By Guest Writer Hassan Shamaan, Human Resource Director at Westin Hotels and Resorts Maldives
Employee turnover and hiring new employees can be both time consuming and costly. While human resource managers are responsible for the hires, finding right talent is always tricky and time consuming for them. There are certain qualities businesses look for when hiring new employees. These can often be discovered during the interviewing process.
Let’s look into 5 characteristics to look for when hiring talent.
1- Passion
Passion and enthusiasm are great traits of a new employee. It is very important for the company to hire candidates who are enthusiastic and passionate about what they do. If the person loves what he/she does, human resources managers know it from the way they explain what they have achieved. Their successes should shine through during the interview. People who love the work they do often stay at companies longer than people who work for the sake of the paycheck.
2- Behavioral attributes
Behavioral attributes are important characteristics while hiring new employees. Behavioral attributes are made up of a range of motives, traits, skills and knowledge. As human resource professionals, we can identify this from past incidents from their past work experiences. During the interview, candidates are asked about incidents related to their field of work and we examine their response, reactions and how they have reacted during the past.
3- Energy
The excitement and energy when presenting the self during a conversation tells a lot about the organization that person represents. The hospitality industry especially requires people with this quality. Human resource managers can easily identify this character during a job interview.
4- Confidence
Businesses need candidates who are honest and realistic about their abilities, not those who are good at bragging but bad at follow-through. Someone who is honest to self and confident about what he or she does. Also, when you don’t know something, you should be honest about saying so. Someone who has confidence who can focus on the goals and managers can trust on that person to get the job done.
5- Team Spirit
Even if a job requires most tasks to be completed alone, there will be times when employees will have to work together. Therefore, teamwork or team spirit is one of the key characteristics human resource managers look for while hiring new employees. In the hospitality industry, we want social animals: outgoing, extroverted, people who bring fun to work while they still can be the glue that holds the team together. Someone who can accept any kind of personality from the team members.
About the writer: Hassan Shamaan is a Graduate of the University of Toulouse, France specialized in Tourism & Hospitality Management. With over 12 years of industry experience, Shamaam is currently the Director of Human Resources for the Westin Maldives, a brand of Marriott International.
