Here’s the one thing you need to look for in your next applicant.
“We still haven’t nailed it.”
All HR managers will admit they’ve hired a few people who just didn’t make the grade once they started working.
What goes wrong? Often it’s that the people doing the hiring don’t pay enough attention to the one characteristic that could put an end to three common employee flaws: low productivity, absenteeism and low retention.
What’s that one quality? Drive.
Eisenhower once said, “What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight – it’s the size of the fight in the dog.” Driven to perform well day in and day out, the best hires are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done well and right.
How to find it
Here’s what you can do to find out if the next person you interview has that motivation bubbling on the inside:
Question applicants in detail about what they’ve done. You’re looking for information that reveals commitment, attention to detail and tenacity. For instance, you can say, “It says here that you led a project to update your company’s accounting system. Tell me how you got that assignment. Did you volunteer or did your boss give it to you? If your boss gave it to you, why do you think he or she thought you’d be a good fit?” Or you can say, “Tell me about how you updated the accounting system. Take me through a typical day at that time hour-by-hour.”
If you want to see if the applicant is the type who keeps trying when things get hard say, “Tell me about a goal you achieved that at times seemed impossible. What kept you going?”
Asking that question will let you know whether the person remained loyal to a cause when it was easier to settle down and give up.
