The internet is full of information to help applicants nail their interviews, but employers also need tips on how to spot positive character traits in applicants. As the saying goes, good help is hard to come by. However, it becomes easier when you know what soft skills and personality traits to look for in your candidates. Here’s a list of what you and your hiring staff should seek in potential employees.
Collaboration
It’s crucial for your employees to be team players in nearly every industry and workplace. Even if crew members tend to have little interaction with each other at your company, they should be able to keep the overall team’s mission in mind and be eager to contribute their fair share of work to accomplish it. So, be sure to ask applicants appropriate interview questions about what type of work environment they prefer. You can also have them share an anecdote about a time they ran into a challenge with a co-worker and how they handled it.
Willingness to Learn
Some candidates are going to treat the position you’re offering as nothing more than a job. They will clock in and do the bare minimum. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with simply doing your work, is the bare minimum really what you want in your business?
Willingness to learn is one of those employee character traits that are difficult to spot but not impossible. This is because many candidates will be eager to get to work and start making a paycheck. You can spot someone with this trait by giving them certain theoretical scenarios and seeing how they answer. This can provide insight into their way of thinking. Questions such as how they would correct a mistake at work are great places to start. Or, ask about what their goals are at your company.
Workplace Culture Fit
The fact is that no matter how great a person is, there are simply some work environments where they are not going to thrive. That is why it is so important to consider your work culture when interviewing candidates. You have to ask yourself, “Will this person not only be able to get along with the rest of our staff but thrive within their position?” Luckily, Sprockets offers AI-powered personality assessments with a sophisticated applicant matching system that answers this.
The Cautious Trait
Cautious employees will be able to slow down the decision-making process and help evaluate the best course of action when faced with challenges. This can be extremely helpful during chaotic moments when the right decision is necessary and there is no room for error. Bringing in a task-oriented candidate with this trait is a great way to bring fairness and stability into the workplace. Your managers will appreciate these employees as they will remove unnecessary stress from their daily routine.
Communication Skills
Good communication skills in the workplace don’t just involve the interaction between employee and customer. A good communicator is someone who speaks effectively with customers as well as their co-workers. The fact is that good communication skills also involve being able to translate one’s desires as well as the ability to deescalate any potential conflicts the proper way. Having these people on your staff brings an incredible advantage to your company as any problems or complex projects become more manageable, and overall productivity does not suffer.
Let Sprockets Identify the Ideal Applicant Traits
It can be challenging to identify these personality traits in applicants on your own, but Sprockets makes it easy. Our sophisticated solution uses artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and over 80 years of psychological research to determine which candidates are the best fit for your business. It creates a unique success profile based on the mental makeup of your current top-performing employees and evaluates incoming applicants based on that benchmark. Then, you simply hire the ones who are most likely to succeed and stay long-term!
Schedule a brief demo today to learn how Sprockets can streamline your hiring process and ultimately improve employee retention.