We’ve churned through dozens of poor hires at our company. And with every one of the bad decisions we’ve made in hiring, we’ve learned a little bit about what makes a winner when it comes to hiring.
You’ve probably read books on how to identify quality employees, or have heard about some of the
extreme lengths some companies go through when hiring new team members. But with the talent crunch we’re experiencing in the tech and digital industry right now, most companies don’t have the luxury of making potential hires jump through dozens of hoops. Instead, they have to identify the winners quickly and efficiently. Here’s what we look for and how we identify it.
Critical Thinking
This is the number one thing we look for in a new team member. We care so much about critical thinking, that we’ll often forego an experienced candidate who has the resume that matches perfectly with what we’re seeking, for someone with less experience and who, on paper, doesn’t appear to be as qualified but shows a high level of critical thinking.
Critical thinking can mean many things to many people, but for us, it’s not only the ability to look at a problem and receive a process, but be able to effectively identify if there’s a better solution or better process than the one presented to them. Basically it boils down to this action: Don’t blindly do what we say, rather do what needs to be done in order to get the best result.
This can cause problems for people who believe they’re critical thinkers, but really they just don’t enjoy following orders. These are the rebels without a cause. They break things for no better reason than to break things. These are not critical thinkers.
Rather, a critical thinker is a rebel with a cause. They are the ones who are able to quickly run through scenarios in their mind and eliminate the options that won’t work, would cause more problems, or ones that have probably already been tried numerous times. These types of critical thinkers know when to follow the process and when to not follow the process. That’s the important differentiator. In the animal kingdom, they’re the one that stays close to the pack for protection and doesn’t wander off for no reason, only to be picked off by a predator. They’re also the ones who won’t walk blindly off a cliff with the rest of the lemmings when that pack mentality becomes detrimental.
So, how do we identify this skill? We give them the unexpected. In our interviews we’ll often flip the script and force the applicant to interview us. We’ll often throw some distractions into the equation just to see how they handle it. One of the interviewers will abruptly leave the room to take a call, or we’ll purposely remain silent for long periods between questions.
Now, you may think these are just mind games and we’re being cruel. And to some interviewees, I will admit, it’s more than they can handle and they do crack. But that’s what we’re looking for. We’re trying to find the people who can handle the unexpected. Everyone knows how an interview is supposed to go. Therefore, they come prepared. But the people with great critical thinking skills are the ones who can take the unexpected and still produce a great interview.
Ambition
Ambition is another vague quality that has different meanings for different organizations. But to us, it doesn’t mean someone who is brash, gregarious, or overbearing. Instead, ambition to our company is the desire in someone to be the best at something. This doesn’t mean they have to desire to be the president of the company one day or even be a team lead, but rather it means they work tirelessly to hone their craft to become the best they can be. They strive to be the greatest at X.
Because this isn’t the typical sort of ambition people look for, it can, similar to critical thinking, be difficult to identify. But here’s how we do it.
What people do in their spare time tells us a lot about what drives them. Thus, in our interviews we dig deep into the personal hobbies and leisure time of our potential employees. We ask about their side projects, we bring up some of our own hobbies and see if there are any similarities. When you’re able to identify a common trait, the interviewee will often become more open about their personal lives.
What we’re looking for are activities that show the person is serious about personal improvement. We’re more than happy to talk about our shared love of boating, or climbing, but what we’re hoping to hear is something about their blog or their training for a marathon. Really, it doesn’t matter what the activity or hobby is, but rather we’re looking for a borderline obsession with improving at whatever they love.
We’ve found that an obsession in being the best in one field can often translate into an equally powerful drive in another. This is why we have several former college athletes on our staff as well as endurance athletes, professional writers, artists, and other difficult fields of mastery. The qualities that make them great in those areas, allow them to become great in the work environment.
Work Ethic
This is our final quality, but it’s just as important as the other two. In fact, it ties very closely to the second quality of Ambition. You see, there are the blessed few among us who roll out of bed and are amazing at something. These are prodigies. Sometimes it’s a physical gift and other times it’s a mental gift that allows them to be great without much effort. And that’s why work ethic can derail someone who appears to have ambition.
We’ve come across individuals who appear to have ambition because they are the best at X. But after having worked with them, we quickly discover that their brilliance in X is due to a prodigious amount of natural ability. But that ability is not backed up by any sort of work ethic. I call these people lazy geniuses. And there are millions of them out there. In fact, it’s frightening how many you encounter and then realize just how much natural talent is being wasted. These individuals could, without much effort, be leaders of the business world or major influencers in politics or culture. But instead, they attain a level of greatness, then coast. It’s enough to make you want to tear your hair out.
And some might argue that these lazy geniuses are still great for a company. After all, why wouldn’t you want a genius on your team? Well, because they can be cancerous to your culture.
If you’re looking for hard workers and are building a culture of accountability and results driven work, then it’s quite difficult to justify having someone on the team that rolls into the office whenever they want, or is a constant distraction to those around them because they just don’t have to work as hard to produce the same results. It can quickly cause a crisis in culture. And we’ve learned that it’s just better to avoid these situations.
Instead, look for the hard workers. These are the people that will go to war with you. They won’t shirk in the face of a challenge and will be willing to walk through brick walls. These are the people you want standing shoulder to shoulder with you. And those lazy geniuses, let them go. As I said, they may feel like a rare find, but in truth they’re much more common than anyone would like to admit.
But when you’re able to find that perfect applicant who exemplifies all of these qualities and after you hire them you see them blossom into one of your top performers, you’ll feel that rush of excitement in knowing you’ve found a winner. And that rush makes up for all the frustration and hassle you feel when sifting through tons of dirt just to find one single diamond.
So, basically the three qualities of a winner are:
1. Critical Thinking
2. Ambition
3. Work Ethic
Written By:
Mike Templeman ,
CONTRIBUTOR, Forbes
He writes about startups, scaling service based businesses and marketing.
Link Used: http://www.forbes.com/sites/miketempleman/2015/07/09/three-qualities-every-winner-has/#d43cc715d215
