The Most Wanted Employee

8/11/2019 The Most Wanted Employee

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The “most wanted employee”: skills, competencies, recruiting manners By Ana Ber, February 2013

During these tough times for economy, companies must still thrive to recruit and retain the bestcandidates while keeping costs down. The war for identifying talents and transform them intothe „most wanted employee” is a never ending story bu t more actual nowadays than ever in lightof the increasing complexity of markets, industries, jobs, hierarchies in organizations and theincrease of matrixes and multifunctional roles.

Below there are some insights on 2 questions:

1. Which are the skills and competencies needed to become the „most wanted employee”?2. How do you recruit future “most wanted employee”

1. The answer to first question must take into account the organizational strategy, the level inthe organization and the right management of career paths inside the companies.

Organizational strategy is directly linked to business strategy and influences the size, complexityand accountability of roles. Hiring the ideal candidate for each position involves balancing the

job critical characteristics with the skills each candidate currently possesses.Look for potential when seeking new employees and pay attention to how the candidate fits withexisting company culture. The top performers already in a company provide a basis for judgingwhat to look for when hiring more top performers.

At the lower levels the educational background - “although education and skills are stronglyrelated, exclusive reliance on measures of educational attainment to predict adult skills will leadto considerable error” (Murray, Owen, and McGaw, 2005, 61) - and the potential to grow aremore accountable, at higher levels just the status of “high potential” is not enough anymore, joband cultural fit are essential. As the recent crisis showed, it can be very difficult for companies tofill in management positions with people who would fit the internal and external circumstances.

As a consequence, the top management should take a more important role in supporting thetalent management strategies. Top managers should avoid hiring people whom they happen toknow and like but may lack the experience, expertise and cultural fit to succeed. If thesechallenges are on the executives and HR departments agendas by treating them right thedanger of losing talents on the way decreases dramatically.

Even though the talent management programs are extremely important for organizations weshould not forget that the responsibility for making the right career choices is mainly individual.(see Douglas T. Hall “Careers In and Out of Organizations”, 2001).

The most wanted employees are able to mix in between roles according to the organization’s needs – switching between operational, strategy and collaborative role would be the ideal mixfor ensuring the success when reaching a senior executive role.





Below there are listed the most desired skills expected by employers therefore employees who

have combination of skills are an invaluable resource to employers.

Adaptability skills. The most important skill is to be adaptive to the demand of theorganization and the assumed role inside it. Adaptability is the ability to manage multipleassignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and workassignments. For entry / lower levels companies can hire employees with basicfoundational competencies and then teach more specific competencies directly related tothe employees' job descriptions because at these levels is important to develop a flexiblerange of skills and competencies that would enable employees with suitable potential tomove into different positions while at higher levels is more important the fit to the specific

job requirements and its role in contributing to strategy and business results. Just

because a manager does a good job does not mean that he / she will perform as good inanother role / function

Leadership skills. While there is some debate about whether leadership is somethingpeople are born with, these skills deal with the ability to take charge and manage co-workers. Great leaders can set an example; they walk the walk and talk the talk becauseone of the most effective methods of leadership is to lead by example. Everything in anorganization starts at the top; as a leader, the tempo that the leader sets will generally setthe tone for how members within the organization interact with each other, as well asothers outside of the organization.

Problem-solving and creativity. Involves the ability to find solutions to problems usingcreativity and past experiences along with the available information and resources. Oneof the key aspects of any organization’s success or failure is its ability to stay ahead ofthe competition in a rapidly changing environment. The modern business, with itsemphasis on competition, building larger markets, strategic planning, team working, etc.,has created the need for new problem solving and decision making strategies. Thosewho are stronger or faster in finding new ways to solve problems are closer to successthan those who don’t.

Communications Skills (listening, verbal, written). By far, the one skill mentioned mostoften by employers is the ability to listen, write, and speak effectively. Successfulcommunication is critical in business especially in collaborative roles in matrixorganizations where the lack of control should be compensated by the ability to influenceand organizational understanding.

Analytical/Research Skills. Deals with the ability to assess a situation, seek multipleperspectives, gather more information if necessary, and identify key issues that need tobe addressed. Especially for executive roles is important to demonstrate success drivenby the power of conceptual and / or analytical skills, in making coherent arguments andbuild strategies proven successful.



Computer Literacy. Almost all jobs now require some basic understanding of computer

hardware and software, especially word processing, spreadsheets, and email.

Interpersonal skills. The ability to relate to co-workers, inspire others to participate, andmitigate conflict with co-workers is essential given the amount of time spent at work eachday. Regardless of position or technical expertise, the higher one goes onto theorganizational ladder he / she should be aware of the impossibility of carrying out thework independently therefore communication is essential to assure success.

Multiculturalism. There is possibly no bigger issue in the workplace than diversityespecially in the later years when companies go more and more towards a globalapproach. Multiculturalism in the workplace can create a sense of cultural awareness

among employees who are exposed to different points of view which will enable them tolearn to think outside the box and incorporate multiple perspectives.

Planning and organizational skills. The ability to design, plan, organize, and implementprojects and tasks within a given timeframe to make sure resources are used efficientlyand effectively to achieve organizational goals.

Teamwork. Teams don’t work without teamwork. Especially these days, in largerorganizations when many jobs involve working in one or more work-groups, the ability towork with others in a professional manner while attempting to achieve a common goal isa must. Teamwork promotes the sense of achievement, equity and camaraderie,essential for a motivated workplace.

However, even though an employee has all the skills mentioned above he / she should displaypersonal values in line with the organization they are in or target in order to reach the status of“the most wanted employee”:

Integrity. Personal integrity and honesty is expected more than any other value,especially in light of the many recent corporate scandals. Integrity is doing the right thingeven if it is difficult.

Flexibility. Openness to new ideas and concepts, to working independently or as part of ateam, and to carrying out multiple tasks or projects is valued on the same extent.

Dedication, persuasion and work ethics. Employers appreciate employees who love whatthey do and will keep at it until they solve the problem and get the job done.



Reliability and responsibility. At its most basic, employees are paid for their energy,engagement and time to come to work. Providing employers with proofs of reliability and

responsibility is better than providing them with promise.

Loyalty. Employers appreciate employees who will have a strong loyalty to the company -- even at times when the company is not necessarily loyal to its employees. Employersare reluctant to invest money in people that seem likely to leave them within a shortperiod. They want employees to be loyal to their company and grow with them as theirbusiness grows because no employer is ready to invest in someone without seeing areturn of investment – recruiting, induction, training, mentoring, all these costs moneywhich should be recovered, is a long-term investment. Employers are not keen to investtheir time, money and energy in an employee who seems likely due to their previous jobhistory to change jobs after a short period of time.

Positive attitude and self - motivation. The employees who get promoted most often arethe ones with drive and passion -- and who demonstrate this enthusiasm through theiractions. When someone loves what he does, he / she will spread that joy around. Self-motivation is a power that drives us to keep moving ahead, it encourages continuouslearning and success. People love happy people around them.

Self-confidence. Self-confidence is the belief in one's ability to succeed. Self-confidenceis the first step to progress, development, achievement and success and no one couldachieve great results without it, therefore, employers prefer self-confident employees witha reasonable degree of assertiveness.

Willingness to learn. Jobs are constantly changing and evolving, and anyone must showan openness to grow and learn with that change, to get out the comfort zone, to remainopen to continuous development.

2. With so many available jobs, yet a historically high unemployment rate, it is clear that theproblem has shifted from a lack of jobs to matching the right people to available jobs. Thequestion is how to recruit the right people.

First of all the companies should make sure that the strategy is decoded into specific skills andcompetencies for each role, define the behaviors assigned to particular role that will ensuresuccess for the company.

Starting from here, each company should build a recruiting strategy which fits the present andfuture organizational needs taking into account the market trends in this field.Social recruiting is the name of the game since social media is about connecting and engagingpeople, same as recruiting.





P&P is a shareholder of InterSearch (IS), a global network of Retained Executive SearchPractices, with currently 90 offices in more than 40 countries and its own IS Training Academy,

ranked in top 12 executive search organizations worldwide.In Romania Dr. Pendl & Dr. Piswanger operates since January 2000 offering executive searchand HR consultancy services.

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The Most Wanted Employee