Logan Voss
CITATION: “© [fizkes] / Adobe Stock”
Finding the right employee to fit your business is important no matter how many people you employ. Their personality, work ethic, and other important traits will affect your company’s workability and reputation. It’s important to focus in on specific qualities that you think match your business.
This applies to those searching for a job as well; it’s important to think about your own marketable qualities. If you’re a candidate for a certain position you need to make sure to sell yourself in the interview by pointing out a few of these traits!
That said, here are a few traits to look for when hiring new employees or qualities to point out in job interviews.
7 Important Qualities to Look for in Interviews
1. Engaged
An important trait in employees is their engagement. In the interview, it should be obvious that the candidate has an interest in the company’s vision. This does not mean that they need to be over-the-moon about your product or service, but they should have some enthusiasm about what they’d be doing.
2. Curiosity
An ideal candidate will come into the interview with questions of their own. Strong applicants want to expand their knowledge and deepen their understanding of the company. Curiosity goes hand-in-hand with engagement. Someone who is excited to learn about the business is going to be a much better fit than a know-it-all.
3. Good Critical Judgement
You don’t want to end up on the nightly news because one of your employees makes a bad decision and puts the company’s reputation on the line. Each new hire should have common sense mixed with good critical judgment. Knowing when to follow the rules, and when it might be necessary to bend the rules, is going to be an important trait to look for when hiring new employees. So, you can invite candidates to take the Situational Judgement Test, which measures future employees’ conflict management, negotiation skills, problem-solving ability and etc.
4. Passion and Tenacity
Candidates who are passionate about what they do are going to be the people you want working for you. This passion ties into a candidate’s tenacity—their urge to constantly do better and be better. People with passion and tenacity are going to constantly look for ways to improve their work and be more efficient.
5. Positivity
A valuable asset in any employee is the ability to look on the bright side. Nobody wants to work with someone who is constantly negative—Debbie-downers are not easy to work with. Instead, a positive nature often points to the candidate’s resilience in difficult situations and a sort of fortitude which will add a lot to your company’s culture.
6. Flexibility
Flexibility is important, especially for smaller businesses. The ideal candidate will be able to multi-task and handle a multitude of responsibilities. This is not to say that your business should plan on overloading new employees—that’s a sure-fire way to burn out anybody. Flexibility is more in the idea that the candidate is open to doing what needs to be done, even if it’s not in their job description.
7. Leadership Skills
This does not mean that you’re hiring a candidate to specifically fill a formal leadership position; leadership skills are important for any employee, no matter their job title. There are times when people will need to be able to step up and lead. However, try to make sure the candidate is the sort of leader who will listen to others and not shut them down.
