- What key traits should an ideal candidate possess?
- How will these traits help their contribution to the organization?
- Why is it important for you to look for these traits?
Planning on hiring a new member or two for your team sometime soon? Then you need to be aware of the main traits that make a good and realistically compatible candidate for the purpose. However, each job role that you are hiring for may require you to look at different personality traits and general characteristics. Even then, there are certain general attributes that will help you pinpoint the right candidate out of the pool.
Integrity
Integrity is one of the highest-valued traits in the workplace. To have integrity is to have strong moral or ethical principles. Having integrity means that the candidate is honest, behaves honorably and treats others with respect. It also means they will come good on deliverables and undertakings. Employees who possess integrity help to promote a professional culture and maintain a positive reputation for themselves and the company as a whole.
Strong work ethics
It’s easy to understand why employers value hardworking employees. People who work hard show that they care about their job and the company they work for. It’s also a culture that can influence co-workers thereby improving employee output allround. Hardworking employees consider their bosses, coworkers, customers and clients.
Adaptability
The coronavirus pandemic illustrated perfectly just how important it is for employees to be adaptable and adjust quickly to a new situation. Working from home became a requirement and new work processes and procedures were put in place. This is an extreme example, but in any job changes occur and it’s important that employees have the ability to cope with whatever they have to face.
Compassionate
The best employees are those that care about their colleagues as people, taking an interest in their lives outside work and seeing them as fully rounded human beings. Taking time to get to know colleagues and be there when they really need help is a very important trait in any employee.
Goal-oriented
A strong employee is someone who sees this new position as a challenge. You will get the best job performance from an individual who sees the new job as a fulfilment of a goal rather than as just as the means to a paycheck or as another listing on a resume.
You can find out how goal-oriented your candidates are by asking them a few simple questions such as:
- How do you measure your own success?
- Describe your short-term or long-term career goals.
- Tell me how your last job fit or did not fit into this plan.
- How will this job meet your career goals?
These are some of the key general traits that will help you track down a good employee who will be willing to grow personally in the job role, and also contribute to the growth of the organization. In addition to this, skills will have to be looked at and that goes without saying. While this is certainly not an exhaustive list, we hope that this makes the recruitment process easy for you.
Share with us any other traits you feel an employee should have?