The key trait recruiters look out for during interviews

Responsible for business strategy and operations across South-East Asia and South Asia, Sapna Chadha, Vice-President, South-East Asia and South Asia Frontier, Google Asia Pacific, is always looking for employees who can quickly adapt to changes within the organisation’s business strategy, which she sees as one of the biggest drivers of good performance and results.

“I’m looking for people who want to exchange ideas, who want to innovate and are not happy with the status quo,” she added, in a virtual interview with CNBC. To her, a growth mindset shows that the employee believes in continuous learning and evolution. A question she often asks during job interviews would be on the latest thing the aspiring job candidate has learned, as it is one way to know what people are doing to evolve themselves, and if the candidate is willing to share and teach what has been learnt.

“I think this is a critical trait to possess in today’s context where tech continues to advance, and this act of knowledge exchange encourages a healthy environment of curiosity and growth,” she said. One way employees can continue to develop themselves is to see their careers as not a ladder, but a jungle gym. “Being open to move across — not just always up — is important,” said Chadna. “I tend to look for people that are not just focused on vertical advancement, but thinking about broadening their horizon and their skill sets so that they can flex more in the future.” 

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Other things she looks out for in aspiring job candidates includes whether they are willing to share the mistakes they have made, and the lessons learnt from there “Maybe they’ve tried something, didn’t go so well the first time, but they realise that they can improve. That admission is really important,” Chadna said.