Curiosity

Curiosity is a fundamental trait of human beings. We are born curious. In case you have forgotten how curious you were originally, try and spend some time with a 2-yr (they won’t stop asking questions) or 1-yr (who seem to be constantly amazed at their humble discoveries).

Curiosity is also a fundamental trait of good professionals. It gives people a drive to seek knowledge, truth and understanding.?

Curiosity is one of things you can’t teach. It’s not a skill. So if you’re looking to hire curious people, you have to test for it. Luckily, it’s an easy trait to test. Look out for following signals:

1. Curious people ask lots of questions - at risk of sounding foolish, sometimes in wrong forums, sometimes to wrong people. They can’t stop until they get answers.
2. Curious people ask good questions that are directly relevant to the situation at hand. Their questions don’t have an agenda or ulterior message of making them sound smart.
3. Curious people are constantly learning new things - just for the heck of it (sometimes deep in their field, or sometimes way outside of their field).
4. Curious people consume a ton of information and process it quickly (since they have practice).
5. Curious people ‘love’ to be thrown into unfamiliar situations. They seek change.

What other signals could you pick up about a person’s curiosity in a quick conversation? I’m just curious :-)