How Employers Decide Who to Hire or Keep

In today’s economic climate it’s important to know what traits employers use to evaluate candidates for a position and how they decide which employees to keep during layoffs. As you seek your next position, either within your own company or with another employer, emphasizing these traits will be of tremendous help to those efforts.

Ability to work with others: One of the signs that employers look for is how well you can perform your assigned duties while, at the same time, not disrupting others from performing theirs. Mitigating disputes between employees is a major obstacle to managing workers. Therefore, a manager will attempt to not bring on someone who does not get along well with others. Likewise, a manger will take the first opportunity to dismiss an employee who cannot work with others.

If you find yourself in that group, then it will be to your great advantage to learn how to get your job accomplished while not upsetting others. This does not necessarily mean that your should change your attitude towards your job. In fact, it is not uncommon that your desire to do a good job is what upsets others. For example, some people will not understand why you put in extra effort to meet some deadline.

You should strive to do the best job that you can while finding a way to get along. Having done this, you can comment during a job interview or performance review, “One of my weaknesses used to be getting my co-workers to understand how important I take my assignments. However, I have now learned how to continue to pursue excellence and at the same time not step on other people’s toes.”

Punctuality: “If you are not 15 minutes early, you are late!” That was the advice that I was given in my Air Force days and it has served me well. You should always be at work early. The best way to demonstrate that you are punctual is to show up for any job interview early. The secret about this tactic is that it’s not really all for the benefit of the employer. By arriving early, you will usually have an opportunity to observe the workplace. Remember, you are not just at an interview to see if the company wants you, it’s your opportunity to see if you want to work for them.

You should make the best use of this time by observing the atmosphere in the office. Especially, notice the body language of the people you see. Listen to comments that are made while you wait. This will also give you the chance to relax and concentrate on what you want to present to the interviewer.

Cooperation: While this is closely related to working well with others, it applies more to striving to achieve the goals of the organization. This is why the Job Finding Formula methods of finding the best job are important. They help you uncover the job that best suits your talents, abilities, skills and knowledge. This will automatically place you in a position where you will want to cooperate with everyone to achieve stated organizational objectives.

Self Reliance: Employers recognize the worth of employees who understand the objective of an assignment and are able to carry it out by themselves. Effective managers know that everyone needs to be given enough information to understand what is to be accomplished and the proper training and tools to do the job. However, once that is done, they should be able to complete the task without excessive reliance on the manager or other employees. This does not mean that you should never ask for assistance, rather, that you should only do this when necessary. You should not let asking for help become a habit.

Appearance: The way your dress and present yourself is important. Many job seekers miss this and do themselves a great disservice. While today’s workplace is more casual and laid-back than that of 50 years ago, you can still make yourself stand out by presenting a clean, neat appearance. Dress appropriately for the position you are applying form. You should even “dress up” a notch or two above the position you are seeking if you can. When in doubt, be more conservative.

Courtesy: This is a way to really set yourself apart from the average job seeker. Whenever you call someone on the telephone to talk about an opportunity, always ask if this is a good time to talk. If they say it is not, then ask when you should call back. Your goal should be to put the person at ease, not place them in an uncomfortable position. Job Finding Formula teaches how to do this most effectively.

Motivation: The most successful managers know that the only true motivation is self-motivation. There is an old saying that if I want my dog to move, I have to kick him in the a_ _. If I want to get him to move tomorrow, I have to kick him again. Managers do not have the time to waste kicking employees to make them move. That is why they look for self-motivated people to fill jobs and keep those who have displayed that trait when layoffs happen.

Reliability: Can your employer rely on you to serve the best interests of the company? Have you demonstrated in the past that you are reliable? The answer to these questions is crucial to maintaining your job or being offered a new job. It should be obvious that being a person that an employer can rely upon to get the job done is a tremendous benefit. Make the most of your past experience to emphasize this trait.

Initiative: Are you a self starter? If you are, that is initiative. Employers look favorably on those employees who can recognize a problem and seek out solutions without being told to do so. This is another trait that you should seek examples of and present those examples to prospective employers during a job interview. You can learn how best to do this in Job Finding Formula.

Attitude: An employee's attitude is an extremely important aspect of the decision making process for hiring or during layoffs. Concern for whether the job get done properly, a positive outlook towards the company, and communicating those attitudes to others is very important.

Quality of work: The quality of work that you perform is another very important aspect of how employers judge you. You should keep a record of how you have contributed to high quality in your jobs. Employers recognize that producing a high volume of work is useless unless the work is done properly.

All of the above traits are important to employers when deciding who to hire and who to layoff. You should review your resume and letters and attempt to work as many of these traits into them as possible.

Michael Britner
Job Finding Master