Curious about the 3 most sought-after qualities that managers are looking for in new hires and when promoting within? We’ve got you covered…read on!

According to a Harvard Business Review, Reengineering the Recruitment Process helps organizations rebuild and adapt to current talent acquisition trends. Many organizations recruit beyond their geographical region which provides opportunity to advance diversity, open promotions to internal candidates, and exchange educational requirements for self-taught skills and experience.

Hiring managers are seeking potential over credential. (I’m sure it’s not news to you that one’s educational prowess doesn’t equate to an ability to play nice in the sandbox with others.)

Potential is determined by three characteristics, curiosity, agility, and teamwork.

The 3 Most Sought-After Qualities

Curiosity creates a thirst for the attainment of knowledge helping us develop emotionally, mentally, intellectually, and physically.  Asking “why?” with deep questions to seek to understand creates emotional interactions and conversations with deeper meaning, allowing a joined experience between colleagues that fosters connection. There’s just so much to gain from having a curious approach.

Agility helps one make traction and progress through an ever-changing landscape that the workplace has undergone since the pandemic.  An agile thinker is an asset because they’re more fluid than ‘set in stone’.  Being adaptable, nimble, and open-minded to expand options increases the rate at which we accept change and impermanence.  A great analogy is the sandbox, and all the shape-shifting we could do.  We never used cement right?

Teamwork success, especially in a hybrid environment, requires more active listening than we were already lacking long before the pandemic.  Taking the time necessary to seek to understand each other, with intentional communication to interpret and deduce the people, their roles, and their responsibilities, helps develop awareness of the whole team and where each person fits in.

One’s potential from curiosity, agility, and teamwork is what I refer to as their ‘sandbox factor’. The way people conduct themselves in the workplace and manage relationships (especially through conflict), matters because these important characteristics are taken into consideration when decisions are made to hire and promote from within. A good fit is not only measured by one’s technical training, credentials, or experience, but rather, as someone who breeds a healthy culture, has good people skills, and is willing to adapt to change, problem solve, and address conflict with courageous conversations to mitigate or resolve it.

Want to up your game?

If you want to polish skills and characteristics for your next hire or promotion, you’ll want to read more about the tips and strategies in Sandbox Strategies for the New Workplace: Conflict Resolution from the Inside Out.

A saying from Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines, “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills,” is something I’ve always believed in.  Potential over credential is the same, and we can all make a ‘Holy Shift’ in the trajectory of our career path by practicing these three characteristics.

I hope you enjoy the book,

Penny

Learn the strategies that will help your team resolve conflict in the NEW workplace.

• Embrace, accept, and welcome conflicting values
• Understand the importance of collaborative relationships for career advancement
• Take responsibility to co-create a winning culture with productive and profitable results
• Empathize with coworkers and even competitors to be the leader others WANT to follow

Press Appearances:

• CEOWorld Magazine 
• Blue Heron Journal
• Mareo McCracken
• EverydayMBA, Host: Kevin Craine 
• Savvy Business
• Swimming in the Flood
• Get Down to Business
• HR.com Leadership Excellence
• Indian Management Magazine
• Crafting Solutions to Conflict
• Vantage Fit Podcast
• Stay tuned, more coming soon…