At ETS, Inc. we know how important quality is when it comes to hiring, and finding the right candidate.

Weirdly enough, hard skills aren’t the be-all and end-all of what makes a person the best candidate.

All companies list those “must-have” skills at the top of job descriptions. However, in today’s employment climate, adopting highly selective standards can actually hurt your recruitment efforts and cause delays in filling key positions.

As you brainstorm what the ideal candidate looks like and how his or her job tasks might evolve between now and 2020, you’ll realize you don’t just want someone who’s going to get the job done. You want someone who’s going to go that extra mile – or miles, even.

It’s time to think outside the box. The real candidate you’re looking for might not have xyz certification or a certain number of hours completed in xyz training. You could interview a slew of candidates who have the “correct” skillset and background, but they might still lack the role’s required personal or professional characteristics.

But, if given the chance, someone who doesn’t already have the ideal certifications and training might be able and willing to learn. This type of teachable and adaptable candidate can hit the ground running and ultimately reach a stride at which he or she will succeed – this will be paramount in the coming years as technologies, procedures, and jobs in the Champlain Valley evolve.

In order to find this person, you’ll need to look beyond the typical candidate pool. That means screening applicants you might not normally even think to consider.

To give the company its best chance of finding this person in our increasingly competitive and changing job market, you would have to interview everyone. And realistically, you can’t. But staffing agencies like ETS can. And we do – meeting with 4,578 job seekers in 2018.

As ETS strives to stay on top of evolving trends, we’re ready to take on the future of staffing with an array of exciting new tools. With the onset of increasing data technology, we can figure out what unconventional candidates are best suited to our clients’ needs.

As the Champlain Valley’s unlimited opportunities continue to expand in all directions, ETS is committed to finding clients top talent – and helping talent build fulfilling and meaningful careers.