Recruitment is a complicated journey for professionals and employers alike.
Everyone wants to know how to identify the right candidate.
On one side of the coin, businesses are striving to make sure that they get the best possible talent for their team. They need recruitment agencies to help them find star employees that will help them reach their goals and grow their organisation.
On the other hand, job seekers are constantly searching for ways to represent themselves as the ultimate staff member. They need to know what their potential managers are looking for, so they can consistently exceed expectations.
While the definition of the perfect employee might differ according to the position being filled, some key characteristics remain consistently relevant.
1. Experience and Insight
Experience is critical in any job. In a veteran recruit, employers will be looking for evidence of experience in the job interview, by asking competency-based questions about previous positions, and challenges that person has faced. However, experience doesn’t have to be linked exclusively to previous work.
A manufacturing graduate, for instance, can show they have the right experience and insight to join a team by describing their volunteer work or the things they’ve done to learn more about the industry. Perhaps they regularly attend networking events, or they were the leader of a group at university, and that experience taught them useful skills that they can bring to the role.
2. A Strong Work Ethic
Just as today’s team members want a career they can be passionate about; employers are looking for candidates that will go above-and-beyond in their role. Every business wants to hire someone who’s willing to work hard, exceed expectations, and perform at the height of their abilities.
Job seekers need to show that they can deliver incredible results in their position. One way to demonstrate a strong work ethic is by describing situations that required key characteristics like dependability, reliability and focus in a competency-based interview.
3. Attention to Detail
Every position comes with its own specific challenges and requirements. For instance, a manufacturing line manager may need to make sure that every product follows the exact same design guidelines. A supply chain employee may need to make sure that the business gets high-quality materials on time, without compromising on cost. Each of these tasks requires careful attention to detail and focus.
When looking for attention to detail in their employees, most companies will look for evidence of a candidate who knows how to organise their time effectively, and delegate when necessary. An employee who is detail-oriented puts results first and knows when they need to work as a team, and when they need to take the initiative as an individual.
4. A Positive and Confident Attitude
While skill and talent are both very important in choosing the perfect candidate, employers also need someone who’s going to bring the right personality to the table. They need someone who can stay calm under pressure, while also using their passion for innovating and embracing new ideas. Attitude can go a long way in making an employee more productive and efficient.
The best staff members are those who are confident in their decisions, brimming with energy and professional in everything they do. They know when to speak up and make their opinions heard, but they also know how to take feedback and respond to criticism. Positive and confident employees can also help to motivate their fellow colleagues by inspiring and motivating them during difficult times. Enthusiasm can be infectious.
5. Easy to Work With
Though most employees have their own individual tasks and goals to accomplish, many businesses today rely on frequent communication and collaboration between teams. That means that every new person an organisation hires needs to be easy to work with, and capable of performing well in a team.
Whether an employee will be working exclusively with colleagues in the office, or talking to clients and consumers too, hiring someone with great communication skills and friendly nature is often a common focus for today’s businesses.
Communication skills both help an internal culture to thrive and ensure that the business appears more approachable from a customer perspective too.
6. They’re Adaptable
Finally, according to a Career Builder study, 51% of people consider adaptability and flexibility to be a crucial characteristic of a top-tier candidate. As the workplace continues to evolve and new technology emerges, staff members from almost every background need to be able to adapt to new trends and expectations.
A great job candidate is one that’s happy to grow and evolve with their employer, picking up new skills along the way and learning wherever they can. These professionals commit themselves to a constant path of growth. That means that these employees are constantly becoming more valuable to the teams they’re in, and the employers they work with.
