The business environment today has made it quite difficult for managers to hire and retain a good candidate. One of the core reasons for this is focusing on professional skillsets and ignoring the basic skills and personal traits of a productive team player.
A recent study has shown that about 46% of new hires either quit or were fired within 18 months of their joining. And quite evidently, just 11% of them were because of technical skills while the rest, primarily, due to personality problems. Surprisingly, 82% recruiters said that they had observed red flags throughout the recruitment and onboarding process, but chose to ignore them.
So, what do you do now? Well, there is no such foolproof method to guarantee a candidate staying with your organization. But if you want to boost your chances of hiring the right candidate, you need to check out the personality traits that are appealing to almost every role and company. These core qualities can have a significant impact on your company’s culture, profits, and productivity.
Confident
Candidates that possess inner confidence are a valuable asset for any business as a confident person is more likely to fit into the team. He will also be able to perform tasks with better ease and can deal with clients and customers efficiently. Candidates who have insecurities can, at times, be hesitant. There is a higher chance for them to doubt themselves and can result in you having to manage them. That could turn out to be quite unproductive, wasting both time and money.
Make sure that you do not confuse silence with not having confidence because sometimes the loudest of people might be lacking self-esteem. Try to listen to what candidates say and how confident they are in their opinions.
Emotionally Sound
Being emotionally sound means being able to control emotions and handling interpersonal relations with empathy. It is not only about having control over one’s emotions but also the trick is to inspire and motivate people around you and convince to get a job done. When a candidate is emotionally sound, he will be calm, relaxed, and cool when it comes to an inevitable crisis during the day-to-day operations of your organization. The candidate will always stay synced with the team and carry out operations seamlessly. That is definitely the kind of candidate you want on your team.
Look for a candidate’s approach to the interview process. An emotionally sound candidate will remain calm and persistent throughout the entire process.
Integrity
It is one of the most important qualities when it comes to long-term success, both at work and in life. It all begins with being true to yourself, which means maintaining perfect honesty with yourself and your relations with others. The candidate should be open about and admit both his strengths as well as weaknesses. The candidate should be willing to share any mistakes that he has made in the past. A candidate with integrity will never speak negatively about any of his past employers, even if he was fired from one.
Passionate
Even though it is very difficult to find employees who are really passionate about their job, but there are truly special employees who are passionate about life and end up loving any kind of job they are into. Passionate candidates are sure to notice even the smallest of hurdles in their job. If they share a procedural hiccup or maybe a system failure that they had to work around, it’s a good sign. They belong to the category of employees who would flag problems and work towards process improvement.
Positive
Positivity is highly contagious when it comes to the workplace, and it can also have a huge impact. People who have a positive attitude are more likely to deal with issues and setbacks more effectively. There is a better possibility for them to take up responsibilities and help the team move forward even in tough times. On the contrary, negative people are more likely to bring down the entire team’s morale and affect productivity noticeably.
It is quite easy to look for positivity in a candidate. It all depends on how the candidate is speaking about past employers in an interview. Speaking negatively or complaining about previous bosses is not a sign of a candidate with a positive attitude.
Attention to detail
It is quite obvious that everyone will say that they pay close attention to detail. It is quite meaningless to think otherwise. But, in real-world scenarios, the situation can be quite the opposite. You can try and conduct a skills test for the candidates and give them a deadline to figure out their attention. Also, try to pay attention to the kind of questions a candidate asks about the company. If the candidate has no questions to ask or asks generic questions, it means they lack research and haven’t paid much attention to details.
Adaptable and flexible
Adaptability and flexibility go hand-in-hand when it comes to the perfect candidate. The right candidate will be able to adjust himself to different personalities, cultures, and ways to do things. He will know, for example, to give some time to an introverted team member or a subordinate before he can speak. Similarly, if a candidate is working across various time zones and different cultures, it is crucial for your company’s success that the candidate is flexible with schedules. The perfect candidate will always be ready to accept changes like learning new skills, technologies, and software and keep up with the ever-changing industry.
Loyal, honest and committed
Staying loyal, honest, and committed to a company, in the long run, is a significant factor for recruiters in today’s job market more than ever before. The primary reason for this is the fact that job-hopping is a kind of industry norm nowadays for candidates, and recruiters know it. So, it is highly crucial to hire people who stay loyal to the organization are looking to be associated with you for a long duration. The other important characteristic that recruiters look for is honesty. An honest candidate will have the confidence to admit his mistakes and learn from them to improve his performance. The candidate will also be able to establish a trusting relationship with the entire team, enhancing the company culture.
Although these traits might differ depending on the industry, job role, or company culture, in most cases, a candidate with these qualities will add value to your company. If you are a recruiter or a recruitment company that is about to hire or in the hiring business, sign up for our newsletter for industry tips and tricks. And, if you are interested in products that will help you improve your recruitment and back-office functionality, check out Vultus Recruit and Vultus Connect.
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