What Hiring Managers Want

Whether in good or bad economic times, hiring has and continues to be a critical part of growing an organization.  Effective hiring allows an organization to better serve its customers, owners and employees by increasing it capabilities and better positioning the organization to compete.

I was interested to learn what hiring managers were looking for in their new hires.  I felt any results from this exercise would be good to share with other hiring managers and also with job-seekers and aspiring candidates.

So I surveyed some small business leaders with whom I have relationships by asking a single question and a request:

What are the top 5 attributes you look for in a new hire?

• Please list them in the order of importance to you  with 1 being most important. 

• Feel free to expand on your thoughts with any additional detail.

That was it.  I invited over 30 organizations to participate in the survey and got back responses from 10.  

"Okay..." you say, "but where do I start?"  Good question...the first of many questions that you'll need to ask - and answer - as you approach the topic of lead generation.  But first, let's take a closer look at the definition of this term, one that I believe includes four critical components:

1. Calling key decision-makers in companies you want to do business with.
2. Beginning to develop a strategic relationship with them.
3. Selling your services as a high-value solution (which keeps you from competing on price).
4. Help your prospects to remember you when their elusive "time of need" occurs. 

Jim Barrett is the President of Leads4Grow; a business development and consulting firm. He has successfully accelerated his clients new business growth by generating productive, high-level meetings with executives from Fortune 500's to emerging, fast growth companies. He may be reached at [email protected].