Beyond the Good Writer: What to Look for When Hiring Junior Communications Professionals and Spotting Future Leaders

When hiring junior communications professionals, most people focus on the usual checkboxes: strong writing skills and familiarity with common digital tools. And while those things matter, they’re just the starting point. They can be taught. What’s harder to develop — and far more predictive of long-term success — is the ability to navigate the demands of a fast-paced, always-on communications environment.

Over the years, through trial, observation, and sometimes missteps, I’ve learned that the most successful junior hires aren’t just articulate or digitally savvy — they’re agile. They know how to think through competing demands, take initiative under pressure, and recognize the nuances in organizational dynamics. These traits are indicators of someone who will thrive in communications, where we toggle constantly between strategy and execution, clarity and chaos. Below, I’ll share what I’ve come to look for, and why these qualities make all the difference.

Prioritization Over Multitasking

Communications work is inherently about managing multiple threads at once: crisis response, content planning, executive messaging, stakeholder engagement. But success isn’t about doing everything at once. It’s about knowing what needs attention first.

A strong candidate doesn’t just juggle, they triage. They can look at what’s on their plate and calibrate their day not just based on deadlines but also on broader factors: the organization’s top priorities, what’s happening externally, the potential for reputational impact, and the intensity or reach of each file.

I pay close attention to whether a candidate or new team member can mentally hold multiple moving pieces and still choose wisely where to focus, when to shift, and how to sequence their time. That’s the kind of thinking that separates a competent team member from a future leader.

A Solutions-Oriented Mindset

Another marker of leadership potential is how someone shows up in moments of uncertainty. Do they wait for direction, or do they come with a point of view? I don’t just want someone to ask, “Should we be proactive or reactive on this?” I’m looking for the person who says, “I think we should be proactive, and here’s why — but I want to check in before I move.” It’s a small difference, but it signals a big shift in how someone sees their role.

Our job in communications is to give advice, shape perception, and anticipate how audiences will receive a message or decision. The sooner a junior professional starts engaging with that analytical, advisory part of the role, the more they demonstrate their potential to grow into a strategic communicator.

Responsiveness and Internal Credibility

Timeliness and responsiveness are also central and often underappreciated in junior hires. In most organizations, the communications team serves as the bridge between functions. We engage with every other department, manage narratives internally and externally, and often act as the translation point between operational work and audience understanding. That role only works if we’re responsive. If we lag, the organization lags.

I look for junior professionals who understand the tempo of communications, who know when something needs an immediate response and when a thoughtful delay is more strategic. Responsiveness isn’t just about answering emails quickly. It’s about keeping momentum and reinforcing to others that communications is a partner they can rely on. That kind of reliability builds trust, and in communications, trust is leverage. It’s how we earn our seat at the table.

Curiosity Beyond the Task at Hand

Curiosity may seem like a personality trait, but in communications, it’s a professional superpower. Not just intellectual curiosity in the abstract, but practical curiosity — about the organization, the issues, the people, and the broader context we operate in. The best junior communicators are the ones asking how a policy actually works, how a stakeholder group might react to a message, or why a particular operational decision was made. They want to understand more than their immediate deliverable. They look around corners, draw connections, and begin to see communications not just as a set of outputs, but as a lever for influence.

I also notice when someone tracks what’s happening beyond our sector, whether that’s reputational issues unfolding in the private sector, messaging shifts in advocacy movements, or platform changes in digital communications. That kind of cross-sensory awareness indicates someone who’s thinking big and building range. It’s a signal that they won’t just execute well — they’ll contribute to strategy in ways that make the team sharper and more future-ready.

Make Interviews Count

You can test for these qualities well before someone joins your team if you design interviews to surface them. For example, instead of asking broadly how someone handles competing deadlines, present a scenario: outline a few overlapping priorities with different timelines, give the candidate a bit of time to reflect, and then ask how they’d triage the work. You’ll get a real sense of how they reason through complexity and make decisions under pressure.

Likewise, don’t just ask whether they’ve given advice to a senior leader. Ask how they approached a situation where they needed direction. How did they frame the ask? You will see if they are someone who thinks to bring options or someone who simply waits for a directive. And if they haven’t had that experience yet, ask how they would approach it. Hypotheticals often reveal instincts that resumes never will.

You can also explore how they’ve worked in spaces where they lacked subject matter expertise. Did they lean on others, ask the right questions, or try to fake it? These moments say a lot about someone’s humility, resourcefulness, and ability to collaborate across knowledge gaps — critical traits in any communications role.

Hire someone who brings clarity to chaos, direction to ambiguity, and curiosity to the work. And if you already have someone like that on your team, invest in them. As people leaders, it’s our job to be scanning for these traits — nurturing them, challenging them, and creating space for them to grow. That’s how we build the next generation of communicators — and leaders.