When hir­ing engi­neers there are a few things you should be look­ing for. These qual­i­ties might sur­prise you. Soft skills are more impor­tant than tech­ni­cal skills (It doesn’t mat­ter how smart they are if you can’t under­stand them!) even for engineers.

• They need to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.
• The more “fun” they had in col­lege the bet­ter. Legal extra-curricular activ­i­ties cre­ates a broader perspective.
• They should have some real world busi­ness back ground.
• They need to be able to speak & write.
• You need to like them as people.
• They need to fit in with the rest of your team.
• They need to be motivated!

If you will look for these attrib­utes when you are hir­ing you will end up with a more engaged and enjoy­able work force to man­age. How can that not lead to more success?

A friend of mine, Bob, is always dili­gent to take the time to get every­thing packed just right before hit­ting the trail for the day. He takes the time to check all of the straps on his back­pack, to read the map before start­ing and to get every­thing in its place. He’s this way all of the time, even when he’s about to go fly a mis­sion in his F-16. Bob has done well in life. He goes really hard and he goes fast. Most peo­ple want to get things done fast. They want to suc­ceed now, fin­ish early, get ahead. They want to win. And that is all great, but one of the best things that a busi­ness, project or per­son can do to speed up the process of suc­cess is slow down.

• Slow down to think
• Slow down to plan
• Slow down to set goals
• Slow down to fix whats broken
• Slow down to under­stand the plans & specs
• Slow down to under­stand what the client wants
• Slow down to get every­one involved on the same page

Once this invest­ment of time is made, then you can ham­mer down and get where you’re going. Fast.