(From Puget Sound Business Journal) -- Washington’s Best Workplaces 2012 finalist companies’ executives all said that creating a great workplace culture comes down to having a great team. But what do they look for when hiring to build that great team? Here's what those who answered our survey said:

Derek Atkinson, Credit and Operation Manager, Accents & Interiors: Positive attitude, a track record of holding down a job for an extended period, the personality to work with rest of the A&I team; and a proven strong work ethic.

Kabir Shahani, CEO, Appature: Energy, experience, and commitment.

Mark Kettering, CEO, Brightlight Consulting: Honesty, integrity, hard working, knows how to make work a fun place to be, and wants to be a team player.

Raazi Imam, CEO, Caiman Consulting: Intelligence (both academic and experience based), a commitment to their peers and the company, high emotional intelligence, calm and collect under pressure.

Tom Varga, Managing Partner, CFO Selections: Smart, experienced, high integrity, articulate, practical, personable, and able to handle both surprise and conflict.

Melissa Acton-Buzard, Co-founder, Chameleon Technologies Inc.: We look for people who will deliver hands-on, personal, and high quality service to both our clients and our staff. A strong work ethic is very important, as is a personality that will thrive in our culture.

Mike Fridgen, CEO, Decide.com: The top qualities I look for are 1) optimistic about our mission, 2) self-motivated with an internal drive to improve. 3) passion and excitement for building great products, 4) has a strong point of view, 5) collaborative, 7) open minded.

Jesse Rothstein, CEO and Co-Founder, ExtraHop Networks Inc.: We hire people first and foremost on the basis of the “startup DNA” that we recognize in them—these people must want to make a big impact. That’s why we started ExtraHop in 2007, because we recognized an opportunity to turn the application performance management market on its head. So, we’re looking for A-players, but also a couple other things that we believe set our company apart from a cultural standpoint. People need to demonstrate a passion for customer success, which is admittedly hard to discern in an interview, but we try our best. We’re looking for those people who recognize that our success as a company, and their success as an employee, is tied up with helping our customers meet and exceed their aspirations in purchasing an ExtraHop solution. So far, we’ve done this well, as our customers to date attest to. And then, thirdly, we’re looking for people with a sense of humor. In fact, we put that as a requirement on every job posting. One candidate responded that they met all our requirements, but didn’t have a sense of humor. That was amusing. If anyone is reading this and believes they fit these criteria, they should definitely visit the Jobs page on our website!

Jeff Hall, President, iClick Inc.: Self–motivated, a high belief in caring for customers, a team player who works well with others, an enjoyable person, someone who has been successful in other areas of their life, a good thinker, and a good communicator.