When it comes time to hire, employers are always on the hunt for the most talented and success driven individuals they can find to fill a position and to translate that individual’s success into the success of the company. However, defining a successful individual can be a difficult feat as many might say that this is an objective quality dependent on the role that the candidate in question will be expected to play within the organization. While this may be true to some extent, realistically there are still those traits and qualities that should be sought during the executive search and hiring process from candidates, qualities which have proven to be indicative of a success oriented mindset and predisposed to getting the job done effectively and efficiently.
To help guide employers in what to look for from their candidates, here is a look at nine traits found to be held by those with a mindset for success, brought to you by executive search firms.
1. One of the most important qualities to look for in a candidate is their perception of time and how it should be managed. While most companies and their managers look to define the parameters of their employees’ time with timeframes and deadlines, this is not necessarily the most efficient way of getting the job done. For example, if given a week to get a specific task done, many will seek to take the entire time given to do so. However, those more successful individuals will look to abandon deadlines and work to get a task done as quickly and efficiently as possible and move on to the next project without being constrained by timeframes.
2. Success breeds success. We choose the people and environments that we surround ourselves with and we like to surround ourselves with like-minded people and situations. Therefore, the more success oriented the environment and employees you keep, the easier it will be to attract successful individuals, and the more successful the individuals you hire the easier it will be to create such an environment and attract even more success minded candidates in the future. It is a circle of progress that all has to start with the managers, how successful they are in their own work, how they influence the company culture and who they surround themselves with.
3. Successful individuals do not see themselves as having to pay their dues. Instead these individuals look at their work on a day to day, case to case basis and ask only how much tangible value they can create in that one day on that one project. Successful employees do not say, well I put this much work into a past project so now I am owed something for it, or I can relax my effort in my next project. For these individuals, no matter what the project might be, their sole goal is to get it done as effectively as possible no matter what.
4. Far too many employers view success as the amount of time and experience an individual has dedicated to their career or expertise. However, just because a candidate has spent ten years working in the same capacity does not mean that they are necessarily successful in it. Instead, employers should be more concerned with the quality and quantity of work than individual has done in their time, however long or brief that time might be.
For five more guidelines to finding successful people, look for the conclusion to this article.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
