Traits of an ideal candidate.

In my entire career, I’ve only ever fired one employee.

She was an intern that was awaiting her results and wanted to kill some time in between. She was your textbook definition of someone that’s described as ‘high IQ with low EQ’. It was a really distressing, upsetting time for everyone in the company.

I’d like to think that I’ve grown since then; and I now pride myself on being a pretty good judge of character (or so I think, help!).

In the past week or so, I’ve interviewed about 36 candidates for an opening in CVP Group. Through these short but impactful encounters and conversations, I find myself gaining more clarity on what makes a good employee, and the kind of culture I want to build internally within the company.

While good employees are important to any business, small business like mine often feel the impact of employee behaviour more acutely than larger companies. One bad apple can have a great impact on morale in a small organisation, and great attitude and work ethic can be infectious (the good kind of course!).

Aside from the obvious technical competencies, communications skills and ability to work in harmony with their co-workers, I expect all my employees to also have these traits:

1. Willingness to Learn

My clients and my staff are very familiar with this line I consistently preach – business moves fast, but we move faster.

Being mouldable means that you’re willing to adapt to new circumstances and re-learn new ways to approach old problems. It means you’re flexible and highly trainable and that you’re open to change. You're not a stubborn donkey!

I’ve spent many hours developing an onboarding program for new hires and having them tell me that they’re not used to communications via email, integrating new software into their work processes, or checking their calendar frequently for last minute meetings is now a poor excuse for their incompetence. Harsh, but has to be said.

2. An Entrepreneurial Spirit: Problem Solving and Innovating

An entrepreneurial spirit isn’t something that’s taught. It’s something innate in a good employee because it shows me that there’s an end-goal that they’re working towards. They’re not just waiting around for the next best thing to come around.

It demonstrates grit and that they’re willing to slog it out and build something great from nothing. They’re willing to push themselves to the limits to achieve a big goal. It tells me that they more or less, will understand what I’m going through at some point and why I’ve chosen to make certain decisions.

With an entrepreneurial spirit often comes a certain quality of curiosity on how things can always be done better. They’re not afraid to challenge the status quo and go against the majority to make changes. It shows me that they’re always problem-solving, and always innovating.

3. A mark of Confidence

An employee who is highly confident is more likely to consistently work on being the best version of themselves, which translates to them up-skilling and staying competitive and updated with the latest happenings in the industry.

I look for people who can get the job done without extensive handholding and spoon feeding, people who are motivated to take on challenges with minimal direction.

I’ve had two employees come in and confidently tell me at the end of the interview that I needn’t look any further because they were exactly what I was looking for –and they were right.

It also spawns client confidence, and that’s always a bonus!

4. Humility

This is a trait that’s so underrated.

I’ve come across many resumes with an endless number of skills attached to their profiles. They call themselves the “jack of all trades”. When asked if they could do a certain task completely out of their league, they almost immediately respond with a ‘yes’ without thinking twice, as if saying “no” would disqualify them.

The people who are really good don’t need to scream anything, their work screams for them and they can just sit there quietly. These are the same people who are really young, with over ’10 years of work experience’. It’s not new news that millennials or Gen-Zers are perceived to be ‘entitled’, ‘self-centred’ or have a disproportionately huge sense of ‘self-importance’.

It makes me wonder if young people actually understand the virtue of humility. Humility is not about hiding away or becoming a ‘wallflower’, but the realisation that your abilities and actions are not better or less. It calls for the understanding of the true value and worth of things. It tells me that you’re open-minded and able to see your colleagues as equals.

Humility is such an invaluable trait because meeting someone who radiates humility allows my shoulders to relax. People who truly understand humility accept their own strengths and limitations without defensiveness or judgement.

The ideal employee can mean different things to different people. It stems from having a deep understanding of the nature of the job, and how you can help someone reach their fullest potential through the tasks they carry out every day. It’s hard work on both yourself, and your new employee.

Hopefully you'll never need to fire anyone, but 'fire' up the passion in them to champion them as an individual that will eventually add value to society!

Looking for an exciting, dynamic team to work with? Email your resume to or cat pictures to [email protected] today!