What positive characteristics do employers look for in staff?

Qualifications and experience are always a must when it comes to applying for a job, so it is essential that you study hard and take advantage of things such as online courses, so you can expand your arsenal of skills.\

But what about personal attributes?  Which ones do employers look for when hiring someone for their team?

• Productivity – there are many ways you can show off your productivity. Taking additional courses for example, can help demonstrate your willingness to continue improving yourself independently.

And this is an important attribute to have as it shows that you won’t wait around to be told what to do. Instead, you will use your initiative to continue expanding your horizons. In other words, you know how to manage yourself and your time – which will be attractive to managers as they can’t always organise every minute of your day.

TIP: when interviewing, we recommend talking about times where you’ve showed your initiative and how you’ve helped projects to move forward/prevent mistakes. This will clearly highlight your productivity and earn you a big tick in their yes column.

• Resilience – again using your spare time to complete qualifications, will show off your resilience and commitment to keep progressing. Instead, it will show that you have taken steps to keep moving forward, which employers will love as they’ll know that alongside being able to handle constructive criticism, you are interested in learning/progressing more;

• Confidence – being qualified and experienced isn’t enough. Employers want to know that you have got the ability to assert this expertise in the workplace. This means you need to be confident. Luckily, you can easily show off this attribute during your interview through your body language and in the way you conduct yourself. From your handshake to the way you close the door as you leave; these can be used to show that you are in control of the situation.

Likewise, you can ensure that you sound confident when answering questions by preparing your answers in advance and avoiding saying things like ‘umm’ or ‘ah’. Similarly, by avoiding being repetitive, thinking through your answers first, and not waffling, you can ensure that you give a concise and appropriate answer.

• Adaptability – employers love people who go out of their way to continue expanding their knowledge, as this shows that you’re willing to put in the time and effort to adapt. Being adaptable is essential in the workplace as it will ensure that your skills remain relevant. Plus your willingness to take responsibility for your learning will show that you’ve got a great attitude towards work.

In an interview, you should use examples of where you have stepped up to help your employers’ complete tasks/projects that weren’t your usual responsibility.

• Positivity – proving that you have got a good and positive attitude will do wonders for you securing a job, as its shows that you have got enthusiasm and passion for your job. Now, unless you don’t want the job, you should already be exuding positivity during your interview. Just make sure to keep your comments optimistic, and don’t avoid blame or criticism. Instead, take them in your stride and prove how you can use these comments to better yourself.

Obviously there are numerous other traits that employers look for; however, if you have got these 5 in your arsenal, you are bound to impress them during your interview.

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