Loading...
Answers
MenuWhat qualities do you look for when hiring for an executive operations position?
I'm the CEO of a service shop (developers). We currently have 20 employees.
What are qualities that I should be looking at when hiring for an operations position to help me with day to day tasks?
I'm also torn between hiring someone from the outside with experience, or promoting someone that I trust with less experience.
Answers
Having been on both sides of the coin, I would say trust is the first factor. Mentor the one with less experience and as he develops, your time will thereafter be freed up to work on long term strategic goals & objectives.
I would try to hire into your weakness and might take an inventory of exactly what you expect the candidate to aggressively deal with that will help your company scale. It seems probable that you are hiring your ops employee before an HR employee, and finance employee so if that is the case you will want to make sure the Ops candidate you select has the ability not only to just handle those roles but to also transition those responsibilities as the company grows. When I think of ops I think of day to day management but also strategy.
Promoting someone from within might be an easier and more comfortable route but an external candidate will most likely challenge you in the right sort of ways and compliment you in others, this uncomfortable chafing will lead you to be a better leader and strategist within your business. Good luck!
I'm working directly with the SVP of Operations of my company & based on that I would HIGHLY value a few "off the radar" behaviors; the ability to quickly adapt to change, continuous learning, strong implementation skills, and the ability to identify/develop talent.
You're welcome to contact me for more detail - not knowing the experience of your internal candidate, hard to answer that part of the question.
Related Questions
-
How can I properly explain a big gap in my resume to a potential employer?
Don't worry about the fact that you "failed". What you presumably did is work hard, and learn a lot, and probably created some quality stuff, regardless of whether it ended up being published. That's usually all your potential employers will care about. The people that work for companies that end up going out of business aren't considered failures. They generally produced quality work but their company may have just not been able to find / convince the right customers, which is equivalent to you not having found the right publisher. This is an optimistic way to look at it, but that doesn't mean it's not true in your case. I would publish whatever unfinished books you have on Amazon as e-books. Make a title and cover image. That way they're 'published' immediately, and each book will even get a DOI and/or PMID #. Then you can continue to edit them and finish them whenever you have time (see: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/A2KRM4C8E91086). Meanwhile, if you have other non-book writings, try publishing them as guest-blogger posts on other people's existing blogs. best of luck, LeeLV
-
What is the best tool for pre-hire, sales representative personality testing?
I would be curious to know why you feel it is important to use personality testing. I have hired over 20 sales reps and I have never used any testing. I have conversations with my hires because that is going to tell me more about their personality any day than a test. Plus you might eliminate someone because of a test score that could be a great fit for your organization. I have a pretty strong process for hiring sales people and could share with you my steps and even the questions if you would like.JM
-
I'm looking to bring my part time remote developer in house full time. How do I motivate and incentivize him without giving away equity?
You already said it: "He isn't interested in salary as much as equity." If this developer is any bit worth his salt, he is worth the equity. A smaller piece of a bigger pie is far more valuable than a big piece of a small (or worthless) pie. Profit sharing is a red flag to me that just sounds "Cheap," unless you guys are making tons and tons of profit already. I don't know where you're based, but In Silicon Valley, a good developer can easily fetch $300-500k (base + bonus + yearly equity). UC Berkeley's average starting salary for NCGs majoring in EECS or Computer Science is $108k. Salary is something a good developer can easily get; why your startup (possibly unstable) rather than another more established company? If as the other person said, he walks and you're company is crippled, give him equity. Happy to chat more.JT
-
What does a business development role entail when it comes to hiring?
I think you should first really step back and ask if you need that role filled. Are your sales growing? Are they growing as quickly as you'd like? Do you think someone could push that needle? I've worked at companies with strong focus on sales and some where there were no sales people at all. It depends on your niche and who your customers are. Depending on your outreach methods, perhaps you need to hire someone with a strong sales background who's going to pick up the phone and start cold calls all day, or maybe you just need someone to handle your marketing better and help you out with some Adwords campaigns. Business Development is a big term, and it can cover a lot of things, most commonly sales... but salespeople aren't right for every business. So, look at your existing success. What sorts of things bring in the money now... and look to amplify those existing efforts before you go breaking new ground. You should be looking for someone who complements your existing success and can continue to tell that story, in your existing playing fields, and gradually moving into new areas. I know this was a vague answer, but I hope it helps.SL
-
How do I design my organisational structure (staff)?
This depends upon where you are in the start-up continuum. If you are still in search of a viable business model (i.e. the start-up phase) then the "multiple hats" scenario is spot on. In this phase the key is to discover that which is repeatable and scalable. In other words - to put your energy and resources into discovering things like: -Who your market is -What your positioning is -What your offers are -What your pricing model is -Where your market is (aka what channels to use for inbound and outbound marketing) -etc Warning: It would be a mistake to think you already have these things figured out when you haven't. In my experience - mastery of these "basics" are what separates successful businesses from floundering ones. And no offense - but if you are only at $1.1M in gross revenues then it seems to me like you are just beginning to figure these things out. Due to the need for flexibility in this phase (some call this being "agile") you are best served by a team that is willing and able to do what's needed. There will likely not (yet) be any "established" positions. And with (gross?) revenues of only $1.1M it would seem that you wouldn't require a large team anyway. [I suppose this depends upon your current business model - so I apologize for making this assumption.] Once you've discovered a viable business model - then it's time to build systems (since you will only then know all that goes into making the sale). These systems will help you efficiently and effectively scale and repeat. It's at that time you would start creating "positions" (aka jobs) and hiring staff to do what you discovered works. All in all - Much depends on where you are right now in order for me (or anyone else) to provide you with more specific direction. I'd love to talk this through with you if you are still looking for assistance. Best of luck!DB
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.