How To Hire For Personality Rather Than Talent

You need more than just the first impression to determine the right fit

Change happens fast and sometimes without you even realizing it. As your company is continually growing and adapting, it has needs are also changing. The best way to go about this kind of change is through your employees. You need employees that will challenge change with a head-on mindset, not letting hesitation or fear get in the way. Unfortunately, this is a characteristic that is not necessarily teachable. Employees who know how to adapt to change, have hard-wired emotional intelligence, and possess the guts for anticipating change can succeed through adversity and help the developing needs of a company. 
 

When hiring a new employee, how can you tell if a candidate will succeed in fast-paced environments or contribute more than just skills to the team? On top of that, how can you justify hiring a candidate that is the right fit personality-wise, but does not tick all the boxes when it comes to tactical skills? 

First impressions are extremely important, especially when meeting a potential candidate. However, when talking about personality, you need more than just the first impression to determine their fit for your team. Understanding a candidate's personality requires insight into how their characteristics contribute to their actions and behavior. The goal is to recognize how a candidate would contribute to your company’s overall success. These insights could be anything from understanding how they work in stressful situations to desire for continuing education within the company. These concepts help you grasp whether they can assist and strengthen the company. 

If we are being realistic, it takes time for a person to reveal their true self to you. Unfortunately, when learning this a little too late, it can result in a bad hire. You are not alone if you have hired at least one rotten egg for the company. However, you can diminish this risk if you have the right tools for recruiting candidates. 

Adopting an applicant tracking system (ATS) can help to speed up processes and even help bypass issues that may come up. Using an ATS can take some of those mundane tasks off your to-do list so that you can spend more time getting to know the candidate on a personal level and reduce the risk of a bad hire. 

Determining a candidate’s personality is hard work but knowing where to start is just as difficult. You can use different tools to aid in determining the skills needed while also gaining knowledge on intangible skills such as problem-solving or critical thinking. 

Beneficial tools for gaining unbiased data on candidates are personality assessments. These assessments have measures in place for the hiring process in order to reduce or exclude bias towards candidates. The best personality tests are the ones that eliminate preference for you to understand and support the best choice. 

Personality assessments do not stop at the hiring process. They can also be used throughout an employee's onboarding experience. These tests can provide insight for tailoring an onboarding curriculum relevant to your new hire’s needs. This could include skills that need to be strengthened or gauge the new employee’s learning style. 

Determining if a candidate is a good cultural fit for your company is difficult but using one or more of these tools above can help to determine and understand a personality that would contribute to your organization. Characteristics are not lessons learned in the classroom. Instead, gain insight into the necessary qualities needed for your work environment and then teach the skills that are beneficial in propelling your company forward. Building the dream team for your company is hard work but using processes that incorporate hiring tools like personality assessments can boost your hiring strategy and allow for more informed decisions about candidates. 

When looking towards the future of a company, it might be daunting to try and figure out what the best new hiring move is. A great focus, to begin with, is those entry-level positions and how personality plays a role. Candidates who have qualities that complement the culture of a company is a must, but there is more. They also need the drive and passion for learning and gaining experience. The candidates that are not only able to but also willing to master new skills that are important to your company are also the ones who will grow and develop as your company does. 

In addition to those entry-level positions, management levels are important places to consider hiring for personality. Hiring the perfect leader with every skill and experience you want is basically impossible. However, do not give up hope yet. Finding someone who has the drive and dedication in their blood is a bit easier to come by. These leaders may not have all the experience you think you need, but if they fit in and add value to your company culture, then you can always teach them the processes and specifications. A leadership style, however, is not something that can be switched up in a matter of minutes, hours, or even days. 

Taking these tips can help you examine the next move for your company and how hiring on personality plays into your cultural and organizational growth. You can use these ideas to gain deeper insight into potential employees such as their determination, adaption, and drive for continuing education. These qualities are the things that you can’t teach but can use to build upon for those skills and qualifications they need in order to succeed at their job. This can help justify why your best candidate is the one with the perfect personality fit for your company yet can learn the skills later. 

Working as an Account Manager at Breezy HR has allowed Keysha Rolon to dive into SAAS & leverage her background in recruiting, HR & candidate experience management. She has worked with employees across all sectors & understand the importance of maintaining a "people-over-profit" mentality. Few things make her happier than facilitating a new path for someone, except maybe Taco Tuesday.