As part of a Quirk’s-hosted and Deltek-sponsored Webinar last month, I moderated a conversation with execs from three research firms that explored some of the issues they’re facing these days in running their companies. Our panelists were Jim Bryson, CEO of 20/20 Research, Nashville, Tenn.; Duncan Lawrence, CEO and president of Morpace, Farmington Hills, Mich.; and Scott Young, president of Perception Research Services, Teaneck, N.J.

My questions for the panelists clustered around four topic areas: talent and organizational culture; business efficiencies and profitability; technology; and winning new business.

In one of the three polls we tossed out to the audience, we asked about which attribute is most important for new MR hires to possess. At 59 percent, “can tell a compelling story with data” was the clear winner, followed by “emotional intelligence (truly understands people)” at 30 percent and “ability to synthesize data streams” at 11 percent.

After years of hearing about all the things MR needs to do in terms of enticing new people to join the industry, it was heartening, during the portion on talent and hiring, to hear the panelists talk about their successes in finding the right candidates.

Each of the firms appears to be thinking creatively about ways to attract applicants with broad skill sets; open, inquisitive minds; strong people skills; and an interest in what makes consumers tick. Those qualities are part of an acronym that Bryson said 20/20 came up with to encapsulate the things it looks for as it searches for new employees: CHILES G (with the CHILES part being pronounced like the Chili’s restaurant chain): curiosity; humility; intelligence; likeability; enthusiasm; service-oriented; and gritty. “We look for talents, of course, but we look more for personal attributes as well, who a person is more than just what they can do,” Bryson said.

Some sample observations on hiring from the panelists:

“You can teach people a lot of things but if you are not curious, if you don’t want to learn, if you’re going to sit on the sidelines waiting for someone to tell you what to do, things aren’t going to happen,” Lawrence said.

“You are looking for people who possess all of those [the CHILES G] qualities of course but especially you are looking for someone who can take a sense of data overload and turn it into a compelling story tied to a set of recommendations and actions,” Young said. “That’s the kind of thing that separates the people who are quote-unquote doing their jobs from the people who are truly taking it to the next level. I think sometimes some of the younger workers may default to wanting to give the client everything, for fear of leaving something out, but the challenge is much more, ‘How do I take this information and turn it into something that is manageable and actionable?’ And that dimension is sometimes where I see a separation [between prospective candidates].”

“Marketing research has a challenge because a lot of other industries are looking for those same talents and skill sets and research can be at a disadvantage because it doesn’t come across as the most exciting career – until you’re on the inside,” Lawrence said. “But once we have a chance to get them on the inside and show them some of the things that are available to them, then it’s a different situation. We’ve had a good run in that area, bringing people in from different backgrounds, and we’ve found that some of our best recruiters are the people on our own staff.”

For more on this topic and the others we explored, check out the event recording at http://bit.ly/1KGbBd1.