What does someone mean when they talk about a successful individual, and what makes that person a success? In their executive search and hiring procedures, employers are always trying to figure out if the candidate they’re looking at is the one who will excel and help drive the company forward through their own individual success. While reviewing someone’s resume for skills and experience may provide some mild indicator, there are a few specific traits that employers should come to recognize and look for in the interview process to make sure they find the best and brightest.
Moving right along, here are five more executive search firm guidelines to recognizing successful individuals.
5. We’ve all heard someone complain about how their failures weren’t their fault, attempting to distance themselves from the responsibility by blaming anyone and everything else for their inability to get the job done successfully and on time. While it is reasonable to say that sometimes things completely beyond an individual’s control will come into play, nine times out of ten the fault is their own. Successful individuals are willing to accept their responsibility for these errors and own up to them, and ultimately learn from it so that they can make sure that the same thing doesn’t happen again.
6. Success driven individuals are those who are always willing to step up and taken on more responsibilities and more work whether the goal is to learn and gain new skills, build new relationships, or simply to impress. Rather than seeing such openings as unnecessary work to be avoided, as so many do, successful individuals view these chances as an opportunity to do something more, something great, and to strive for even greater success. You can’t meet success without taking action, and those who want it will step up and take it.
7. As an extension of the previous point, individuals for a head for success are always willing to go that extra step for the client or customer, even if that requires them to step outside their normal duties to get the job done and keep the customer happy. Generating revenue is the ultimate goal of all business, and while getting paid to do whatever it is you specialize in is great, what shows a real head for success are those few who are willing to go above and beyond in their responsibilities to ensure that the customer gets what they want.
8. How often have we all heard the phrase, ‘the customer is always right?’ While this may seem like a cliché intended for customer service providers, the truth is that all businesses are in the customer service business and so it is their duty to ensure that the customer gets what they want. A hallmark of a success oriented individual is their ability to set aside their own ego and pride, and listen to the customer when they talk about what they want and need. Successful employees are those who never forget where the money that pays their salary and drives the business really comes from and will do whatever it takes to ensure that the customer is happy.
9. Working from another clichéd idea, we often hear people talk about looking for that someone who is willing to, ‘go the extra mile.’ Unfortunately that metaphorical extra mile seems to be a desolate and lonely place given the reticence of so many to actually go there. It seems that the only people really willing to take on that extra mile are the few truly successful individuals who are willing to stay late, show up early, take that one extra step that everyone else overlooked, and do absolutely whatever needs to be done to ensure that a project or job is a success.
Published by Conselium Executive Search, the global leader in compliance search.
