Job Seekers: 12 Qualities Employers Look For When They're Hiring

The funny thing about the recruiting process is that if you read job ads, you’d think that employers are strictly looking for people with very specific types of experience. That’s all you can see in a job ad — long lists of bullet points with Essential Requirements like years of experience with certain tools, and obscure industry certifications!

Once you get to a job interview, though, the whole picture changes. Employers are looking for qualities in their new hires that are never listed in the job ad. They want to meet people who are self-directed and responsible. You will bring out those qualities through your answers to the job-interview questions and also through the questions you ask your interview.

The stories you tell on a job interview will bring out your sterling qualities, too. You don’t have to talk about your best traits. They will shine through if you let them!
Here are 12 qualities employers look for in their new hires:
Employers want to hire people who…

Understand their own path
You have a path that you’ve followed since you were born. Can you tell your story in such a way that you make it clear how you’ve followed an interest or passion of yours to get to the place you stand in right now? Can you talk about your path going forward?

Know what they want in their career
Employers look for ‘self-directed’ new hires, and here’s what that means. They want people who know what they want and are willing to work for it. I met a new grad who told me “I’m interested in starting my own company some day but I expect that to happen some years from now. In the meantime, I want to learn all I can about how a business works. Can I say on a job interview that I hope to be an entrepreneur one day?”

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“Yes, you can!” I said. “The right managers will appreciate that about you. You have a better reason to pay close attention to whatever business you’re working in than a person who has no goals and took the job just to get a paycheck. Great managers want to hire people with goals, like you.”
Can point to successes at work or elsewhere

When someone asks you “Can you tell me a story about a time when you felt triumphant?” what stories from your past spring to mind? You’ve got to be able to talk about your successes. You don’t have to have competed in the Olympics or climbed Mt. Everest. You can tell simple stories about saving the day at work or in a volunteer situation or even at home.

AP Photo/Alan Diaz

Know their strengths
Employers are looking for people who know what they’re good at. Instead of saying “I’m really good at Excel,” you can say “I love Excel — and I love to teach other people the finer points of using Excel, like creating nested reports and macros.”

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