There have been many words written about “quiet quitting” and people being more committed to work-life balance since the beginning of the pandemic.  Of course, trends do not include everyone, so while there may not be as many ambitious job candidates available as before (or you’d like), they are certainly out there.  The issue is how do you identify them?

It may be easier to identify those with strong work drives than before the pandemic.  This is because it has become acceptable for someone to say in a job interview that they aren’t interested in pulling long days/weeks.  Also, people are likely to feel less compelled to present themselves as having strong work drives on a pre-employment test.

This also dovetails with how best to select people who can work well in a hybrid environment. Among the skills and personal characteristics you would want to consider for hybrid employees are:

  • Time Management—what tools and experiences do they use to get things done when they control their own schedule?
  • Tolerance for Ambiguity—how well can they perform in a role where they will have to make some decisions on their own with incomplete data?
  • Communication—how willing are they to reach out to others in order to complete tasks and build relationships?
  • Work drive (since I mentioned it)—what do they view as the right amount of work? And, can they accomplish a lot in a short period of time?

There are no “magic” assessments for all positions and you want to create a selection process that meets the knowledge, skills, abilities, and personal characteristics of the specific job.  Remember that differences in candidates are your friend when making hiring decisions.  If someone shows signs of not having the level of drive you need for a position, they have just done you a huge favor.  You just want to be sure that you have a valid way of recognizing it.

Candidate candidness about how hard they are willing to work can be a hiring advantage for companies that use valid tools.