What Are Businesses Looking For In The Ideal Candidate - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

What Are Businesses Looking For In The Ideal Candidate - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach When a corporate company lists a job, they usually have a vision in mind for their perfect candidate. This is the type of person they’re super keen to hire, and believe they’ll do the best job for the business. Naturally, the question on all jobseeker lips is; what are these companies looking for in the ideal candidate? A lot of the time, they list all the essential skills and ‘must-have’ features they want in a candidate. However, there are lots of things they don’t list in job adverts that they’re secretly looking for. A Cultural Fit Primarily, most businesses are looking for candidates that are a cultural fit. This means you share the same beliefs and ethos that the company holds. A very basic example of this is a business that puts a firm emphasis on caring for the environment. They’ll be looking for candidates that share this same belief, as it means they’re more likely to fit the company and settle in. Realistically, you should do a lot of research into a business before applying for their jobs. This helps you see if you’re a cultural fit and also lets you understand what you should say in your job application or at an interview to become a cultural fit.   Multi-Skilled Individuals You will see from job adverts that certain companies are looking for people with certain skills. But, they’re really keen to hire multi-skilled individuals. This means that you’re skilled in more than one specific area of work. You can use basic office computer software, but you can also manage social media accounts. You have all the skills to do basic admin tasks, but you also have bookkeeping training under your belt. By having a broad range of skills, it makes you a much more valuable candidate. They can hire you for one role, but use your skills to their advantage and get you to basically cover multiple roles. It means they save money by not hiring loads of people, and you find a job quickly because of all your diverse skills. Clean Track Records Ideally, businesses are looking for individuals with squeaky clean track records. There are two main reasons behind this. Firstly, someone with a good track record and no bad marks will likely be more reliable than someone with a lousy track record. They’re seen as more trustworthy, and a much safer bet. Secondly, it can look bad if a company hires someone with an abysmal record or some massive black mark against their name. For example, if they hire someone with a criminal conviction, then news could get out about this and cause a bit of a reputation nightmare. So, in an ideal world, they prefer to hire people with clean track records, so bear that in mind. Hopefully, this has given you an insight into what businesses are looking for when they post a job advert. They want someone that fits in with the company ethos has enough skills to maybe cover more than one area of work and is squeaky clean. If you manage to tick all these boxes, and then get your CV and application in shape, then you have a much better chance of securing your dream job.