Mumbai: In the current competitive talent market, getting right candidate is an uphill task for head hunters. Considering the current talent environment, chances to picking wrong candidates are also high.  Is a good or bad hire a matter of choice or a necessity? What do recruiters feel?

In a recent study conducted by TimesJobs, 44% employers said it has become exceedingly difficult to find suitable talent over the last three years. A whopping 70% have even stated that the cost of bad hire is much higher than not filling a vacant position. Reena Gupta, a hiring manager with an FMCG company says that hiring a good employee is the most critical and important thing for them.

When asked about the parameters that make good employees, 55% of employers said that honest and 52% said reliable candidates make for great employees. Whereas, 58% employers said lack of enthusiasm is the key trait of a bad worker.

“Both aptitude and attitude assessments are critical in ensuring a good hire. Evaluating attitude and other behavioral traits objectively, however, has been a big challenge for recruiters. TimesJobs has addressed this by developing a sophisticated analytical engine that creates unique individualized proficiency graphs.” says Nilanjan Roy, Head of Strategy, Times Business Solutions.

Good v/s Bad employees:

With honesty (55%) and reliability (52%) being the top two behavioral traits, employers said good workers are also ambitious (45%), hard working (39%), passionate (35%), creative (33%), autonomous (32%) and confident (20%).

Nearly 49% employers maintained that bad workers, on the other hand, are the ones who are unreliable and 44% said they are not team players and lie. Other traits of bad workers are that they are irresponsible (37%), unfocussed (28%), make excuses (22%) and never take initiative (19%).

According to Suman Rudra, India HR Leader NCR Corporation, employees should have the ability to understand the dynamic nature of business and feel comfortable in adjusting to the organization’s needs. Adaptability, flexibility, matrix organization, team working and making a solid self-contribution are keys to being successful.

Commenting on this, Anjali Goel, General Manager-HR, V-Mart Retail, said that at entry level, they look for candidates who are ambitious, enthusiastic, eager to learn and are good team members.

“At middle level, we focus on candidates who carry relevant business and operational experience and can mentor juniors and expedite their learning and outcomes,” said Goel.

At senior level, we look for qualities such as vision, core values, business acumen and the ability to align their skill sets with the vision and culture of the company, she further added.

Female v/s Male Employees

The TimesJobs study also highlighted the good traits that are significant in female and male employees.

For female employees, 50% employers said reliability is the best trait followed by honesty (44%) and hard working (39%). Other significant traits are, female employees are ambitious and passionate about their work.

For male employees, 57% employers said being ambitious is the best trait followed by autonomous (50%) and confidence (46%). Other significant traits are, male employees are hard working and reliable.

This TimesJobs Study was conducted with inputs from over 700 employers across India.