3 Characteristics Employers Want in Executive Employees - FlexJobs

3 Characteristics Employers Want in Executive Employees - FlexJobs3 Characteristics Employers Want in Executive Employees -Software Advice. Software Advice is an online resource that reports on topics and trends in the tech industry. They also help buyers find the right software solution for their business across a variety of software markets such as philanthropisch resources, customer relationship management and business intelligence.If youre currently a mid-level employee, chances are that youre wondering how to make the leap to the next level and keep your career moving forward. Naturally, experience is a key factor to whether a candidate is qualified for an executive-level position, but there are a few key characteristics that employers look for when considering executive candidates.To help candidates get a better understanding of what employers look for in an executive hire, I recently caught up with a couple of my venture capitalist (VC) connections that have extensive experien ce building executive-level teams. They identified three key traits that they always look for when considering a candidate.Three Traits of Executive Employees1. They Think and Speak in MetricsToday, every executive needs to have an adeptness in dealing with numbers and metrics. Greg Goldfarb, Managing Director of Summit Partners, thinks that you really need people are your executive team that know how to deliver quantitative results to the business and drive sales. Even executives involved in human resources need to have a good numbers sense about them to that they understand how to manage and improve important hiring metrics like employee turnover, and the cost per hire.Its particularly important to have the ability to speak concrete business terms. So someone seeking a position as a marketing executive would be expected to be able to discuss the conversion rate of marketing material and their contribution to the growth of marketing-qualified leads. For instance, Phil Dur, Managing Director at Investor Growth Capital says hed want a marketing candidate to be able to say, I grew marketing-qualified leads from 2,000 per year to 7,000 per year and reduced the cost per lead from $60 to $35. This helps to prove that the candidate is comfortable with tying their contribution to the company back to business results.2. Theyre Well ConnectedIts also important for any executive candidate to be well-connected because this will just make it easier for the company to get things done. This means knowing people within the companys industry, as well as influencers in the press and analyst community. As a mid-level employee you should focus on getting to know the key thoughts leaders in your industry and build connections that could help you for your future role, even if it doesnt seem that theyre useful connections today.A candidate with prior industry connections is hugely valuable for recruiting the right talent to build a great team. Industry connections allow candidates to quickly discern who is great and who is not worth the money. As an added bonus, the candidate will already know how to work with this individual so he can immediately contribute to the business. The same applies to vendor relationships.3. They Have C-Suite ReferencesA final point is that its important for the C-suite at your previous company give their stamp of approval. In particular, companies want, as Goldfarb says, to hear from CEOs and VPs of Marketing that the candidate has a track record of driving top-line growth or adding business value. These references are important because these individuals are the best able to judge the candidates contribute to incremental revenue and overall health of the business.While this isnt an exhaustive list, it should help individuals thinking about making the jump from mid-level to executive. Executive employees work hard before they are hired to build the kind of profile that employers want and expect.Readers, what of these traits of execu tive employees do you think are the most relevant? Let us know in the comments section below