My Top 8 Traits to Hire For

The Right People

Want a profitable business or successful initiative? It’s easy. You just have to make sure that you surround yourself with the right people. And by ‘the right people’ I do not mean the smartest, or the ones with multiple masters’ degrees on their resume. The right people are the ones with the right attitude. Innate personality traits are the only things that you cannot train for – absolutely every other skill on the planet can be learned.

I have way too many times inherited individuals on a team that were incredibly smart, however they spent all their time trying to prove how smart they were. Their CVs were decked out to the nines. They had all the experience I needed, yet somehow, they just weren’t contributing to the goals and vision of the organization as I had hoped. It’s because they weren’t the right fit. Their inherent personality traits were just not aligned with the culture of the organization, and this was creating a blockage in the flow.

Traits That Can’t Be Taught

Here’s my list of eight personality traits that must be innate because they cannot be trained or taught:

1. Work Ethic. Have they got the ability to work hard when you are not watching? Are they self-starters requiring little direction?
2. Passion. Do they love what they are doing – even if that is doing the worst job in the company?
3. Punctuality. Being on time says a lot about a person. It shows they are organized. It shows they are good planners. It shows they have a healthy dose of appreciation and respect for the people around them. And… it shows they have respect for themselves and their brand.
4. Coachable. I coach a number of CEO’s. All of them are incredibly successful. Still, they realize that they do not have all the answers and want to further their leadership development. Think about it… The world’s top athletes – no matter what sport – have a coach. It makes perfect sense that top performers in business and leadership also have coaches. If a person is not open to new ways of thinking and doing things, they will most likely also think they know everything; which is incredibly dangerous to the culture, customers and the business.
5. Prepared. It takes zero skill to prepare in advance for meetings and presentations. You wouldn’t pack for a vacation when the taxi is waiting outside your door to take you to the airport.
6. Body Language. The truth in what you say is always portrayed in your body language. If your brain is excited about the work you are doing, don’t forget to tell your body!
7. Going the Extra Mile. As a consumer, it is always such a surprise when I get more than I paid for – like getting 13 eggs when I paid for 12. It is memorable. Make yourself memorable by giving more than people expect.
8. Energy. Believe me, even when you are tired beyond words, there is still more energy in your tank. Having run a number of marathons and often swimming in open water for multiple hours at a time, I am always amazed at how there is always enough energy to finish what I started. The biggest problem most people have with the level of energy they put into something is the 6 inches between their ears.

So next time you’re looking to hire a new team member, make sure they tick all of the boxes above, because no matter what you do after they’re hired, these skills can’t be taught!

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, International Keynote Speaker, and TEC Top Speaker of the Year for 2018. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Click here to get his weekly Tuesday Tune Up blog posts straight to your inbox.