A lot of emphasis has been laid upon the factors that entrepreneurs should consider before hiring. But there isn’t much food for thought and action when it comes to how to do it and what to look for. While most employers, hard-pressed for time, will consider their duty done by skimming through resumes, it’s hardly the way to find what you are looking for. Resumes can lie, and so can potential hires. It takes keen perception and an intuitive understanding of life at large to find the perfect employee.
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Here are four essentials that you must keep in mind in order to spot the right talent.
Paid internship
Entrepreneur.com says, “Create a paid internship programme that focuses on some of the brightest and most intelligent seniors or grad students looking for jobs within your industry.”
Jobs ethics and pride are things of the past. Today’s fast-paced individuals, influenced by the life of the rich and infamous, on social platforms like instagram and Facebook, equate profession first and foremost with money. While a paid internship is likely to draw in the most undesirable applicants, it will also pull in the occasional gem.
Look for how they conduct themselves
Inc.com sheds some light on character, “Those with personal presence instil confidence in others. They act with great empathy and conduct themselves with an unswerving moral code to always do what's right. They inspire others with their words and actions.”
For most people, that’s a lot to know about a person in one interview. However, for some, that is not so. And it’s always the latter that end up hiring the ‘perfect’ employees. Why is it so? Why is it so hard for one entrepreneur to find the right individual and so easy for another? You may attribute it to chance or luck, but that assumption would be naïve. In truth, individuals who understand life by having understood themselves first will always be ahead of those who are self-ignorant. An employer who knows himself well also knows his requirements, needs, and goals better. He or she would ask the right questions, and judge answers for sincerity rather than just experience. He or she will have a keen understanding of body language and what an employee’s pauses or incessant coughing are really trying to say.
Commitment
Forbes.com asks, “Is the candidate serious about working for the long term? Or is he or she just passing through, always looking for something better? A history of past jobs and time spent at each provides clear insight on the matter.”
Whether it’s professional engagements or personal relationships, commitment is not a one-way street. It must be fuelled by both parties involved. In case of an employee’s history – whether he or she has jumped between many jobs or sustained long periods of servitude in a single job – don’t assume them to be the decisions of the employee alone. You need to know how their past companies are known to treat their employees. Once you have both sides of the story, your decision will lead to good results.
Quality of conversation
Most employers are concerned simply with business, and are looking for cogs that fit the wheels of their company. People working in such environments tend to lose out on their creative spark, and their analytical reasoning takes a beating. They end up becoming dull and boring.
An employer, therefore, is not only responsible for bringing food to their employee’s dinner table, but also for bringing life-assisting thoughts and ideas to their mind. This can only happen when the employers realise the importance of hiring individuals with a diverse range of interest – music, art, reading, cooking, and so on.
The schools of Plato, Pythagoras, and many other philosophers of antiquity required their students to possess rudimentary to deep knowledge of the sciences and the arts before they enrolled themselves in these prestigious institutes of learning. This meant that willing students spent the time prior to school life preparing for it. This saved a lot of time for both students and teachers, and ensured that only the worthy and the willing got the chance to perfect the art and science of living. And what are corporates if not learning institutes? And what are employers if not teachers, and employees, if not students? Once we understand our responsibility towards ourselves and everyone else, we’ll be careful in every decision we make.
