8 Traits of Top Employees (And How to Display Them in an Interview)
The result: a growing emphasis on finding and hiring a certain type of employee: consistently effective, adaptable and enjoyable to work with. These people can be hard to spot in advance, but when an employer meets one, they know it right away.
At ReWork, we’ve found these indispensable employees tend to share eight common traits.
Here they are, along with some advice on how you can show you have these sought-after characteristics:
1. Resourcefulness
The ability to (quickly) find, unlock, and mobilize resources (i.e. money, expertise, skills, support) in order to plan, pivot, evaluate, execute, or scale a project.
The information age has been upon us for sometime now. Anything we could ever hope to know is at our fingertips, including best practices, trouble-shooting guides, top-10 lists, and the Twitter handles of people who are far more experienced than we are. But not everyone can access this information equally. Most are still overwhelmed in this sea of knowledge.
For example, if your boss asked you to conduct a feasibility study on effective conservation techniques to protect the rare aquatic pygmy sloths of Panama, how quickly could you find a template for such a study? How long before you would be in touch with a niche conservation biologist who studies those animals to help advise you?
If your answer is anything over two hours, you’ve got room for improvement (seriously).
How to display:
- You may be asked for specific examples of times that you found critical information or resources quickly. This includes fundraising and coalition building, as well as smaller stuff (like “How-To” lists) that helped a project move forward faster.
- You’ll have to think on your feet. Be creative in describing how quickly you can find a template for such a study, or the contact information for the niche biologist who studies those animals and may be able to serve as an advisor.
2. Resiliency
The ability to work well under uncertainty, and to continue after (substantial) setbacks.
Most organizations are now experiencing increased instability and uncertainty, and thus, using shorter planning horizons. Teams in all functional areas are seeing more tumultuous work streams with changing goals and deadlines. Some people have a strong tendency to mentally lock-up under those conditions. The results aren’t good: decreased performance, irritability, fear, and tensions with other team members. Resiliency is the ability to maintain smooth sailing through those situations.
How to display:
- Show evidence of grit. This could be times you narrowly averted disaster, took a huge risk and had it pay off, or came back from a stunning defeat to achieve victory in the end.
Read more | youtern.com