What is your ideal employee profile? Find out in 4 steps 

Do you know what makes your best employee the best? It is a very interesting thought, and it starts with taking some very fluid concepts of traits, values, and character and applying very concrete definitions to them. What is your ideal employee profile? It kind of sounds like the beginning of a dating app info screen. However, eye nor hair color do not begin to get to the heart of the matter. But if you take the time to really dig into answering it—you will soon discover who should be an employee and who should not. Unlike the dating app, your answers will depend on more than the physical appearance or what they look like and will focus on more of who they are when no one is watching. So, lets begin to define your ideal employee profile in 4 easy steps. 

What is an ideal?  

Websters defines the word ideal as an adjective and as a noun. The noun definition says, “a standard of perfection, beauty, or excellence; model for imitation; and an ultimate object or aim.” If we take websters noun version, then ideal breaks down into three simple words—model, object, and standard. That is exactly where you must start in your journey to define ideal for your employee profile.  

Step 1: Define what ideal means for your company

If you have never taken the time to define what ideal is for your organization—I highly encourage you to take the time to figure it out. 

Tip That Whirks 

Values, skills, behaviors, and competencies. Define your ideal employee profile looking through the four dimensions of a person.  

What are your company's core values?

List your company’s core values. The values that the company hold dear must be reflected in your ideal profile. 

What skills are needed?

List the required skills for the position. Skills needed in the role must align with your definition of ideal. 

What characteristics would you like exemplified in this role?

List examples of desired characteristics. The model behavior you desire your employees to demonstrate will point to who is considered ideal.   

What are the basic competencies needed?

List the traits required. The standard level of competency and training required for the specific role will assist in describing what traits the ideal employee must possess.    

A master list of all variables associated with your definition of ideal will guide you to develop a scorecard based on your definition of Ideal. 

Step 2: Look internally 

The process to understand your ideal employee profile started with defining ideal but the second step takes your definition and begins to place parameters around your current employees. Look internally to determine if the tentative definition of ideal makes sense with your current team.  

Tip That Whirks 

Who is a model employee? 

What makes them a model employee? 

Who would I clone? 

The ideal scorecard internal results will solidify your definition and your ideal profile. You now know why this specific employee is a model. It’s because they align with your values, your character, and they just fit over likeability and gut.  

Step 3: Look Externally 

Another approach to ensure your internal employee possesses the ideal characteristics is to measure them against outside influences. Everyone now has access to google reviews, yelp ratings, social media, and testimonials. Take a look at your external comments, do the messages received alter any scores of the values, character, or fit needed in your ideal employee profile? If not, then you are one step closer to creating a proven process to understand your ideal employee profile. 

Step 4: Re-Hire Phase 

The process of understanding what an ideal employee profile looks like has caused you to dig deeper into who the employee is and why they work. You have taken the tentative list and bounced it off internal communication and external communication to justify that your ideal definition is accurate. But now the last step in the process is to provide clarification by adding action. You have completed an initial assessment of what your business needs and the type of person who would be an ideal fit for that role. The next step is to review them with a formal scorecard based on your core values, skills, behaviors, and competencies.  

Values: Yes or No 

Skills: Yes or No 

Behaviors: Yes or No 

Competencies: Yes or No 

Tip That Whirks 

Any category with a “No” must be confirmed with a do not re-hire comment. 

The process to understand and be able to answer what is your ideal employee profile took you from dating apps to assessing your current employees on your internal and external definition of ideal. Each step is based on completion of the last step. No steps can be skipped or ignored. Defining your ideal employee profile is super critical in hiring talented people who will be responsible for maintaining the current talent and in charge of hiring the new crop of employees who are ideal. When you take the time to define what is ideal for your company, then clarity, comfort, and confidence follows. And when we do that…we all win. 

Hiring, HCM, HR, and all its related fields can be tricky waters to navigate on your own. If you're feeling out of your depth (and element) we'd encourage you to contact us. We'll help educate you and guide you through your HCM questions so that you can get back to focusing on growing your business.