Humble, Honest, and Hungry: The 3 H’s of Hiring

ATS For Small BusinessHave you ever wondered what questions would be asked in an interview while selecting a CEO for a company? If you think interviewers would be questioning technical aspects, you’re wrong. The candidates are already too good in their domain, that’s why they have applied for the post. If you think managerial questions, the company has the top hiring managers to deal with that. Then what exactly is it that the interviewers look for in a potential CEO candidate? Let’s take a closer look! What is the fourth ‘H’ for hiring? Having a powerful and depending ATS for small business recruiting and talent tracking. Click here to learn more.

It’s the ‘ATTITUDE’ interviewers look for!

Following the similar lines, you definitely want to hire the right people in the first drive. Your hunt is for employees who are capable of delivering quality work, adhere to deadlines, contribute towards the company’s culture, and are able to manage themselves. This is, however, a never-ending and daunting task.

How exactly do you do it? Do you totally rely on the resume? Or interviewing skills? Are you able to gather quality candidates? Do candidates need to be exceptional in their specialized skills?

Well, if you are looking for super intelligent people to join your team and expect them to stay at your company for a good duration, then this may never happen.

There are things you need to look at beyond that ‘Intelligence Quotient’ level and here is when the “H”s comes to play. It doesn’t matter if you are looking for a manager, developer, strategist, or analyst, the thing is that you need to groom on your curiosity levels as well as a keen sense of observation.

This blog basically orients you to the three ‘H’s of hiring which cannot be marketed (such as in a resume) but certainly are capable of reflecting the character of a candidate’s personality.

Let’s dive into the first one.

1.    Humble

Humbleness or humility is often an overlooked quality in candidates. Its absence not only affects the relationship between employee and employer but adversely affects the company culture as well.

Wait! Don’t confuse humility with being self-effacing. Showing humility towards your work means that you should be ready to roll up your sleeves, even when it’s not your job but for the sake of company’s progress.

What does humility mean?

It means to:

  • share the credit with your team members
  • be honest regarding successes and failures
  • take criticism as well as praise in stride
  • know how to communicate with seniors even when you feel you are correct, and they aren’t.

Now the question is how you can identify humble candidates in an interview. Some simple harbingers are:

  1. The candidates will use “we” or “our”, rather than “me” or “I”.
  2. They will be polite and will listen patiently to everyone from a front office executive to the CEO of the company.
  3. The candidates will not sit before they have been instructed to do so in an interview.
  4. The candidates will let the interviewer finish speaking before they being talking.

Now, let’s have a look at some negative traits. You need to have a sharp eye to look for these:

  1. The candidates will only be talking about themselves. They tend to show off.
  2. The talks are more focused towards unimportant things.
  3. In cases where the candidates are experienced, they will be complaining about their previous experiences and their former employers as well.
  4. Even before the interviewer finishes with the questions, they will jump in with their answers.

It’s good to be confident but your confidence must never become arrogance. When an employee stops being humble, the learning process stops. And when the learning process is stopped, it ultimately affects the value addition of the company.

2.    Honest

Honest employees spin a web around them which ensures that every colleague that comes under their influence automatically imbibes honesty. And yes, honest managers will give critical feedback that you won’t be getting from anywhere else.

Honest employees understand the importance of social engagement between a company and its employees. They are the actual brand advocate for your business. The main thing, they won’t be stealing from the supply closet!

Do you know that honest employees are the best persons for client interactions as they will not only maintain your hard-won brand image but will also strive hard to bag the contract?

Now, how will you know that you are hiring a truly honest employee?

The first step is to enroll some of your honest employees in the recruitment panel. Honesty will seek honesty. These people can easily tell which candidates possess the quality you desire.

Make sure to explain to the candidates that how much you value honesty. This will automatically encourage honest ones to apply and the unscrupulous ones will stay at bay.

During the HR round, grill all candidates to analyze where they stand on their values. Ask them by giving them scenarios. Pay close attention to their answers. This will provide a better understanding of their personality.

Trust is the lifeline of every organization. A company expects honest efforts, honest interactions, and honest communications and nothing less.

3.    Hunger

Reconsider your decision to hire a candidate if he or she lacks HUNGER! A company can teach, train, and mentor employees but it cannot instill the desire to exceed expectations in them.

Candidates should be hungry for new job roles, new work assigned, new projects, meeting new clients etc. There is a fine line between hunger and greed. Identify that and make sure that they fall in the arena belonging to hunger and not greed.

Candidates you are screening could be the most down-to-earth individuals and overloaded with honesty, but if they show no hunger for the goals of your company, your values, career, and industry, then you better not hire them. Nothing is going to make them stay in your company.

Hunger is something that drives the candidates to work over their career goals and to be a part of a successful organization. Hunger keeps employees motivated, engaged and on track.

Identifying this trait is a tricky job, but that’s what hiring managers are paid for!

Most of the time, you’ll find candidates themselves expressing their hunger during the interview.

Being a hiring manager you must be aware of all the positives and negatives going on in your company. You need to persuade the hungry candidates with a propelling mission that they feel would be worth pursuing.

A few more qualities…

These three H’s definitely hold the lion’s share but there are some other qualities which shouldn’t be overlooked either. You must add them to your checklist the next time you go for a recruitment drive.

1. Happiness

If you’re not having fun in work or in life, things don’t really matter. It has been seen that happy people are the most productive and they are the ones who tend to create a positive aura around the workplace. People love to work with them as they inspire teamwork and push others towards a collaborative environment.

A simple example, given a chance to choose between a happy-go-lucky manager and a quirky one which one would you choose?

2. Soft skills

Well, this is a broad category but it plays an important role when you are working with a bigger organization. Every organization wants its employees to be well versed with soft communication skills such as writing, presentation, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution and more.

3. Lifelong learners

Last but not the least, candidates should believe that learning is a continuous process of life. The world is changing dramatically at an unprecedented rate and only those who truly enjoy learning would survive.

To add to the above, here are a couple of negative traits which you need to look on as well.

1. Agency hoppers

Make this a rule, never recruit from your competing firms. Rather make a little effort and look beyond those dynamics. Identify the talent around you and bring them into your culture. Be extra careful while recruiting, agency hoppers from your competitor won’t take long to change their minds and start looking for greener pastures.

2. Money as a priority

Look for people who prefer challenging work and add quality to your team and value to your brand. Considering money as a factor isn’t bad but it should not be the priority. Good employers will always offer a fair salary or even more than that to their employees.

A word for the aspirants

You should be in complete love with your job and whatever your job profile is. If you aren’t satisfied with your job, it’s always better to leave it. Life is way too short to invest time doing something you aren’t passionate about.

So, bring in your degrees, trust your passions, and compile your experiences – but don’t forget the three H’s while applying for your next job role.

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