Whether you are employing a paid staff member or appointing a volunteer the choice of “who” is one of the most impactful decisions you’ll make today.

Why?

Because a bad call causes:

• a lot of angst and heartache, not only for you but also for that person and the team into which they’re being appointed;
• pain for all concerned if it becomes necessary to part ways with them; and
• an under-performing team.

What Should I Look For in a Prospect?

That’s a really good question and if you read all the books you’ll come up with as many different answers as there are books.  But it seems to me there are just four things you need to get right.  These are, in order of importance:

1.  Relational Chemistry

They need to get on with both you and your team.  Effective teams are made up of people who click.

This doesn’t mean everyone should be the same.  Quite the contrary.  If everyone was the same you could almost guarantee the chemistry wouldn’t work!

2.  Attitude

Yes, we all want people in our teams to work in their areas of strength most of the time but you never want someone who won’t pitch in elsewhere when it’s needed.

Never, never hire someone who doesn’t have a great attitude.  A good attitude is not something you can train into someone and very rarely is it mentored in.

NB: I have seen attitudinal transformation in people following an encounter with God but you can’t count on that at the time of hiring. (Note also I’ve seen far too many “Christians” who don’t appear to have allowed God to transform their attitude but that’s for another post altogether!)

3.  Passion

People need a real passion for both the reason for the work they’re doing and the type of work they’re engaged in.  Let me explain further.

Let’s say you’re hiring for World Vision.  If you have an applicant with a passion for kids in poverty in developing countries then World Vision would be a great place for them to be working.  But if they hate working with figures (even if they’re good at them) then don’t give them a job (even at World Vision) as an Accountant.

People intuitively know the type of work they like (at a desk, in the field etc) but many don’t know, or can’t articulate what their passion is in the bigger context.  I’ve found the best thing to do is to ask them questions to find out what makes their blood boil.  When they see injustice done to a certain sort of people or when they see a play performed badly.  You’ll quickly find out where there passions lie.

4.  Talents

All too often we hire almost solely on people’s abilities and talents.  While these can be important (there’s no point hiring me to pitch for the RedSox even though that’s a passion etc) this is also the only area of the four that an employer can make a real contribution (by way of training).

So next time you’re hiring

or appointing I reckon you should look for these four things.

Have your say.

Do you agree or disagree.  Have I left something important out.

Let me know by leaving a comment.

Photo credit: lumaxart

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