What's Important: Employment

I'm applying to this position and have exchanged two e-mails with Paco Ahlgren.

I had never heard of him before reading his post on craigslist yesterday. He sounds as unique and eclectic as I, but on a whole different plane.

In his e-mail this morning, he said he's been inundated with applications, to which my immediate reaction is, "And what were you thinking when you posted that salary? Of course every Tom, Dick and Jane is going to pop out of the woodwork to apply for the job. You're going to have a very hard time figuring out who's on the up-and-up and who's just BSing you to get to that amount of money. After all, nobody knows you're a dog on the Internet (referring to applicants, not to Paco!)."

Anyway, as I was saying before I got sidetracked with sass, his e-mail this morning said

At this point, we're only considering candidates who can demonstrate an interest in what we're doing, from both a business and literary perspective -- applying innovation, eagerness, preparedness, familiarity, and a desire to go above and beyond in order to prove a good fit. I'm looking for long-term loyalty, and I'm obviously willing to offer a great deal to secure it.

Any ideas you could give me about how you would go about creating a niche for yourself -- no matter how specific -- would really make my job a lot easier. I’ll be looking over your resume in the next few days. In the meantime, if you want to know anything else about the position, please don’t hesitate to ask. And thank you again for the submission!

Ouch! How does one respond to that?!

I've been pondering what one would request applicants to say or show in order to successfully weed out the ringers.

How about: what are the ten most important characteristics an employee in this position should possess?

And my answer would be: honesty, reliability, grace, organizational ability, motivation, creativity, curiosity, selflessness, love of books, desire to learn and grow as a person.
Are reliability and dependability synonymous?
Likewise motivation and drive?
Are curiosity and desire to learn synonymous?

Okay, given that list and this position, what's most important? Is it possible to categorize those traits?

As the person chosen for this position will be working on his or her own a lot of the time, I believe reliability must be number one. But honesty must immediately follow or walk hand-in-hand. Can one be reliable without being honest? Certainly one can be honest without being reliable. Is honesty a moral value and reliability a learned trait?

Enthusiasm. I left out enthusiasm. Maybe that would go in place of "desire to learn and grow as a person."

Okay, here's how I think the list shakes out, from one to ten:
honesty
reliability
enthusiasm
organizational ability
motivation
creativity
curiosity
grace
selflessness
love of books

But how about ability to communicate, both verbally and in writing? Should that replace "love of books?"

Yes, I think it must replace "love of books" and jump up to #3.

So the new list is:
honesty
reliability
communication skills
enthusiasm
organizational ability
motivation
creativity
curiosity
grace
selflessness

Why is each of these characteristics important?

honesty

The employee will be dealing with the employer's greatest commodity - his customers. The employer needs to know that the employee can be trusted to not act in such a way as to destroy these relationships. The employee will also be handling aspects of the employer's finances, and must be trustworthy.

reliability

The employer needs to know that when the employee says he or she will take action, the action will be taken.

communication skills

When employer and employee are transacting business at a distance, the ability to communicate one's requests or desires clearly is tantamount.

enthusiasm

This is a multi-faceted job and will require much hard work. Enthusiasm will feed energy when the job seems too big.

organizational ability

Travel plans, schedules, appointments, contracts — all must be dealt with, arranged and coordinated seamlessly and clearly.

motivation

The employee must be able to anticipate the employer's needs as if they were her own. She must be willing and able to take action to keep the businesses running smoothly.

creativity

This is not a "normal" job, with repetitive tasks. This is the type of job that presents new and interesting challenges with each passing day. The employee who is creative will always devise solutions to challenges.

curiosity

The employee who is curious will always want to know more about each facet of the job, and her performance and ability to deal with these facets will increase with each new bit of knowledge.

grace

The employer's clients are entrusting their wealth to him. In my experience, people who cede some measure of control over their wealth to another tend to be easily alarmed about the treatment of that wealth. The employee must know how to deal gently and non-confrontationally with the clients and be able to diffuse their concerns.

selflessness

For an employee to be successful in a support position such as this, she must understand how to put others' needs and desires in front of her own.

That's my list. But does it match his list? Or does he even have a list?