Know What You Want in a Job Candidate

Hiring is hard. However, in many cases, it can be an opportunity or fulfilling time in your company’s life. Look at it from the perspective of getting to hire someone who’s a great fit for your company and an ultimate team player. Someone who you’ll want to stick around for a long time and someone who will want to grow with your company.

The importance of knowing what you’re looking for in a candidate and not hiring just to have warm body in place, can make all the difference for you a long time into the future. Think about the time an average employee stays at your company. If it’s a long time, then that makes your choice – and knowing what you want in a candidate – all the more important.

While we look to experts in our field for some basic guidance, it’s valuable to create a list of key attributes that you want in your job candidate for a specific position. In Patrick Lencioni’s book, “The Ideal Team Player,” he identifies three traits that team players have: humility, hunger and people smarts. People with those traits, he says, are ideal because of key factors in their personalities.

Lencioni emphasizes that people who are humble are more likely to define success if the team is successful, not just if they, as an individual, are successful. Hungry candidates will always look for more. More to do, more to learn, and more responsibility. They’re self-motivated people who naturally grow in their position as they evolve in their role. And finally, those who can read or sense what others are thinking and feeling – those with people smarts – can bring a lot to the table simply by knowing when to speak or when not to speak. These people have good judgement, a very key personality trait in a team player.

The bottom line is, before you post that next job opening, take some time to really consider the person you’d like to see in that role and what qualities they would possess. Create a list and think about the qualities you’ll budge on and which ones are non-negotiables. We’d like to think that your next hire, if you do this, will be a great one.