How to spot an entrepreneur...

During our recruitment assignments in the business transformation space, I sometimes come across candidates from a corporate background, who would obviously thrive in a more dynamic smaller business, or even their own business. It is our job to advise as well as consider people for our roles, and in recent years I have noticed a good number of these individuals striking out on their own after a while.

Much has been written about the qualities of entrepreneurs, but what about the qualities of people who are not entrepreneurs yet? There are hundreds of thousands of budding entrepreneurs out there, so, for their sakes, I thought that I would share some of my observations about a few characteristics of these “entrepreneurs to be.”

If you recognise yourself in this list, maybe you too could make the jump one day.

Self-Aware. The candidates were happy analysing their behaviours – they were aware of their weaknesses and played to their strengths. Failures were welcomed as part of the process, and not taken to heart.

 Fearless. Every candidate could give a few examples where they “jumped” in a certain situation – without any guarantee of success. They took the risky option when others may have played it safe. Uncertainty didn’t faze them.

Passionate. They crave success; you can see it in their eyes. When they talk about what they have achieved, you feel a warm pride, and when they talk about their ambitions, a steely determination comes to the fore. They believe in themselves.

Opportunistic. Whenever an opportunity came along (they were happy admitting that sometimes they come to you), they would maximise the potential. Some opportunities don’t come again, and you have to make the most of them.

 Sociable. Every future entrepreneur was an incredibly good communicator. They told their story in such a way that you felt that you were there. Entrepreneurs have to take all sorts of people with them on their “journey” and people will only stay with them if they are

Crafty. They always managed to find new solutions for old problems and find ways to get their work done that little bit quicker. They were good at anticipating and dealing with problems, being flexible in their thinking to find the right solution.

Action-orientated. Prevarication is not in their vocabulary. While they spent time to assess any situation, they would not tend to delay in taking the appropriate action.

 Bouncebackability. Very few of them went through their careers without a setback, but all of them demonstrated remarkable powers of recovery. If you are mentally tough, you can dust yourself down and get on with things. Not everything happens first time, but with patience and persistence, most things are possible.

 These sorts of interviews are fascinating. You can always tell that the candidates are capable of something more, and you often feel that they know it themselves. Are entrepreneurs born or made? I’m not sure, but you can definitely tell that they are ready for it when you hear them talk about their careers for an hour.