What to look for in a candidate? Tenets that never fail

This one's of my most favorite topic. Why? Simply because,

One - This is a key part of my responsibility - to identify the best fit candidate for the right roles at my organization.

Second - I get to learn a lot during these interactions, about the market and sector

Third - I generally love interacting with people. Each person is a story and being an avid reader and explorer - I love uncovering those stories.

Over the years, I would have interviewed hundreds of candidates - some for full time jobs / some for internships, across student levels at campuses as well as laterals, across sectors and levels and functions. All this while some tenets, of identifying a good candidate, have stood the test of time. In this version of 'The Boss who never was', I intend to put together those tenets and hoping that it can help both the interviewers as well as interviewees, in my network and those who come across this edition.

If the conversation gets going, the candidate is set - Let's understand this a little better from a non interview scenario. You are at a party full of strangers. You are there, holding your drink and trying to figure out who to start with. First filter, you look at the people around - and you might like people for different reasons - some may be casual, some may be formal, some may just be lounging, someone else might be standing alone, someone might be there looking at some art piece or a book or looking to go out to get some fresh air and you try and find a comfortable connect - the one, where you feel you can get into conversation. Sometimes, you just casually sneak into a group and listen in before making a small talk. Some of these people you meet and forget; some you meet and remember till the party last and there are some who become part of your life after this party. This is a simple human behavior. Now replace the scenario with a interview set up. You are meeting candidates - and you meet people of three types :

1. You don't enjoy talking to, make some short talk and want the conversation to end asap.
2. They are having nice demeanor and are presentable, have good articulation and answers all your questions well, almost too well as if they've prepared for it.
3. You just love talking to - because they have so much interesting things to share; you feel you are learning something new in the process and you are able to peel the layers of the stories and each layer is adding a persona.

The choice is obvious after that. That's been First of the Tenets / Filter that I use - 'Do I love talking to the person.'

Vision about the self and the role - The second area that I often explore in the interviews is the vision that person carries for one self. Within this, I explore the following aspects -

1. Does the person have some goal for themselves in life and career.
2. Does the person follow any hobby outside of work
3. Does the person has a perspective on future of the role/sector.

While the first two areas reflect candidate's self awareness and characteristics; third one reflect candidate's awareness of sector. I firmly believe that any team member who comes on board having a clear vision for oneself would stay away from day to day grumblings and office politics, being rather focused on their path, their learnings and would overall contribute towards making an upbeat outlook and a positive work atmosphere. To make this come visually alive, imagine two resources - One, who is joining the team as an operations assistant in a small geography of a company, with a vision of becoming Operations Head for a larger geography. The person will always be on lookout for Learning and Performing.

Research about the company and the role - Third and final one, which is a clear go/no go filter for me is the amount of preparation / research someone has done before the interview about the company and the role. This is a clear representation of level of seriousness of the candidate. Typically, if its a retail sector role, I expect the candidate to have at least visited one of the retail points. If its a technical role, I expect the person to have done basic reading about the concept and the company. These are hygiene elements and can become a put-down effect, if not done by candidate. There is no end to how much you can research about the company and the role and the interviewer (in case that's marked in the meeting calendar) and impress the interviewer.

Someone who is not willing to put in that much effort, is definitely not worth taking forward the discussion with.

So these were my three basic mantras to apply while taking interviews. The fun fact is these three can't be faked. It shows. While there are many more parameters - technical and non technical and would be happy to connect over a chat / coffee to discuss those. I sincerely hope that above three foundational ones are going to help you - irrespective of whether you are applying for a role or you are interviewing for a role in your team.

Finally, I must add - Skills can be learnt on the job; Attitude can't. Hire for attitude, train for the job and coach for future readiness.

Do share your feedback, if you agree or disagree with the above three or in case you have your own unique parameters. Let's together contribute towards building a list which becomes the master list.