What employers require of prospective employees….Ellen Hagan reveals

For job seekers looking to catch the attention of their prospective employers, a renowned human resource (HR) practitioner, Mrs Ellen Hagan, advises that they be results-driven, positive minded and willing to work with different categories of people.

Additionally, Mrs Hagan, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of L'aine Services Limited in Accra, a HR development institution, said job seekers must prove to be teachable, given that most employers want people who can easily be trained to take up new and diverse challenges in the workplace.

She shared these views with Rev. Albert Ocran, the host of the Springboard, the Virtual University, on Joy FM on November 28, when she discussed the changing trends in the job market, expectations of employers from prospective employers and the values that hold her life.

Her company, L'aine Services, currently provides HR-related services such as outsourcing, organisational development, salary surveys, and rapporteuring, among others to its myriad of clients.

She was the 13th guest on the Leaders' Digest, which has been running for the last three months.

What businesses want from employees

On what employers normally look out for in job seekers, the L'aine Services CEO explained that her company, often looks out for people who are result-oriented, team players and have a positive attitude.

Once the person satisfies these requirements, Mrs Hagan said her company then proceeds to subject the job seeker to what it terms the 'L'aine List' when screening applicants for employment opportunities.

"We look out for somebody who is persistent, ambitious and has learned something new in the last six months. It does not require to be something too huge or complicated, it can be a new recipe. We also look out for people who are ready and willing to work with people who they may not like," she added.

On why the interest in people who have learnt something new, she explained that "such people are trainable, they are not cut in one mould and therefore, if it does not work in a particular position, the person can still be relevant in another position."

"Businesses need people who will be able to add more responsibilities to their job after the relevant training so if you are not trainable, not flexible in your thinking and not ambitious, then you will not be very relevant," Mrs Hagan said.

Explaining further about how the company links job seekers to employers, the L'aine CEO said after satisfying itself with the capabilities of each candidate, the company normally selects two or three suitable people and  send their details to the prospective employer .

"The thinking is that out of the three, the employer may have one who will fit properly into the job requirements," she said. 

How companies survive  

Mrs Hagan, who has been practising HR for over 20 years, started her career as a national service at the Mfantsiman Girls’ Secondary School in the Central Region before moving to the Volta River Authority (VRA) and later to SGS Ghana Limited, where she worked for almost a decade before setting up her company, L’aine Services.

Drawing from her experiences over the years, Mrs Hagan explained that she had come to realise that the survival and success of every institution rests on the calibre of people it employs.

"It’s all about people. If you get the right people, you will do well but that has been the biggest challenge in our time. For me, getting the right team has always been what is, a good lesson for me," she said .

She also underscored the need for employers and corporate institutions in general to strive to meet and even exceed the expectations of their customers, explaining that performing below customer expectations could threaten the survival of an organisation.

"I am a businesswoman and for me my customers and their needs are important to me. I know that if you get it wrong, you will not succeed in business. However, the challenge about customers is that they are always changing their needs, and you need to research and know what they need so you can be able to innovate and create new ways of meeting and exceeding their expectations."

Horizontal progression in the job

Given the emergence of new challenges in the corporate world, Mrs Hagan explained that the era where employees would be expected to specialise in one role or task is gone.

Currently, employers want people who can multi-task, are flexible and ready and capable of adding on new and varied assignments, she noted. This, she said, has given rise to a new form of progression in the corporate, where people are promoted not in only in a vertical way but in a horizontal manner such that it may require that they perform tasks with different competences.

"In the olden days, you will get people promoted but end up doing virtually the same job. These days, the world of work has changed. Now, you get promoted to do different things not necessarily in the vertical direction. You get promoted horizontally so you get additional responsibilities and not necessarily getting an additional grade as was the case," she said.

As a result, she said it was advisable for people to learn new things outside their core responsibilities so as to prepare for any horizontal procession in their respective work places.

Pleasing God

The L'aine CEO mentioned doing the works of God; redeeming time; and being customer focused as the three values that anchor her life.

As a committed Christian, Mrs Hagan said she had, over the years, learned to do things that pleased God. Such things, she said included transparency and integrity, among others.

Given that time is perishable, Mrs Hagan said she has learnt to be time-conscious and, therefore, gets upset when people do not honour appointments on time.

On being customer focused, the L'aine CEO said customer needs and customer satisfaction defined how her company operated, and also influenced its value proposition. This attribute, she said has caused her to often come out with innovative products and services which had exceeded customer expectation. 

"I believe that the cost of non-quality is the same as cost of quality and so if you are doing something, you might as well do it well or do not bother. I have high standards and I tend to be troublesome as far as excellence is concerned," she said.