Getting to know you
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One of the most challenging responsibilities we face as managers and leaders is bringing the right people into our organizations. Traditional hiring often involves lengthy interviews, carefully prepared questions, and answers that don't always reveal how someone will actually perform in a particular role.
But what if we could begin the conversation with a clearer understanding of a candidate's natural strengths, preferred work environment, communication style, and approach to teamwork?
What If Candidates Could Describe Their Natural Strengths?
To illustrate what this might look like, I've organized descriptions of my natural strengths and preferences into several categories that could help a hiring manager understand how I work best.
“Hello, my name is Ricardo ‘A’ Vega. Let me share some insights into my natural strengths, how I work best, and the contributions I can bring to your team.”
- Environments where I thrive are those with people-oriented activities. I seek surroundings that are stimulating and engaging and contain novelty, change, and surprise.
- I value the past. I am loyal to personal connections that grow from past activities. I look to the future to continue the positive experiences from the present and the past. I respect tradition and ceremony.
- I prefer self-paced learning that allows me to explore as I go. I quickly tune out in dull learning environments. I try to interject humor and fun in learning.
- Communication is vital to me, and I view it as a means to connect with others. I inform through stories and anecdotes, sharing my experience. I fully engage in conversation, often using expressive facial and physical gestures to make my point. I speak in an expansive, candid, dramatic, and larger-than-life manner.
- I experience change as continuous. I embrace variety, novelty, and new activities. I seldom need to declare things complete or settled.
- I am motivated by collaboration. I enjoy and work well with others. I create social and business networks that I use to connect people to me and others within the networks.
- I perceive potential or developing conflict before it occurs. I build commonality by disentangling conflicting claims. I emphasize cooperation and encourage people to help one another rather than compete with one another.
- I promote teamwork to solve problems. I uncover obstacles to team progress through observation of team interactions. I enforce structure in work teams by attending to the individuals' roles, status, and norms.
- As a manager, I make people feel important and appreciated. I discuss and consider all ideas and points of view when others differ rather than force a decision on them. I coordinate the activities of others by cajoling, encouraging, and cheering the efforts to achieve the desired result.
- As a leader, I develop trust and rapport in relationships. I use people, their interests, and personal details to bring others into the conversation. I am knowledgeable and sensitive to protocol, etiquette, manners, and the subtleties and complexities of group relationships.
- I persuade based on knowledge of aspirations, interests, status strivings, and life values. I use visual displays, samples, and demonstrations to make benefits tangible. I attend to moment-to-moment feedback and comfortably adjust my technique to my audience.
Imagine having this kind of conversation early in the hiring process. Instead of relying exclusively on a candidate's experience, qualifications, and interview responses, managers could also explore the environments in which that person naturally thrives, how they prefer to communicate, and the contributions they are most likely to enjoy making. These insights can complement traditional hiring practices and lead to more thoughtful conversations about role alignment.
How Natural Strengths Improve Hiring Decisions
With this kind of information, managers can have more meaningful conversations with prospective employees about the strengths they bring to the team and the environments in which they are most likely to thrive. These insights can help employers make more informed decisions about role alignment while giving new employees a stronger foundation for contributing effectively.
Why Understanding Your Strengths Matters to Job Seekers
When seeking employment, understanding your natural strengths can help you ask more thoughtful questions during interviews and evaluate whether a position aligns with the way you work best. For example, based on the strengths described above, Ricardo might find it difficult to thrive in an environment dominated by lengthy lectures, limited opportunities for change, or expectations that communication follow a rigid, pre-scripted format.
Putting Perceptual Style to Work in Hiring
Perceptual Style Theory offers a framework for understanding how people naturally perceive and respond to the world. Through the Perceptual Style Assessment, individuals can gain insight into their natural strengths, preferred approaches to communication, and the environments in which they are most comfortable and effective. For employers and job seekers alike, this understanding can enrich conversations about workplace expectations, collaboration, and role alignment.
Hiring for Strengths, Not Just Experience
Finding the right person for a role involves more than matching qualifications to a job description. It also means understanding how someone naturally approaches work, communicates with others, responds to change, and contributes to a team.
For job seekers, recognizing these strengths can lead to better questions during interviews and a clearer understanding of the work environments where they are likely to thrive. For managers, it can create more meaningful conversations about how to support new employees and help them contribute effectively.
Interested in discovering your own natural strengths? Explore our Perceptual Style Assessment and learn how greater self-awareness can support more informed career and workplace decisions.
What strengths do you believe are most often overlooked during the hiring process? I'd welcome your thoughts in the comment section below.
© Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd., All Rights Reserved
About Ricardo
Ricardo Vega is the Director of Operations at Vega Behavioral Consulting, Ltd. and a certified Perceptual Style Guide. He has over 40 years of experience in technology, product and project delivery, disaster recovery, and team coaching. He specializes in helping entrepreneurs and teams with Product Planning & Delivery, Team Building, and Change Management.
Additional information about Ricardo
