7 qualities to keep in mind while hiring entry-level candidates

Hiring for entry-level roles comes with its own set of challenges. With limited or no work experience, how do recruiters go about assessing if a candidate is a right fit for the job?
The only reference recruiters have in hand are their resumes, which are often lacking in work experience, if they are freshers, or are biased.
Hard skills can be validated with certificates and accolades, but what about the soft skills that are equally, if not more, influential in determining the kind of employee the candidate will turn out to be?
Mentioned below are seven qualities that recruiters can keep in mind while interviewing candidates for entry-level roles. These parameters will give a clear and crisp idea of how the employee performance will turn out to be in the long-run, once they get selected.

1. Intelligence
1. Intelligence
1. Intelligence
1. Intelligence
Let’s have a look.
The term intelligence is being used in this context to denote two parameters – emotional and cognitive intelligence. Both are strong indicators of job performance.
Irrespective of the job type, role hierarchy, or industry niche, intelligence is one parameter that cannot be overlooked while interviewing a prospective employee. Rather than what candidates already know, how fast and efficiently they can learn new things should be given more weightage.
The ability to find solutions to problems, flexibility, malleability and the agility to keep up with an ever-changing work environment are important indicators of a valuable employee. Zapilio’s assessments measuring this metric would make the recruiter’s task easy in making the final decision.
2. Teamwork
Tasks and projects at the workplace often require employees to collaborate with both internal and external agents. The ability to work in a team is indispensable in such scenarios.
Unless you are a solo ship out in the sea, working with others is unavoidable. Sociability, being open to new ideas and opinions, and constructive criticism leading to innovative ideas are among some of the major factors that constitute a good team.
Is the candidate open to communication and taking accountability for their work while working in a team? Get these questions answered to find the right team player.
3. Reliability
The ability to consistently follow-through is an important trait. The number of years of work experience takes a back seat if employees are not reliable.
Somewhere down the line, the candidate will be required to do their job without being spoon-fed. They might be an entry-level candidate now, but that will not remain the case a few years later.
Their dedication levels to get the job done and deliver on time will play a part in determining how reliable they are as an employee.

What is common among all these 7 qualities?
It is difficult to gauge them through the candidate’s resumes and need to be assessed separately.
A platform that helps you do so will solve the issues in hiring for this particular group. Zapilio ‘s assessments will provide you with top performers keeping these metrics in mind and making your hiring task easier.