When looking to hire, your number one priority is “can this person do the job?” Do they have the skills to complete the tasks we need done? This is obviously an important question, but there’s more to it than that, especially if the new hire is expected to work in a team environment.
Team Culture
The atmosphere of the workplace has everything to do with your employees’ effectiveness. A team that respects each other and enjoys working together will function like a well-oiled machine. But, add someone who clashes with the personality of the group and suddenly your machine has a wrench in its works.
And it’s not just the team’s productivity that suffers; no one likes not being able to be themselves at work. Your newbie is a lot less likely to be happy working for you if they can’t relate to their coworkers, which jeopardizes their longevity as an employee. Then, you’re back to square one, spending more time, effort and energy to hire yet another new person.
The “Right Degree”
Every list of job prerequisites in the professional role delineates a particular degree, specific training or a niche-area of expertise, but adhering strictly to these can cause you to ignore a lot of quality candidates.
There are personality characteristics than can supersede education and even experience, so when you’re checking a potential hire’s references, ask about their integrity, how hard they work, their ability to learn and their level of flexibility. You can train someone on job skills; changing their personality, is a whole lot more difficult.
Even if a candidate hasn’t previously held the same position as the one for which you are hiring, check on skills from previous jobs that may transfer to this one or give your team a slightly different take on their projects.
Renown entrepreneur, Richard Bronson, said, “In my eyes, personality always wins over book smarts. Company knowledge and job-specific skills can be learned, but you can’t train personality.” So, in addition to those skills tests, maybe throw a Meyers-Briggs assessment into your hiring process. You want your team to be working together, not wasting time arguing with each other. A new employee who fits in and likes coming to work is a happy employee, and a happy employee is a motivated, productive one that will stick around for the long term.