Unfortunately, it still seems personality is not given as much consideration as skill set when hiring new team members. More often, the candidate’s character and attitude are secondary to their intelligence. However, even the smartest person can be a catastrophically toxic team member. After reviewing the most exceptional members of my team, personality and attitude stood out – not skill set. When building a team while trying to maintain an exceptional work culture, a candidate’s personality is key and can even outway any other skills they possess.

Humility is of paramount importance. The smartest person in the room is not going to be a positive team member if they are always on a quest to prove they are smarter than everyone else. Nothing could be worse for the growth and productivity of a team. After a person like this enters a team, productivity plummets along with moral. This person gets pleasure in proving how much smarter they are than everyone else. When other team members attempt to innovate and try new things, these toxic team members will be the first ones to chastise any of their failures. Other team members will either gradually fall in line or they will leave. Innovation will die and the best members of the team will get fed up. Eventually, the top performers will find somewhere more comfortable to work.

Look for humility in a candidate by challenging them and seeing how they respond. Ask open ended questions and see if they simply answer the question or if they respond with their own questions seeking further clarification. If they don’t ask for clarification and assume they already know what you are asking, that could be a bad sign. Also, find weaknesses in their answers and try to lead them to understanding how they might improve their solution. I will sometimes ask a candidate if they are sure about the answer they provided even when the answer was in fact correct. I’m looking to see how they respond. Will they get super defensive that I would question the correctness of their question, or will they gracefully suggest it is possible a better solution exists. These are very small behaviors but very key indicators.

Being excited to learn new things is also very important. An interview should be a learning process for everyone involved, just like almost every day on the job. A great candidate will be excited to learn and will not give up at the first sign of a problem. This goes hand in hand with humility because the candidate should show they do not know everything and they have capacity to continue learning. In the technology industry, the landscape is constantly changing which means there will always be a new skill to learn. When I’m looking at a candidate I have certain qualifications that I need immediately, but I’m also considering that their role might change in the future. If they are not excited to learn and grow, then they won’t be a good team member in the long run. People who are excited to learn something new are usually willing to help out with tasks that no one else is interested in. At the end of the day, these are some of the most valuable people since they are comfortable going outside the role they are currently in.

I use some of the same techniques that I use to gauge humility when determining if someone is excited to learn. In the interview, I ask open ended questions with the aim of finding gaps in the candidate’s knowledge. If they keep answering questions correctly, I will keep diving deeper until I find their limit. When I do find their limit, I’m looking for how they respond to not knowing an answer. Are they upset they don’t know, or do they try to move quickly to another question they are more comfortable with? If they are not interested in knowing more, that could be a problem. I like when a candidate gets excited and starts asking questions right back in an effort to learn more about the topic being discussed. One of my favorite reactions is when they say, “That’s a good question! I cannot wait to get home and find out the answer.” Even though they didn’t know the answer, they still answered the question correctly.

It can be an unfortunate mistake to only consider a candidate’s skill set during an interview. While skills are important for determining if you should spend time interviewing someone, personality should be the most important factor when deciding to hire them. A team full of the smartest people who are all hard to work with is an unhappy, toxic team. This can also be true for a team of great people that have to work along with one or two difficult personalities. However, a team full of moderately bright individuals that get along well will be far more productive in the long run. This team will be better positioned to take on the challenges of the future while thoroughly enjoying everything they accomplish!