I have been reviewing some of my old fiels and documents recently, and I came across one a document that I shared with a former client. She had asked me about criteria for an new enrollment coordinator position she had posted.
The document is a very short summary I put together from Jack Welch's book, Winning. Of you don't know Mr. Welch, he is the reitred CEO of GE.
The book itself is a great read, filled with ideas Mr Welch and his team used to lead their company. I often used many of them, including the "4 E's and 1 P," 
practice for hiring new candidates.
I thought I would share it with you this morning as well. According to Mr. Welch, and I couldn't agree more, any candidate he hired, regardless of the position he had been interviewing for, must possess five traits (hence the four E's and one P). If a candidate possessed only four, she/he was not worthy of being hired. And if in your search, you don't find the perfect candidate that has all five traits, then you start over; under NO circumstances should you compromise.
Too often I find directors, deans and vice presidents have made this mistake - compromising on a hire because they simply needed someone in the position. As Mr. Welch points out, that is a very short-term decision that will very often cause you long-term problems.
So without further ado, here are the Four E's and One P:
Energy
This is simple. Your new hire must bring with her a high level of energy, with the ability to stay on-the-go. She must relish change and have an internal desire to thrive on action. Welch suggests, and I agree that this person is usually optimistic. I suggest that haaving optimism is key, otherwise the high level of energy can turn against you.
A former HR director required me to discontinue the use of the term, "energy," because it may be perceived as "young." My ideal example of th person that best exuded this trait, though, was near the end of her career. She was the epitomy of high energy, laced with optimism. A great advocate for her students and was constantly on the go. She just retired, and I am happy I got to join her and a few former colleagues a few weeks back to celebrate her work.
So, instead of energy, we substituted the term, "enthusiasm."
Energize
A person with this trait can truly energize those around her. She can motivate a team, or a group of prospects. Someone with this trait generally has colleagues clammoring to work with her. In order to energize others, your new hire will want to share credit for her achievements, and just like the trait above, she will stay positive and upbeat.
Edge
Edge is the third E. Edge is the trait that gives a candidate something that makes her stand out. Someone with edge in admissions and enrollment management, will have the strength and integrity to communicate bad news to prospective students, someone that will be proactive, see potential obstacles a student will face and can communicate effectively with the prospect to ensure she/he is prepared for what will come.
from an operational standpoint, someone without edge, will struggle mightily. Operationally, you need a team member that can see all th angles when making decisions, and yet be willing to make quick and effective decisions - even unpopular ones.
A difficulty with this trait isn't the trait itself, but knowing how to identify if a potential candidate has it to begin with. I prefer not to ask direct questions in interviews. I ask broader, more indirect questions. I like to see if a candidate can pick up on why I am asking a question and address it effectively in her answer.
One of the more direct questions I like to ask is, "What was the most unpopular decision you've had to make that impacted those around you, be it your students, colleagues or supervisors?"
Execution
The final E is execution. This is obviously a critical trait, right? I need to know that when I am hiring an enrollment cooridnator, that she can handle the most critical of task at hand - enroll more students. I look for examples of demonstrated success - although not necessarily success of recruiting students. I have rarely hired staff with past experience enrolling students.
I do generally like to see some form of success in sales, service, telemarketing (I mean if you are willing to stick it out and be successful in telemarketing, you are a rare breed!).
Passion
And when I reference passion for seeing students succeed, I mean real passion. Ask any academic advisor why she loves her job and she'll tell you because she likes to see the impact of her students' success. That isn't passion; that's like asking a standup comic if she likes it when an audience laughs at her jokes.
Passion is much, much deeper than that. For enrollment positions, I truly like to find alumni from the institution who genuinely love their alma mater. I'm looking for candidates that not only want to help students succeed, but truly want to do that at my institution.
I'm a passionate person. When I get to talking with people about building enrollment, and training on email marketing and the use of CRM's, my speech picks up, I move into a new gear, my mind races with ideas. Why? Because I absolutely, wholeheartedly love talking about this work. It consumes me 50 or more hours a week, and as much as I hate to admit it, come Sunday afternoons, I am ready to start my Monday.
I don't need to hire a new admissions counselor because she wants to work 50 hours a week, but I do want someone who is itching to get to the office to recruit students when she leaves her home for work Monday morning.
And there you have it. Jack Welch's key ingredients for hiring new people. It's a framework that has helped me many times over - both as a practitioner and as a consultant working with an institution to find new candidates.