Executive search checklist: must-have soft skills for a leader today

Executive search is different from usual technical recruitment: first of all, while selecting a manager for a top position, you need to focus not only on their professional background but on their soft skills as well. Why? Developed soft skills give a leader a chance to get along with the team efficiently, perform tasks at the highest level possible and achieve impressive results.

We have been performing executive searches along with regular technical recruitment for more than five years, so today we will share our expertise and help you to find out what skills are mostly required for top-managerial positions in IT.

Find the checklist below!

Relationship building

The candidate knows how to build productive relationships with the team, head of the departments, founders and CEOs, business partners, and clients. They build transparent, reliable, trustful relationships which lead to long-term cooperation. If any misunderstandings or pitfalls take place, the candidate acts correctly and knows well how to find a way out and not offend anyone.

Problem solving

Every problem is solved in time, the employee shows proactivity and responsibility in finding the best solution. They do their best to find the way out by themselves and don’t wait for a miracle that will fix everything.

The professional is not afraid to try new approaches in problem solving and making decisions. They also take responsibility for every step.

Objectivity

The candidate accesses themselves from different sides and sees growth areas and key strengths. Only being objective to you at first gives you a chance to be objective to others around you as well. While assessing others, the professional makes judgements based on an objective approach but not on their thoughts and preferences.

Honesty

Being honest means also being ready to admit your mistakes, unsuccessful decisions, and steps. If the professional makes a wrong step, they can take responsibility for this and think of possible solutions.

Openness to dialogue

The employee is open to discussing various problems and misunderstandings with their team, partners, and clients. They build productive, transparent, and honest communication without emotions or personal non-objective clues.

Negotiations are held on the highest level, the candidate can build an efficient strategy and reach all the goals by offering optimal solutions, so that the process of negotiations can end with convincing the opponent, win-win situation or finding a compromise.