Partner Article

What should you look for in an employee?

Thanks to the digital world we live in today, the talent pool is ever widening. The way that we hire has changed; while of course, education and qualifications still play a role, the focus has shifted onto cultural fit, personal energy and individual drive and vision. What candidates already know is shifting down on the agenda – information can always be taught. Regardless of the size of your business, the industry or the sex and age of the candidate; there are common traits that are shared by great employees, some of which have been listed below.

Ambitious – An employee will only add to the success of your business if they are striving to better their career too. Those employees that are ambitious and wanting to achieve personal success will enable a company to be innovative, spawning creative ideas and a cultural of openness between team members.

Good Culture Fit- We spend 1/3 of our lives at work, so it’s vital that you are going to enjoy working with your employees on a daily basis. You can learn a lot from a candidate’s personality upon your first meeting. An energetic, engaging individual can increase your competitive advantage by solidifying customer relations and improve results.

“We can teach someone to do a job. We can’t teach someone to love the way we operate,” explains Lauren Kolbe, founder of KolbeCo, a brand media agency. “An employee who is not aligned with the culture and is not committed to living it can wreak havoc pretty quickly, even if they bring a great deal of skill and experience to their craft.”

Confident – Confident employees are efficient and productive when it comes to achieving targets. They also engage well with others and build strong relationships; they handle responsibility well and are not afraid to take calculated risks. In fact, many of the Top CEO’s in the country have all praised the confidence of students that have undertaken gap years. Robert Hingley, a senior adviser to the investment bank Lazard, explains: “In a shrinking job market, when you have 300 applications for every place, some 100 of them will be stunning, but few will stand out. Those who have taken an interesting gap year will have had the opportunity to progress beyond merely achieving things. At interview they may well come across as personalities.”

Kevin Dynan from Global Medical Projects concurs, “Gap years require a certain level of skill and determination. We specialise in placements in the arena of medicine, so students are choosing placements that are relevant to their choice of future career. Because they are in developing countries, they also sharpen their clinical skills – adding value to their CV and standing out from competition in the job market.”

Positive - We have all come across these two types of employees; the ones that are fresh, optimistic and upbeat and on the other side – the ones that are negative and easily defeated. An employee’s state of mind is infectious; with that in mind, it’s vital that a conscious effort is made to seek out the upbeat ones so that the workplace environment is one that is inspiring and productive.

Passionate – Employees who are passionate about what they do, don’t feel like they are working. Obviously, money is a motivating factor for all of us when it comes to the world of work; it’s vital that they are genuinely passionate about their career that your business is offering.

I think Richard Branson sums it up best here, “When you believe in something the force of your convictions will spark other people’s interest and motivate them to help you achieve your goals.”

Honest- In the ideal office culture, there is a degree of honesty and transparency. Between colleagues and client, but also perhaps more importantly, employees are required to be honest with themselves. In order to be authentic and display integrity, it’s vital that employees can be honest about the quality of their work and their contribution to the businesses as a whole. Once an honest relationship is established with ourselves, we can effectively improve ourselves and our work.

Andre Lavoie, CEO at ClearCompany raises a point in his Forbes article, “When leaders are transparent, problems are solved faster. By being open and honest about company problems, employees can help find solutions. And two heads (or however many heads make up the company) are better than one.”

Detail Orientated- of course, mistakes will happen at some point – we are only human. But employing candidates that take pride in their work and have an eye for detail can make all the difference when it comes to efficiency and productivity.

When it comes down to it, employees can be educated on the product, service and values that your business is built around. However, you are going to be hard pushed to train someone to possess a strong work ethic, integrity and resilience. It’s more important that start-ups and SMEs recruit those people that are going to actively contribute to the success of the business as well as themselves. Try to take a flexible approach to education and qualifications, but be strict when it comes to the personality traits you want to bring into the business.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca Moore .