How to be a ‘star employee’

In many offices, there?s always that one team member who can deal with Herculean levels of stress and workload without ever breaking a sweat, a personification of ?resilience?. But new research suggests that managers deem resilience the least important trait in their employees.

That?s according to a study by Conference Genie, a conference calling provider, which looked to discover the traits employers look for in ?superstar employees?. Resilience scored the lowest with just five percent. Surprisingly, other traits such as ?good under pressure? and confidence also scored relatively low.

So, what does a manager look for in an employee? The most important trait of a ?superstar employee? is efficiency, the majority of managers (22%) believe that a team member should be able to delegate and not try to complete all tasks themselves. Being proactive (20%), having initiative (17%) and ambition (15%) were also popular traits.

Also, you don?t have to be the loudest employee in the office to get ahead of the game; nearly a third of managers (30%) said their superstar employees are not loud and brash in their characteristics.

Interestingly, qualifications don?t play much of a factor with only 8 percent of managers saying these are important. 30 percent of managers believe ?hands-on? experience is much more beneficial and the best way to turn an employee into a superstar.

One of the big talking points from the research is that many managers have set ideas of what they want from employees, but they?re often very different to what employees think they should be doing to succeed.

Get more useful work hacks from Conference Genie at bit.ly/1TQj8LS