We’re definitely interested in finding out what lies beyond the words on their resume. Before we make a hiring decision, we make sure that we’ve gotten to know an individual as person, not just as a name on a piece of paper
When you set out to expand your company’s team, how do you know that you’ve found the perfect candidate? Are you more impressed by an awesome education, or an extensive work history? Are you more concerned with what’s on a resume, or what you can find out about an individual’s personality through an interview?
When we set out to recruit individuals to work in the construction, industrial, facilities or manufacturing industries, one thing is for sure: We’re definitely interested in finding out what lies beyond the words on their resume. Before we make a hiring decision, we make sure that we’ve gotten to know an individual as person, not just as a name on a piece of paper. We believe that positive personality traits play a vital role in enabling an employee to succeed.
Staffing Talk recently posted an article providing 7 tips for companies to hire the perfect candidate for a job. They suggest that a company should start with deciding on specific “hard” requirements for the job, narrowing down the applicants to a list of candidates that meet the hard requirements, and gathering input on the candidates’ resumes from other managers. From there, the company should contact references, conduct background checks, and develop a useful interview process in which candidates get the meet the team.
While these are great tips, consider the fact that an individual’s personality traits can also be a good indicator in determining whether or not they’ll succeed on a team. Additionally, we don’t think that you should discount the power of your instinct, even though the article warns that gut instinct has “much greater margin of error than the facts.” We think that if you truly know what you’re looking for, then your gut can definitely point you in the right direction. During the interview process, you shouldn’t only look for the “hard” requirements in a candidate. Also look for signs that an individual is dedicated, insightful, creative-minded and loyal. These important personality traits, coupled with the right experience and training can absolutely produce a superior candidate for a job-but, you won’t find them written down anywhere. You’ll have to ask probing interview questions, and, to some extent, follow your instinct. Keep in mind that there’s so much more to a person besides where they went to school and worked in the past that enables them to excel as an employee.
Every company is different-this is why, before you begin the hiring process, you should sit down with your teammates to seriously talk about what essential personality traits you would like to see in an ideal candidate. What kind of people have been successful in this position in the past? What kind of a person would work best with this team, and what does it take to get the job done? Set out to find a person who believes in setting and working hard to achieve goals. Most managers agree that their best employees are those who constantly seek to learn, grow, and improve themselves.