Building the right team is essential in running a successful company. Employees support the organization and keep it afloat through their labor. So it’s important to be careful about who you bring on to the team. Here are seven qualities and traits to seek out when assessing potential new hires.
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1. A Positive Attitude
A positive attitude is a must-have for any job. According to one study, happy employees are up to 20% more productive than unhappy employees. Happy salespeople were able to raise sales by 37%.
Everything you do is affected by your own outlook and attitude. Plus people with a positive attitude will be able to build better relationships with their coworkers and clients, improving the work environment and the business itself.
You don’t want an employee who is constantly complaining and pointing out the negative aspects of everything. You want a go-getter who enthusiastically carries out tasks and strives to be the best they can be.
2. Technical Expertise
When hiring, you want to first make sure that a candidate can actually do the job they’re applying for. And obviously some jobs require more technical skills than others—you’d assess a software developer and a hostess completely differently, for example.
Regardless, you should make sure that every candidate you’re thinking of hiring has the hard skills you’re looking for. Ask them questions about their hard skills during the interview or send them a short assessment to get a more honest understanding of their skill set.
3. Integrity
You want to hire employees who you can trust. That’s why you should seek out people with a sense of integrity. Having integrity means you’re honest, ethical, and always committed to doing what’s right. These people will stay loyal to your company if you treat them right and always take accountability for their actions.
Customers also prefer dealing with someone who is warm, honest, and genuine in their dealings. When searching for a car mechanic, for instance, what’s one of the main things you look for? You want a mechanic with integrity—someone who will tell you the truth upfront and give you a fair price for the job.
You have to do some research in order to ensure that you’re hiring someone with integrity. Ask for a list of references and call past employers. Run a background and identity check to evaluate their character.
4. Problem-solving skills
You should have a general idea of how a candidate handles problems and stressful situations before hiring them. Everyone inevitably runs into problems on the job, and the negative impact that that problem has often depends on how well a person handles it.
During the job interview, consider asking a candidate about the problems they’ve run into in previous jobs and how they handled them then. You might even describe a problematic situation to the candidate that’s relevant to your own company, and then ask them to walk you through how they’d address it.
5. Ability to learn
Learning is part of stepping into a new role. With any unfamiliar company, there are certain systems, processes, and protocols that one must learn in the beginning. When you’re assessing a candidate, determine whether they’re someone excited to learn about the job and your company.
Also take into account how they learn. Are they able to learn independently? Or will they require a lot of support? Are they capable of learning by doing? Or will they need to go through a training program?
6. Experience
The amount of relevant work experience a candidate has often indicates the amount of time and effort it will take for them to adjust to the new role. Relevant experience will help them follow the best practices of their role and smoothly navigate the problems they run into. Employees with more work experience also have the potential to step into leadership roles and mentor other less experienced employees.
7. Reliability
It’s important to be able to count on the people you hire. That’s why you need to find a candidate who is reliable. They’ll show up on time every day, put in the work they need to, and meet deadlines. As a manager, you’ll be able to spend less time checking in on them, and more time devoted to the activities that really need your attention.
Remember that any company is made up by the team that supports it. When picking the people who will compose that team, choose wisely. Take a common sense approach and consider who will help you most in achieving your company’s goals.
