As an employer, you’re always on the lookout for talented potential employees. These employees will no doubt carry your business on their backs, and you need them on your team. Often though, employers can have a tough time seeing through the vast amount of candidates for the job. With many potential applicants, choosing the one that can help the most can be difficult.

That’s why today’s employer needs to be discerning. You wouldn’t hire an Applied Finance major to your accounting firm unless they’d taken the regulatory guidelines course (or RG 146 course), would you? This kind of skill is important to the field of accounting, but there are many other skills that are essential while interviewing candidates for 2018. Here are some of our favourites.

Communication Skills

It goes without saying that proper communication is key in business. Being able to properly convey a point to a customer or your supervisor is extremely important. This is as true for on-site employees as it is for employees working remotely. Good communication skills aren’t just verbal, either. Employers should look for good interpersonal and writing skills. Employees with great communication skills are assets to your team.

Teamwork

This, too, is a no brainer. When you have an employee who wants to work alone, and rarely helps others with projects, the entire office suffers for it. Finding people who are able to work with others effectively can prop up your business effectively. These people are receptive to the ideas of others and are able to manage expectations within a group setting. These people are your leaders when you aren’t there, and that is invaluable.

Critical Thinking

Problem-solving goes a long way in a business setting. If the problem is that “this is how we’ve always done it”, then having an employee that proposes a better way is valuable. No critical thinking within a business means the company is generally inflexible. Today’s world demands flexibility. Employees that critically analyse situations will often bring research to the table. They are taking responsibility for their work on an analytical level as opposed to an emotional level.

Be Collaborative, Not Comparative

As mentioned in the teamwork section, it’s important to work together in order to succeed. But working together also means not acting on a comparative level either. You can’t create a solid foundation on your team if everyone is working comparatively as opposed to collaboratively. Employees who want to build up others as opposed to shedding light on themselves is important.

Listening Skills

The ability to listen in the workplace can make or break an employee. Having great communication skills is one thing, but understanding what the other person is saying is just as important. This means paying attention to what’s been said by the other person. Being attentive in the workplace is a great quality for an employee to have. Maybe you want to convey something to them, but can’t quite find the words to do it. If they have good listening skills, they’ll be able to figure out contextually what you mean. This person is definitely a keeper.

Experience After University

While a degree is important to employers, it isn’t everything. There are hundreds of graduates with bachelor degrees in multiple fields, and many of them are qualified to do the job you need done. However, it’s important to look past their successes in university and onto what they’ve done beyond their degree. Having customer service skills is important, and there aren’t classes that teach this in university. Working at a pub, however, trains grads how to work with a customer. Look past the cap and gown.

Graduates With Intangibles

Hiring the top student is no longer required to succeed in business. For your office to succeed, you need to find the right people to make it succeed. Great communication skills go a long way, and teamwork and critical thinking will keep your business moving forward. So look closely at the smaller skills in your candidates to truly hire an amazing employee.