What to Look for In a Potential Employee

Interview

Hiring the right employee requires more than reviewing resumes. You must understand the candidate’s attitude, expectations, and work habits. Hiring the wrong candidate can result in thousands of dollars wasted training and pausing the growth of your company.

Before you hire, understand the most valuable characteristics of a long-term employee. The extra time spent hiring will be an investment for your company’s future productivity and growth.

Someone that Loves Their Career

You may provide a great salary and superior benefits but company perks are rarely enough to make an employee change their outlook on their career. Find an employee that loves what they do. Passionate employees are often harder workers who think creatively. You can teach technical skills, you can’t teach passion.

Someone that Is Compatible with Company Culture

Fitting into company culture is an essential trait that cannot be trained. However, the importance of company culture can often be undervalued. A compatible employee can be easier to approach with new ideas and are generally easier to manage overall.

How-To Determine if Your Candidate is Compatible

  • Check if potential candidate gets along with current co-workers and boss.
  • Introduce candidate to current employees.
  • Ask the candidate about their values in the workplace.

Someone with Analytical Skills

Every company experiences mishaps where employees are forced to think outside of formal training. For example, difficult clients, software malfunctions, and miscommunication between co-workers. When challenges arise, your employee must have analytical skills. They will better be able to solve important problems by making logical steps.

Top Five Analytical Skill

  • Communication
  • Creativity
  • Critical Thinking
  • Data Analysis
  • Research

Someone with Long Term Potential

Training new employees can cost your company thousands of dollars. Find an employee that is passionate about their career and company’s values. A dedicated employee is an investment toward your company.

Someone with Ambition

You cannot overestimate the power of an ambitious employee. It creates competition amongst employees, often increasing company revenue and productivity. During the interview, assess whether the candidate has ideas on growing their department.

Don’t waste valuable time training the wrong candidate! Spending extra time hiring will have great reward for the productivity of your company.