Different jobs require employees that have different skill sets and experience. If you aren’t trained as a programmer, it’s likely that you will have a rough transition if you were hired for a demanding SAS programming job at a large corporation. Similarly, if you have never shot a video in your entire life, you simply aren’t qualified to direct a feature length film (or any film for that matter). Nevertheless, I think there are a few qualities that employers look for in employees regardless of the job.
Creativity
Am I the only one who thinks that companies are too dependent on processes and not enough on the creativity of their employees? I don’t think so, but it’s easy to turn off your creative side when you enter a job with pre-determined processes and “way” things have always been done.
There are many ways that creativity can be implemented into the workplace, but here are a few that I think are particularly valuabel:
- Utilize tools and resources in new ways – Resources (human, software, hardware, etc.) are usually extremely underutilized. It can take some creativity to figure out how to optimally use the resources available to you. One way as an accountant I have used resources available to me in creative ways is through automation. Most people don’t use visual basic in Excel, but if you do you can write programs that can potentially save you or others hours of work. I used this to create a new analysis report that would usually take a couple hours of manual work each day, but is complete in one click. Always look for creative ways to utilize the resources already available for you – your employer will thank you.
- Improve Products and Services – Anyone can take over a process that has a written manual of steps 1 through 10. It takes a creative employee to figure out how steps 1 to 10 can be compressed into five steps. Similarly, it takes a creative employee to figure out what improvements should be made for the next product launch, or how certain tasks can be outsourced overseas for cheaper and therefore freeing up time for employees to work on research and development. Products and services offered by businesses need to constantly be upgraded, and it takes a lot of planning and creativity to do it right.
- New Products and Services – While Mark Zuckerberg was never someone’s employee, he did think of a new service that has made him incredibly wealthy. In the same way that the market values new products and services that are created through sheer creativity, your employer will also appreciate you sharing your ideas for new products and services. A local pizza and sandwich shop here in Minnesota (there’s about 20 or so stores) rolls out new menu items from time-to-time. I did an organizational analysis of the company for an operations class and one thing I learned is that every single new menu item has come from “regular” employees. They get a bonus if they think of a new product that makes it on the menu. Companies always need new revenue streams, so don’t be afraid of offering up your ideas.
“Safe Hands”
To me, “safe hands” means someone who can be trusted to get the job done. If I’m a manager and I need an analysis put together and ready for a presentation in two hours, I definitely would highly value an employee who I know has safe hands. I don’t want to have to check up on the employee, nor do I want to have to worry about whether it will get done. I know it will get done because my employee has safe hands.
It doesn’t matter where you work – employers want employees who are dependable and who they know will get the job done. There’s a reason why managers sometimes go to the same employee during crunch time; the employee has proven their ability to complete the task quickly and efficiently. Having safe hands – and even more so having a reputation for safe hands – can help you progress in your career and will garner you positive referrals when you are looking for a job change.
Improvement over Time
Improvement over time is something that every employer would love to see in their employees. If employees are stagnating, it means they aren’t being challenged or are not motivated to get better at what they are doing. Even worse is that you can’t tell if an employee will improve over time until they have worked for at least three months minimum. Also, even if they have shown in previous jobs that they get better and better at their job over time, they might not be motivated at this particular job.
As an employee I think everyone should be challenging themselves and always look to learn more and in turn become a better employee. There are a ton of ways to become a better employee and developing as a professional, as I wrote in 5 Ways to Stand Out and Provide Value early in your Career. Knowledge of your industry, company, and specific job function should improve over time. This should result in being able to offer up insights on how your company and specifically your department can do a better job and have better results. Additionally skills relevant to your specific job role should continuously be improved. For example, if you are a programmer you need to stay on top of the latest software. If you are a marketing manager you need to be aware of what is working (and what is not working) in advertising.
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Creativity, “safe hands,” and improvement over time are qualities that every employer would love for their employees to have. There are plenty of job-specific skills that people need to obtain to qualify for a job, but these should be viewed as a minimum standard. Actively being creative through thinking outside the box and challenging the way things have always been done, showing you have “safe hands” and can complete a task given to you regardless of how time sensitive or demanding it is, and improving your knowledge and skills over time are all things that employees should strive to embody.
What other qualities do you think employers look for in employees? If you are an employer, what do you look for in an employee?
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I think having some communication skills is certainly another one. If you have great ideas but can’t communicate them then your ideas are not very valuable. Furthermore, you need to be able to communicate well with clients and coworkers alike.
GregatClubThrifty Great point, Greg! Communication – both written and verbal – is a skill that employers are always looking for in employees.
As a guy who’s employed lots of people, I’ll agree and add one more: a positive outlook. There’s nothing that stinks more than having an otherwise competent employee who shows up in a bad mood every day. It brings the entire staff down!
AverageJoeMoneyTotally agree with you on that one. When I interned there was one girl who was SO dang negative about anything and everything. She didn’t get an offer.
I agree with Greg, communication is a biggie. I’m shocked by the number of college grads who can’t articulate their thoughts well, verbally or written. That being said, I also think a level of decorum or formality is important. Knowing your environment and behaving as such. A lot of companies are far more relaxed thank they used to be, but if your company allows for a more casual dress code you still probably shouldn’t wear short jorts and a halter top to work.
BrokeMillennialGood points! There is also an age gap that causes communication issues,
as it seems non-Millennials grew up using the phone WAY more than
millennials do, as well as much more casual conversation (blame text
messaging for this one).
All those qualities would make a perfect entrepreneur :). As an employer I would want someone who is easy to live with, who gets along with most people, and who is honest. All the rest you can learn.
RFIndependenceThat’s a great point – you can always train someone in if they are willing to learn, but you can’t “teach” personality or qualities.
I like “improvement over time”. I think this is one of the most important qualities an employee can have, and it starts with desire. It is pretty easy to set yourself apart by showing your desire to grow and improve. Employees can’t be experts at everything, but as long as they are willing to accept the challenge and improve in their weaker areas they are worth hiring.
ayoungproI agree that employers are looking for people who won’t stagnate; they want people who WANT to improve and learn.
I completely agree with you. If I was a manager, I’d be looking for someone who is reliable and will improve everything they touch.
CommonCentsWealthDefinitely, you don’t want an employee who has no desire to improve things.
I agree with all of these. Employers want to see that there is growth within an employee because that is going to help make the company stronger in the long run.
OneSmartDollar I agree, they don’t want an employee to stagnate and never grow and get better at things. The company should benefit long-term from an employee’s desire to learn!
All excellent points DC ! I remember working with people that use to annoy me because they came to work each day and only did what they absolutely needed to do to not get fired. Forget being creative or improving themselves. Then when it came time to do these huge employee reviews that on ourselves that included many of the points that you mentioned, they had no good answers or examples of their work.
I have never heard the phrase “safe hands” but I LOVE it !!
TacklingOurDebtI believe “safe hands” is technically an investment banking term, or at least that’s where I first heard it. I think it applies to every job/sector, though. If I was a manager of a pizza shop I would want the shift leads to have safe hands.
Great points, DC. Safe hands is so critical (and I love your term too). As a business owner, I have to trust that my employees can do a great job without me hovering over them. Because I don’t have the time to do so nor do I want to be the boss that micromanages. I immensely value all three of these qualities.
TheHeavyPurseI definitely think micromanaging defeats the whole purpose of having employees. The whole poitn is to delegate and trust them with the work!
All great points. Creativity is so important to helping your company improve. It’s also one of the best ways to really stand out in the eyes of both current and future employers. And it’s also a skill that, unfortunately, I think is undervalued in our school systems, which seem to focus more on rote memorization.
Matt @ Mom and Dad MoneyGreat point about the school system. I definitely think that creativity is compartmentalized in school; you can only really be creative within a framework in art class (and even there it is very structured). Creativity and problem solving go hand-in-hand.
Hey DC! I think creativity is under-utilized as well! I work for the government and government loves their processes – however there’s always room for ways to make things more efficient if you look around! If my bosses see the value in it, they’re usually happy to oblige! Life is easier and I get a brownie point.