employees who know how to differentiate themselves from the rest of the candidates. Imagine how boring a work environment would be if you hired on replicated clones of your top employees. Keep things fresh by introducing a variety of qualities to help curate a competitive environment.
An additional way to keep processes running efficiently is to integrate a coaching culture to help make positive changes. Managers should appreciate the benefits of having a variety of strong leaders, rather than having a horde of employees unable to challenge themselves because they are so similar.
Great new employees will have the ability to implement new changes around the office. Managers should ask ‘When was a time you tried to implement change and was it successful?’ ‘If you could go back and change any part of the process, would you and if so, how?’ Look for applicants who have experience with being resourceful in a past role. This type of quality shows they care about the environment that they work in and appreciate it enough to keep making improvements.
Conclusion
Companies will only continue to grow and expand their teams. Hiring staff should make their job easier for themselves by eliminating the possibility of ever hiring someone with a great personality versus someone who has standout qualifications.
Management taking the proper amount of time to seek out the top talent in the industry is only going to be beneficial in the long run. In summary, it is necessary for managers to grasp which qualities are essential for each individual employment opportunity.
