When a prospective employee walks through the door, what are the skills the employer looks for?

First and foremost the quality of honesty: Honesty is a very expensive gift. A candidate should be honest about his last job, his family, his education qualifications, his candidature towards the job and his career. A person who is honest is these aspects is likely to be selected, appreciated, admired by the company.

Kindness: It is impossible to buy kindness. It is a gift. Almost all human resource reports suggest that most employees leave the job due to their reporting manager. Hence the way employees are treated determines his fate in the organisation. It works the other way as well, as an employer should be alert while choosing a candidate and must always choose a candidate who displays courtesy, good manners and kindness in his interaction between employees, seniors and juniors.

Compassion: Employees today look for compassion. Big companies, massive companies like P&G do participate in several social activities which benefit the society. In such a huge organisation, with different cultures, sub cultures and languages, a feeling of compassion brings tolerance and togetherness. Compassion towards co-employees, compassion towards the society we live in. Although it is practically impossible to gauge a trait like this at the interview, a strong resume which covers social work done by the job seeker goes a long way.

Loyalty: A candidate entering a job for the first time has to build a career. A career which will span decades. It is difficult to convince a candidate who has shifted jobs frequently or at regular intervals about his loyalty towards the company he is approaching. On the other hand there are firms in India which run solely on the basis of employee loyalty. Hence  it is in the best interest of a candidate/job seeker to stay loyal to an organisation and loyalty is a big factor which plays a crucial role in deciding whether an employee gets selected for a job.

Passion: A passion for the job, a passion for a particular function or a passion for an industry/sector all go a long way in deciding a job seeker’s fate. Employees that are passionate about the field, say Information Technology, are more likely to do well. These employees are generally the ones to excel in an organisation. Practically every field, be it sales marketing, human resources, finance, investment banking, require expertise and hence passion is important.

Hard work: There is no substitute for hard work and discipline. Hard work and passion differentiate the good employees from the great ones. The life of any successful person, in any profession or walk of life, is replete with hard work. Hard work is a must in today’s age of competition in the market place for any career. In the end, hard work is all that matters and employers look for such a trait in abundance in an employee.

Karan S Haji

KSH – Human Resource Consultants

20/9/14