Five Qualities Employers Want

1. Attitude.  You hear a lot about folks with “an attitude”.  If you’ve got “an attitude”, lose it!  Employers want employees with these attitudes:

• “Can do” attitude
• “I’m willing to risk failing to give it a go” attitude
• “I’m willing to apply myself and learn” attitude

Smart employers hire for attitude and train for skill.

2. Process Thinkers.  Doing your work well used to be good enough.  Now employers need workers that both do their work well and think about how they do their work simultaneously!

Do you ever perform a task more than once?  Do you do it the same way the second time?  Shame on you if you do!

Think about what can be done:

• Faster
• With less effort
• Smarter

Then change how you do it.  Your employer will love you for it!

3. Problem Solvers.  Face it, we consume someone else’s product at work and produce a product for someone else.  How well you manage the chain above you and support the chain below you effects how well the company works.  Employers want folks who know how they affect everyone else’s work and affect it positively.

Communicate clearly what you need from the folks who produce the product you use.  Be receptive to the needs of the consumers of your product.  You’re all working to accomplish the same goal – make the process as smooth as possible for everyone!

4. Emotional Intelligence.  I rode the subway to and from work in Washington, D.C. for over 20 years.  If I had a nickel for every conversation I overhead about bickering, uncooperative co-workers, I’d never have to work another day in my life!

Employers want employees who are:

• Not Judgmental.  Give your co-workers the benefit of the doubt.  Focus on getting a result or solving the problem at hand.  Ask yourself, “Do I know all the facts?”  Judging puts you in an emotional quagmire.  Don’t go there!
  
• Above Hearsay.  In court, testimony is inadmissible unless the witness tells what he or she observed with his or her five senses.  Don’t repeat anything that you don’t know first-hand.  Build credibility by not taking sides or gossiping.  Report only what you know!  Don’t speculate!
  
• Don’t Project.  Psychologists tell us that we see our own faults in others’ behavior.  Know yourself and what you don’t like about yourself, and then deal with it outside of work!  Don’t project it onto your colleagues.

5. Aligned with the Company.  In their book, A Simpler Way, Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers posit that we gather in organizations to do work we can’t accomplish alone.  But we must make sure our personal life vision is aligned with the vision of the company. 

If we can’t support the company’s vision, we withdraw our energy from the company and invest it elsewhere.  Neither you nor your employer is well served if you can’t support your employer’s mission.  Do your homework before, during and after your interview.  Check the company website, it’s annual report and anything else you can find about it.  If you can’t support the company’s purpose, find one you can support!

Employees with results-driven attitudes, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills, emotionally well adjusted and aligned with the company are worth their weight in gold!  Figure out how to be this way yourself and employers will clamor to work with you!

Copyright 2005 by Fruition Coaching.  All Rights Reserved.