Many claim that the life of the business is the customers. However, before you have your customers, you need people to run the business with you and these are your employees. Your business highly depends on how capable your employees are when dealing with customers and how efficient they are in performing technical functions. Every time you have a job opening, what are the qualities should you be looking for in a potential employee?
Honesty
How much do you value honesty in your business? Remember that when you hire an employee, you will be paying them for their time. You are also expecting them to be honest when it comes to your finances. An employee is said to be honest when he is able to honor your contract to work according to what he is paid for. You should always look for honesty because a person who has this will work according to your expectations even when you have your back turned. Losses have resulted in some businesses because there are some employees who do personal errands during their work time. There are also employees who take home goods being sold in the store and when this happens, you lose money on overtime pay because of unfinished work and lost items.
Ambition
Your company has to grow eventually. You will need people who will lead some of your branches or new departments. It is better that the leaders will come from your existing employees because they already know some of your business processes, which will enable them to guide the newly hired employees. Look for people who are hungry for improvement because they will support you when you have plans to take your business to a higher level. Ambitious employees are not afraid to handle difficult tasks and if they cannot accomplish this in their current level, they will find some ways to upgrade their skills so that they will be fit for the job.
Common Sense
Many people have highscores in IQ exams. However, when it comes to making decisions, they fall short. What happens then if you are not around to validate their decisions? You must look for someone who has common sense to do simple and complicated tasks at the same time. This includes being able to do critical work and having the conviction to stay firm with simple decisions. You do not necessarily need someone who scored high in their IQ exams. When it comes to business transactions, you also need someone who is street smart – someone who knows how to deal with other people. Contrary to common belief, common sense is not very common after all. Your employees should have the ability to think outside the box and not just rely on company manuals when they are faced with technical problems such as communication problems with the use of VoIP services like RingCentral hosted VoIP PBX.
Humility
A person will always have some room for improvement. Skills should never run stagnant. Your employees must never think that they are better than anyone else in the company. This will breed distance and hamper good intra-office relationships. Arrogant employees can also undermine your leadership skills. This is never good since they can easily influence others to do the same. Therefore, look for people who have experience to bring something to the table but are not too proud of their accomplishments.
You will not be able to tell if an employee has all these qualities unless you’re working with them. Make use of probation period to observe if they should be considered for regular position. Talk to them at the office or simply check up on them while they are unaware that you will be giving them a visit.