80,000 Hours has a great 2018 article on Operations management roles, which includes a 'How to assess your fit' section (I'll link to it at the bottom of this take). Having worked on the EA Global team for a year now, here are two important traits I would add for assessing fit:

1) Good at task-switching. I think it's pretty crucial that task-switching isn't super costly for you and you can do it relatively quickly. Otherwise, I imagine many Ops roles will be quite tiring / frustrating. It might be particularly emphasised in my role, but as an anecdote: in the lead up to an event, my days are working through maybe 10+ small-medium planned tasks with a ton of small, unplanned tasks in between (i.e. monitoring Slacks/emails and responding to them if they take priority). I once mentioned this to two friends and they instinctively said, "I'm really sorry," so I suspect reactions to this are a useful fit heuristic.

2) Responsive. This one is from a conversation with my team, and I concur—it's really standout if you can respond to people quickly. This goes hand-in-hand with task switching (i.e. when someone messages you, how costly is it for you to stop what you're doing and respond). It also necessitates being calibrated on how long tasks take (I'll explain) and not hating messaging people. The level of responsiveness necessary and how often you get pinged will vary by role. I'm guessing for most Ops roles, a day or two response time is great. For some, you'll need to generally respond within the same working day(i.e. within minutes or hours). Whether necessary or not, I think achieving this is a huge asset to any team (assuming your other work doesn't suffer and you're prioritising well). It means you're: 1) quickly unblocking others; and, 2) relieving the mental load on the message-sender of tracking their own request. As a note on mental load, over-communication is almost always best in Ops roles. You might open a message and think, "I can't get to this until tomorrow"—it's useful to train in the habit of saying that rather than just making a note to yourself. Your coworkers will then be relieved of tracking this (though crucially, it's important to meet the timeline you set or communicate changes). In an ideal world, your co-workers are never tracking the tasks/requests they send because you're handling that (i.e. responding quickly or providing timelines and updates automatically).

80,000 Hours article: https://80000hours.org/articles/operations-management/#how-to-assess-fit

EA Global is coming to New York City for the very first time, from October 10–12 at the Sheraton Times Square! And you can apply now! Why NYC, you might ask?

1. Close to policy
With the United Nations based in NYC and DC just a train ride away, NYC is well-placed to host policy professionals working on pressing global issues like AI governance, pandemic preparedness, foreign aid, and more. 

2. Media capital
NYC is often called the media capital of the world, hosting major publishers and media outlets. We’re excited to welcome both writers and communications professionals to this event. 

3. Philanthropic hub
NYC is home to some of the world’s most influential philanthropic organizations. It’s also a base for funders supporting projects across global health, biosecurity, AI safety, and more. We’re excited to welcome both grantmakers and those pursuing earning to give. 

4. Animal welfare, biosecurity, and digital minds
Each EA Global event is partly shaped by its location, influenced by the nearby professional networks and communities. At NYC, we expect to see more experts in animal welfare, digital minds, and biosecurity, drawing from existing communities in NYC, Boston, and DC.

5. One of the largest EA communities
NYC hosts one of the biggest and most active local EA communities globally!

Apply here by September 28!