Nearly all of our clients are looking for team members who are willing to work hard and have the chops to handle the hustle. 

Hustling is not a skill that can be taught; it’s an approach to life that a person either does or doesn’t have.

Here are five traits and questions we have found to be pretty good identifiers of a hustler and more.

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Most roles within an organization require strong communication skills as you need to talk and collaborate with different people all of the time. The reaction your team members have to certain situations can have a big impact on performance and happiness at work.

The best candidates possess high levels of emotional intelligence and are aware of how their behavior will impact others, and how to manage their own emotions when conflict or misunderstandings arise. 

Those with good emotional intelligence will pick up indirect cues from others, adjust their behavior and adapt to situations for better success. 

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

• Tell me about a time when you had to work on a project that didn’t work out the way it should have. What did you do? 

• Describe a group work situation where you and your partner were having trouble getting along with each other. How did you resolve the conflict?

• Give me an example of how you would motivate a co-worker who was performing poorly on a team project?

ACHIEVEMENT – ORIENTED

A great team member is always a go-getter — someone who is highly achievement-focused and hungry to win. 

It’s important for your team to naturally possess a high drive for achievement, so they are focused on achieving and reaching the goals.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

• Tell me about a time when you went the “extra mile” to get a project done.
• Tell me about your 3 most important achievements in order of ranks. 
• Describe a situation in which you had to take a risk.
• When was the last time, if ever, that you stayed late at the office or at school? What was it for? 

SELF – AWARENESS

No matter how good you are at your job, you will not succeed in the long run until you are fully aware of your strengths and weaknesses. 

Great employees will naturally look for ways to improve their skills and capitalize on their strengths.

Harnessing the power of positive emotions helps to nurture a better relationship with clients or team members, and to succeed in the face of challenges.

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

Ask candidates about their failures and missed opportunities to assess how pragmatic and honest the coping mechanism of the interviewee is.

• Give me an example of when you failed at something and what you learned from that experience.

• Tell me about a time when you had a personality conflict or disagreement with a supervisor. How did you resolve it?

POSITIVE DEMEANOR

A healthy dose of optimism is essential for a hustler along with the ability to handle rejection and harness it into positive energy for a second go-round. 

A hustler will always maintain an optimistic and cheerful demeanor even in the face of failure.  

QUESTIONS TO ASK:

• Tell me about a time in your professional or personal life where you handled rejection. What did you do? What was the outcome? 
• Tell me about a time when you lost something or an item of yours was stolen? how did you move past the feelings you had about it? 
• How do you handle situations in which you’re asked to do something beyond your capabilities?

PROBLEM – SOLVING ATTITUDE

A good team member will need to be a reliable problem-solver — one who can satisfy the needs of a customer or manager, and present constructive solutions to solve the issue.

Rational decision-making and a problem-solving outlook will help anyone on your team attain success and prove themselves to be a true asset to the company. 

QUESTIONS TO ASK: 

• How would the candidate handle a situation where an incorrect information was used to create a proposal for a new client and the presentation needs to be given in 2 days from now, but you already have other deadlines to meet before then?
  
• An existing customer has told you he no longer needs your services or doesn’t want to renew his business order with you. What would you say to save the business?