What skills are hiring companies looking for? These 7 tech orgs explain

Additionally, knowing how to present yourself and what to emphasize can be as important as having those traits in the first place. Many hiring companies are increasingly placing more emphasis on soft skills (even for technical roles) and spending more time in the selection process focusing on how you might fit into the organization’s culture and what you’d add to the team’s dynamic. To help demystify how to be as attractive a job candidate as possible, we went to the source and asked hiring companies to explain what they want to see and hear in your next interview.

For the month of April, Technical.ly’s reporting has explored the theme of How to Get a Tech Job for our editorial calendar. For some additional perspectives, we asked our Technical.ly Talent companies the following question:

What does your org look for in new hires, both in terms of hard/technical skills and soft/interpersonal skills?

Here are some replies from their teams, and if you like what you see, follow the links to companies’ Culture Pages to learn more and explore open roles.

Fastmail

“Curiosity is one of the most important things we want to find. We want to know why things happen, because our job is making exactly what we want to happen, happen! You get that from an eagerness to dig into causes. We like to do that digging together, so I like to find people who are a joy to work with and who find each new frustration at least a little bit fun, even though we know it’s okay to be frustrated too.” — Ricardo Signes, CTO

HealthVerity

“Fostering and continuously improving our culture is a core component to our success at HealthVerity. So in addition to hiring team members with outstanding skills utilizing technologies such as SQL, Python, Databricks and AWS, we are searching for those that exemplify our core values of integrity, customer delight, inclusivity, collaboration, personal career growth and mentorship.” — Zach Wilt, senior recruiting manager

Kleer

“While job descriptions may include a list of preferred skills, there is no official checklist that a candidate must fulfill in order to be offered a position with Kleer. Job candidates who convey confidence and an entrepreneurial spirit thrive in our 39-person company. Their past experiences and achievements equip them with the expertise needed to excel in their roles and be an owner of their work. Individuals with this mindset tend to be comfortable taking risks and making decisions in a dynamic setting. They thrive in smaller companies and are fueled by working in our fast-paced, agile environment. Employees are no stranger to wearing multiple hats and easily adapting to change.

Ultimately, Kleer prioritizes how a candidate will add to our company culture and how their unique background and diverse experiences will contribute to Kleer’s success!” — Sarah Colletti, talent acquisition specialist

Pinnacle 21

“Curiosity, first and foremost. While we have a technical evaluation that gives us insight into the current level of someone’s coding ability, it’s often their drive to learn and their ability to showcase that through question-asking that gets our attention.” — Liam Munley, operations manager

PNC Financial Services

“At PNC, we are always looking for the best and brightest talent in the market. Individuals that are skilled in communication, collaboration, organization, analytical, problem solving and agile are always in demand.” — Vince Conrad, recruiting manager

Vanguard

“I have always loved that I work for a big company with a small company feel. We look for new crew who are collaborative and inclusive of others, while doing the right thing by our shareholders. Being career minded is a plus as Vanguard enjoys promoting and developing crew for success. If you enjoy working in a fun environment, with a modernized tech stack then we want to hear from you!” — Kassie Haynes, recruiting manager, technology

Wawa

“Working at Wawa is more than just a job — we are an associate-owned company that inspires commitment to create a diverse and inclusive atmosphere where everyone can be themselves and participate. We’re looking for customer-centric, passionate individuals who support Wawa’s mission of Fulfilling Lives, Every Day. Our associates understand that our brand serves not only their community, but their friends, family, and often, themselves! We provide opportunities for these professionals to bring their ideas and creativity to the office every day.

Our best innovations come from employee-driven collaborative projects! This means our associates are not only highly skilled in areas such as ETL pipeline management with programs like Snowflake, or just simply super sharp React coders, but we create with the understanding that we all are part of a flock that relies on each other’s unique traits to come together and make our projects fly. It is essential that our associates understand the power of collaboration and teamwork.

Hard Skills/Technical Skills — Snowflake, React Coders, Kubernetes, AWS, SQL, SAP BW on HANA, SAP, ServiceNow

Personal Skills/Soft Skills — The incredible customer service you see in our storefronts translates to our corporate office as well. We look for hard working, friendly, collaborative, servant leaders. Someone who encapsulates our six core values: Value people, delight customers, embrace change, do the right thing, do things right and passion for winning.

Above everything, we are looking for individuals who understand our values-based culture and how it sets the tone and ensures people feel appreciated for what they bring to the team. Our culture and core values have been at the core to our success and if our values do not resonate with you this might not be the best place for you. When asked what working at Wawa is like, many associates use words like ‘special’ and say it’s like a family. We agree! Our 30,000+ associates value our culture of teamwork and the community-like bond we have with our customers. Our unique environment and passion for what we do has truly made Wawa a family as much as a business. People join because of the brand but they stay because of the culture. Our people are what makes Wawa what it is today!” — Hannah Sullivan and Ryan Mackenzie, technical recruiters

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Looking for your next tech job? Check out all the Technical.ly Talent companies here, and find out about their missions, cultures and open positions.

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