If you want a good accountant, you don't need to look for a whole lot of imagination or out-of-the-box thinking. It's a pretty well defined and very limited field of study. Besides the truly innovative accountants tend to end up in jail. But if you want to compete in today's fast paced world with 18 month product life cycles, you're going to want to take a close look at the people you're considering for jobs that require innovative thinking.
Of course you'll have to look for the tried and true indictors of a good employe, a neat clean well dressed person to start with. But well-dressed doesn't have to be the same grey suit every other interviewee wore for their interview. A cool evolution tie or Star Trek cuff links might indicate immaturity to the old guard, but today it might be the sign of employee who has fun, has interests and possibly enough outside interets to provide a unique perspective and that innovative thinking you're looking for.
Take a look at the resume too. Back in the day a resume that contained numerous jobs in different fields would have been a huge "Do Not Hire" sign for interviewers. But a closer look might indicate the jobs are actually aligned with a direction you an to take your company. It might provide that person with the broad experience and expertise to address your needs. It indicate you have a person in he hot seat that can pivot as needed and meet whatever challenges come his or her way.
On my resume, I moved from geologist/paleontologist consultant of 22 years to tea retailer and wholesaler the next 10 years and onto Technology Commercialization consultant during my 30+ years business career. The first move was because oil mergers dumped too many consultants into the field and enhancements in 3D seismic forcing paleo to the sidelines. My New Orleans based tea industry literally went under water with Hurricane Katrina. Rather than include excuses on the resume, I simply included "I can't be killed" as a comment in the margins next to my last career change.
Keep in mind that this approach won't be well received by all interviewers. I recall my graduate level entrepreneurial professors, for instance, complaining I wasn't serious enough, but my finance professor gave me kudos for associating entrepreneurial finance with the principles of evolution and lauded me for adding humor to my discussions. He said finance COULD BE FUN if we like what we're doing with it.
This philosophy has served me well. I've managed to avoid really poor job choices that slowly eat away at your soul and flow into exciting prospects such as the Timeline Project at Kronicity. My new partner in the venture said he partnered with me because of passion in spirit and my ability to pivot when needed to adres any change in circumstance.
Bottom line for the employer, if you ant an innovative employee who can meet the challenges of today and tomorrow, a person who can innovate, take a closer look at that resume and hire the guy with the Star Trek cufflinks. Although I might draw the line on the Vulcan ears thing.
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