Insight Blog

Are the technical skills of a potential employee important? Yes, absolutely. But, they are only the beginning when determining whether or not an individual will succeed in an organization. After determining technical skills, the most important attributes a hiring manager should be looking for in a potential candidate are:

• Coachability

• Emotional intelligence

• Motivation

• Temperament

Leadership IQ, a global leadership training and research firm, conducted a 3-year study of 5,247 hiring managers from 312 public, private, business and healthcare organizations who collectively hired more than 20,000 employees during the study period. The results revealed some interesting statistics about why new hires fail:

• 26% have low coachability meaning that they do not accept and implement feedback well.

• 23% lack emotional intelligence and are unable to understand and manage their own emotions and assess others' emotions.

• 17% lack the necessary motivation and drive to excel in the position.

• 15% have the wrong temperament (attitude and personality) for the position and corporate culture.

• 11% lack the necessary technical skills.

What can a hiring manager learn from these statistics? Sometimes a resume is all that is necessary to determine if a professional is a good technical fit. But, just being a technical fit obviously isn't nearly enough to predict how an individual will perform with a company. So once a hiring manager has determined that an individual has the necessary skills, he/ she should focus the interview around the personality attributes of a candidate to determine if the potential employee has the right attitude fit for the organization. By doing so, the hiring manager can lessen the chances of hiring someone who is not going to be with the company long-term.

Source: Leadership IQ