Are you staffing your business with the most optimal workforce? Utilizing the strengths and skill set of your workforce starts with correctly filling the job positions with the right professionals. Without the right group of individuals working on your business, growth will ultimately plateau. Your employees create your brand, they are who your business is, so you want to make sure you get the right people to work for you. Here are five ways of filtering your candidates to find the right type of employee:

Candidates who show traits of leadership should be at the top of your list. Assigning leaders in the workforce make your life much easier. More importantly, however, leaders who know how to manage their teams and departments can oversee a successful and timely project turnaround. Look for candidates who can be accountable, competent, and good at communicating with others, but still, know how to follow you. Employees who have leadership skills are team players and can be relied upon to work on a variety of roles with consistent output.

While education isn’t the sole unit of measurement for professional competency, it’s a safer bet to go with well-educated candidates than those who do not have the technical training. For instance, if you get a candidate with an MBA, it’s at least worth an in-person interview. Those with an extensive educational background have the means to help you grow your business not just through reliably consistent work output, but also by bringing the traditional tried and tested industry practices into your workplace.

Although it sounds like the role of a leader, not all leaders are good mentors. These are usually people who have an extensive experience in the industry that they can teach to rookies. Those who have been in many different types of workplace setting and have an abundance of knowledge when it comes to industry practices and core concepts can be invaluable to scaling your business. Mentors are natural born teachers and can expedite the rate in which your junior employees learn and adapt in the workplace. This can be especially helpful for small businesses that do not have the same amount of resources that a large corporation often allocates to employee education and training.

Without an active hunger for innovation, your workplace is bound to lead to a dead end. Successful businesses can scale to such unimaginable heights because, in part, of their ability to continue innovating and refining their brand. Without an innovator in your business, except of course for you, there are limited paths your business can take. So how can you sniff this particular trait in a job candidate? Simply asking them about ideas they have on how to grow and move the company forward can do the job.

Candidates who are good at their work don’t always operate effectively under pressure or when the business takes a turn for the worse. Employees who can work through these challenges without affecting their output are worth hiring and keeping. These are people who don’t easily scare away during economic downturns. Instead, they help get your business out of murky waters by boosting everyone else’s morale and keeping productivity levels in check.

Employees are the lifeblood of any business. Note that hiring the right person for a specific role isn’t an exact science. It takes time and countless interviews to get a feel of whether or not a candidate is the right person for your business’ needs, culture, and vision. Use the five employee profiles above to filter your options and simplify the whole staffing process.

Resources:

5 Steps to Hiring Better Leaders

7 Kinds of People You Need

WGU Master of Business Administration

Use Mentoring to Develop Employees

7 Qualities of a Good Employee