What Hiring Managers Are Looking For

What Hiring Managers Are Looking For

Whether they know it or not, all Hiring Managers are looking for
certain characteristics or "Behavioral Competencies." One of the most
important is CONFIDENCE. Now, all of us have made mistakes in the
past, and maybe all of your performance reviews have not exactly
been "glowing," but the point is not to live your life looking in the rear
view mirror. If you know you have made mistakes, and you are
working on improving yourself, then there is no reason why you
shouldn't move forward with CONFIDENCE and an EXPECTATION OF
SUCCESS.

Review the following Behavioral Competencies with CONFIDENCE.
Nobody is a super-person that exhibits all of these characteristics at
100%, but if you have ever worked any job then you have exhibited all
of these characteristics to some degree. EMPHASIZE THE POSITIVE
when you read these, and think of times on the job when you HAVE
exhibited these characteristics – NOT times when you might have
failed to.

What you want to demonstrate to the Hiring Manager:

Courage / Persuasion: This is your ability to increase your
determination to get the job done when you are faced with resistance
or a difficult situation. Show the ability to move people towards a
commitment to buy or act. Demonstrate that you are fair and nice, but
also show that you are aggressive and may even sometimes intimidate
others. Don't be modest. Demonstrate confidence and the fact that
you are not easily intimidated. Indicate the desire to influence the
thinking of others. Show that you can gain agreement from others via
logic, alternatives, and emotional appeals.

Beliefs / Ethics: This is your capacity to believe strongly in what you
do and emphasize service. Indicate LOYALTY so that the Hiring
Manager knows that you won't quit after three months – or leave your
clients hanging and out of the loop. This quality is key to the
development of accounts and customer satisfaction. Show that you will
act in terms of what is right. Demonstrate that you follow through and
actually do what you say you will do.

Commitment: This is your capacity for becoming dedicated to your
work. You should demonstrate a strong belief in what you do.
Demonstrate that you are willing to make a sacrifice for people when
appropriate because you are a COMMITTED person. Show a strong
responsibility and commitment to not only the Hiring Manager and the
company, but even more importantly, to customers and clients.

Work Orientation / Stamina: This is your capacity to handle mental
intensity and hard work. Indicate the high tempo and speed at which
you work, and your capacity for endurance. Show that you invest the
TIME and ENERGY necessary to get the job done right the first time –
consistently.

Interpersonal Skills / Charm: This is your capacity to know how
and when to get things done with people. Show that you are outgoing
and charming, and that you are especially effective in this regard when
you have an objective in mind, or need someone to do something.
Demonstrate that you have an intrinsic need to win the approval of
others, fit in, and get along. Show that you have the ability to build
quick relationships with people.

Discipline: Demonstrate that you have inner standards that make you
both predictable and productive. Show that you enjoy the
responsibility of planning and carrying out your own schedule. Indicate
that you can motivate yourself to work on a task until completion.

Competitiveness: This is your drive to be better than others. Show
that you like to compete and have the desire to win, and show the
maturity of knowing how this benefits everyone.

Focus: This is your ability to determine what is important, set
priorities for tasks, and maintain direction. Show that you understand
how to set short and long-term objectives, and how to intelligently
schedule these objectives so that you hit your goals and complete
tasks on time.

Big Picture Thinking: This is your ability to see the big picture, and
not get bogged down in the minutia of small tasks. Demonstrate a
tendency toward project closure. Show your ability to see "the real
goal" and what it takes to get there.