6 of the Best Qualities to Look for in Every Recruit

When creating a job description, the criteria for a new hire are often created with skills and experience in mind; however, personal qualities rarely make an appearance. With the increasing focus on companies establishing and growing successful cultures, the impact of personal qualities on a team should not be overlooked. By establishing what qualities you want your new hires to have at the beginning, you know exactly who you want to join your company, and you can set out to find that person or people. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Here are some of the qualities we think you should include in your plan when looking for a new hire.

Long term potential

Passion and excitement

A team player

Ambition

Responsiveness and respect

Willingness to learn

Long term potential

Hiring is an investment that can be expensive. The time it takes to source great talent, onboard them and continuously offer support and guidance is extensive, so it’s important to hire someone you see long-term potential. Recruiters and hiring managers should look for traits of commitment and longevity in an interviewee’s CV.  Take note of the length of time in each previous role and the commitment to personal growth and development. Tenure says a lot about your company which is why hiring for longevity is essential.

Passion and excitement

Look for candidates who are passionate and excited about what they do. To build a team that is truly interested in what they do and who can work together to produce results, they need to be passionate and enthusiastic. People who are excited about their job role and the company they work for are more likely to stay with the company longer and more likely to successfully contribute because they are not just turning up every day for their paycheck at the end of the month. 

A team player

In order for people to work closely together, they need to be team players. Even in roles where there is an element of competition, such as sales, being able to work collaboratively is important for the company and personal growth. Ask people how they feel about working in a team and for examples of projects where they have worked well in a team. Observe how your candidate interacts with you and introduce them to a few members of the team to observe them in a more social situation.

Ambition

All businesses want a highly motivated team, but they can only create this by hiring highly driven people. Ambitious people work hard and are open to continuous learning and improvement. Employees with ambitious traits are more likely to be promoted into more challenging positions when the opportunity arises. You can identify ambitious people by establishing their key motivations, goals and drivers. If you have little experience or success in doing this, consider utilising profiling.

Responsiveness and respect

As a hiring manager or recruiter, you can usually get a good idea of how responsive a person is by how quickly they reply to emails and requests. This is usually a good indicator of how they are going to be when you hire them. Responsiveness is a sign of respect for the person at the other end of communication and shows that their commitment and willingness to be a team player is important to them. Responsiveness is also a sign of good social interaction skills and shows a willingness to create a good working relationship with peers.

Willingness to learn

Even when a candidate lacks skills and experience, they shouldn’t be overlooked. The top quality any candidate should have is the willingness to learn. Why? Because everything can be taught as long as someone is willing to learn. People who are more willing to learn are likely to stay with a company longer and be more passionate and inquisitive about their new role. You can establish whether people have the willingness to learn as they will ask lots of questions and be good at listening.

If you are unsure of how to identify any of these qualities in your candidates, there is a simple way, and that is to ask. Ask them and ask their references about their specific qualities and examples of when these qualities were used. Learning about a candidate in an interview is no longer enough as it doesn’t give a truthful insight into how they are day to day. Take the time to get to know your candidates outside their CVs and outside an interview so you can make the right decision and get the right person on board.