Communication Style: The Most Important Job Qualification You’re Ignoring
Personality and skill set are important in a new hire, but an even more a crucial factor in finding the right person may be communication style.
It may not seem obvious, but the way an employee communicates can often be the most essential part of the position they fill. When trying to decide on the right candidate, it can be very helpful to match their communication style to the position. To do this, you can start by identifying the most important elements of the job at hand. Then, you can determine what kind of communication style best fits those elements.
In general, people fall into one (or more) of the following communication styles:
- Analytical: People with this communication style tend to align perfectly with jobs that focus on metrics and hard numbers.
- Intuitive: Do you need someone who can see the bigger picture and innovate accordingly? An intuitive communication style is ideal.
- Functional: If the position mainly involves coordinating people and making sure milestones are met, someone with this communication style will work well.
- Personal: Warmth and connection are the hallmarks of this style. If the position requires an employee to engage customers or clients, this communication style is best suited for the role.
Of course, it is likely you’ll want someone who is adept at a few of these styles, as few roles are confined to just one kind of task. Still, the general idea of matching jobs to communication styles holds.
The following infographic from Nextiva outlines a few ways to identify a person’s communication style so that you can assess how your candidates might fit into the position you are offering: