1. Avoid "status quo" managers who are not able to function in today's fast-changing business environment regardless of their prior experience.
2. Innovation and thinking out of the box are now critical job requirements.
3. Identify people that can either make money for your company by creating new profit centers with no up front costs, or who can creatively save you money without damaging your brand(s).
4. A skill set is more important than prior experience. If someone can sell toothpaste they can sell diamonds!
5. The ability to work under pressure with smaller budgets and fewer people.
6. Innovation at the get-go. If during an interview someone does not have ideas that can help your media brand(s), don't expect them to develop them once you hire them. Problem solvers are essential.
7. A budget realist and enforcer. Given the increased costs of doing business and declining ad revenues, every expenditure, no matter how small, must be justified.
8. Positive attitude and a good sense of humor. Executives who tend to have a good sense of humor often are the most successful problem solvers. People enjoy working for and with them.
9. Never hire people who feel they were compromised or mistreated in their last jobs. Complainers can hurt companies even in good times. In today's environment they become a deadly cancer.
10. Look for trend spotters and executives who know how to put the consumer first. A good trend spotter is essential today.
11. Time savers and people who know how to triage. Given today's 24/7 demands a company must have executives who can not only manage their time effectively, but who can triage the many things that are thrown at them on a daily basis.
12. A fresh perspective can help your company more than anything. Albert Einstein once said, "Don't expect the people who created the problems to be able to solve them." oftentimes, someone from another industry can provide a perspective that has not been thought of before.
Steve's new book You Can't Fall Off The Floor - The Insiders' Guide to Re-Inventing Yourself and Your Career chronicles his 50 year career working for over 25 different companies with 189 lessons learned and insider tips from Gayle King, Cathie Black, Chuck Townsend and 28 others; Blacker is still going strong today as a partner in Frankfurt & Blacker Solutions, LLC. His web site is blacker-reinventions.com and e-mail address is blackersolutions@aol.com
Read all Steve’s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Steve Blacker - MediaBizBloggers.
Follow our Twitter updates @MediaBizBlogger