Best Qualities of a Good Employee & How to Find Them
Bradford R. GlaserThe hiring process can be tricky. Not only do you need to know exactly what you're looking for in a new employee, but you have to determine whether they truly possess the desired traits. Even if you're not hiring, it can sometimes be difficult to define and identify your current top employees. To simplify the process, we've narrowed down a list of the best qualities of a good employee. Plus, we'll show you exactly how to find these qualities in your employees or hiring candidates!
- Create behavioral-based questions
- Evaluate candidate responses
- Assess candidates objectively
Table of Contents
- Top 5 Qualities of a Good Employee
- How to Identify Top Qualities in Your Employees & Candidates
- Provide a Personality Assessment
- Create a Short Screening Prompt
- Carefully Design Interview Questions
- Host a Team-Building Exercise
- Stay Involved with Your Employees
- Develop Your Team with Tools from HRDQ
Top 5 Qualities of a Good Employee
Explore the top five qualities to look for in a good employee. If you can find an individual who possesses each of these traits, you can trust that they'll make a great asset to the company.
Reliable
Reliability is extremely important to look for in an employee. Having someone reliable on your team means you can trust them to consistently meet deadlines, listen to instructions, show up on time, and take their job seriously. You should always feel like you can depend on your employee to be as responsible as possible regarding their job.
Why trust is fundamental in the workplace: Trust: The Ultimate Test
Great Work Ethic
Meeting deadlines means nothing if the work that's produced isn't top-quality. That's why seeking people who exemplify a great work ethic is also necessary. Those who go the extra mile, thrive on producing fantastic results, never have to be asked twice, and don't stop until the task is complete — and completed well — will greatly benefit your team.
Self-Starter
A self-starter has no problem taking matters into their own hands when necessary. If they spot a way to improve a process or simply come across a task that needs to be completed — even if it's not part of their general duties — they'll go out of the way to do it. These are very driven individuals who know how to do the job independently and effectively without much direction from others.
Team Player
Being a team player is equally as important as being an independent self-starter. A mix of these qualities ensures a versatile individual who can adapt to various situations. Working well in a team setting, in particular, indicates that an employee can communicate effectively, work with various personalities, has decent interpersonal skills, and understands their role on the team.
Enthusiastic
Lastly, enthusiasm about the job and the company is also a critical quality to look for. Employees with a bad attitude can be severely detrimental to the work environment and spread negativity throughout the office, bringing down even your best workers. On the other hand, those who really care about their jobs will inspire success. They will put more time and effort into their work because the end results truly matter to them. If you hire for attitude, you'll quickly see how a person's positivity translates throughout the office and in their work.
How to Identify Top Qualities in Your Employees & Candidates
With a solid grasp of the best qualities of a good employee, you need to have a method to actually identify them. Below are just a few ways that you can spot the top qualities in your potential and current team members:
Provide a Personality Assessment
The best way to identify people's specific traits is through a personality assessment. At HRDQ, we offer a complete library of online assessments that are professionally designed to gauge individual soft skills accurately. You'll be able to view participant results instantly to determine which applicants or current team members have the qualities you desire.
Identify potential employees' preferred communication style: What's My Communication Style
Create a Short Screening Prompt
When hiring, another way to get an idea of a person's attitude and feelings is through a prompt question. For instance, you could ask an applicant to respond to a question as simple as, "What interests you about this job and our company?" Their written response can provide valuable insight into their values, goals, and qualities that they believe make them a good fit.
Carefully Design Interview Questions
During an interview, the questions you ask are integral to uncovering top employee qualities. Be sure to curate questions that are specifically designed to draw out a person's personality traits, such as the following:
- How would your supervisor describe you?
- What do you believe are your top two strengths and weaknesses?
- Do you prefer to work independently or as a team?
- How do you prioritize tasks?
- What accomplishment are you most proud of in your career?
Host a Team-Building Exercise
Improve your team's output and satisfaction: Team Effectiveness Profile
If you're trying to spot top traits in your current employees, hosting a team-building exercise is a great way to do so. The exercise can provide a great representation of:
- How specific workers function in a team environment
- Who naturally takes the lead
- Who thinks outside of the box
- Who goes out of their way to complete the task
- How people follow directions
- How people divide tasks
Stay Involved with Your Employees
Finally, as a supervisor, staying involved with your team is important. It can be easy to lose touch when you're tucked away in your office, but how your employees interact and function daily is a solid indication of who really cares and what employees are simply disengaged. Body language, time away from one's desk, and attitude can be picked up in a matter of hours and can certainly indicate who is not putting their best foot forward versus who is showing dedication.
Explore HRDQ Team Building Training Materials and develop your team today.
Develop Your Team with Tools from HRDQ
Now that you know the best qualities of a good employee and how to find them, it's time to take action. Get additional help with the interview process by using Behavioral Interviews Customizable Courseware. This downloadable, customizable course equips you with the tools to conduct behavioral interviews so you hire the right people.
