Eight Qualities to look for in a Great Employee

“If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants.” DAVID OGILVY

Obviously the right qualities for different jobs vary tremendously, but here are eight qualities that should be regarded as universal for entrepreneurial businesses:

1. look for personality over formal education, but take both if you can get them. Most people coming out of college with a background in marketing know nothing. I have hired several young people right out of school and most tell me they learn more at our office in two weeks — honestly, TWO WEEKS — than they learned in college. (They have to read Cunningly Clever Marketing in week one.) A friendly, outgoing, enthusiastic disposition, and a desire to know more, is normally far more important than formal education. If they have both — great.
2. look for positive attitude and positive body language. Positive thinking is so overused, it’s a cliché; but its value is real so you should never discount it. The glass is either half full or half empty. Don’t even bother trying to fill up the half-empty people, it doesn’t work. Body language is something that’s not often considered, but is important. It not only affects your customers, it affects your other…