10 things HR managers look for in potential hires

Sumedha Nashikar, Head-HR, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, spells out 10 qualities she always looks for in prospective candidates.

Six skills hiring managers look for in YOU

1. Energy
Organisations need people who are always eager to learn new skills and are eager to add to their knowledge base. They have genuine receptiveness to change and are open to examine new ideas. They bounce back quick after failures.

2. Ability to energise
These people are self-motivated and they demonstrate it outwardly. They inspire people and get people excited about a cause. They have the ability to keep the mood positive even when things are tough. Managers look for that that elusive "spark" that draws others to them.

3. Edge
This is the ability to take decision in grey. The ability to take decisions in tough situations and never allowing the degree of difficulty to stand in their way.

4. Ability to execute

These candidates are action-oriented and are focused on getting results. They are the ones who put strategy into implementation. Organisations look for a candidates ability to convert energy and edge (of self and of the team) into action and measurable results.

5. Customer-focused and quality conscious
These people understand customer business and customer pain points and strive to make customers successful by delivering superior quality products and superior service delivery. They build partnerships with clients and they measure their success based on the success of their customers. They go the extra mile to achieve customer delight.

6. Respect for individuals
These candidates value different cultural and religious backgrounds. They compliment in public for a good job done and offer candid and constructive criticism in private. This helps in creating a truly global environment in the workplace.

7. Integrity

These candidates mean what they say and say what they mean. They make us trusted partners of customers or for that matter they make good partners in every sphere of our life. They help build great organisations that can sustain over long periods of time during periods of prosperity as well as during challenging times.

8. Creative and enterprising
To create a differentiator, it is important that we offer different and unique proposition to our customers, which will bring value superior to that given by peers. This calls for creative thinking and entrepreneurship. Creative people come up with out-of-the-box ideas. They find better ways of doing things or ways of doing things differently. Entrepreneurs are willing to take well-assessed risks.

9. Collaborative/ team player
Organisations need people who have good interpersonal skills and gel well in the team. They put team goals above individual goals.

10. Technical competency and solutioning mindset
Technical competency is important in helping to foster a firm's competitive advantage. People possessing sound technical competency and a solutioning mindset can create and also execute winning solutions tailored to specific needs of the customer/ industry.