“Just as someone’s looking for a new opportunity, I’m looking for that next great person,” Gross said. “And I invest a lot of time in it personally.”

For Gross, being great at your skills is the price of admission, she added. “You have to be so good and confident and aware of how to do this job, the ins and outs of it, the A to Z — but that is a baseline. That just gets you in the door. “

Here are four key things that Gross calls the “special sauce” on top:

1.  The ability to communicate and to think strategically. “You have to be a great communicator — you have to be articulate, you have to have that confidence behind you.”

2. Being collaborative and listening to your customer. “Planners like to hold things close to their chests and really show that they’ve got the details down — but it’s [also] about changing and evolving and customizing things based on the needs of the customer and the business.”

3. Being a good team member. “They also have to understand what it means to be a good teammate — it mean being very strong on your own, but then also nimble and agile and able to jump into a team situation and be supportive.”

4. Instinct. “Can they find a solution that represents the values and the culture of this company? And are they a problem-solver? The word ‘instinct’ to me is really important, and we use that a lot as a team. We will say in a situation, ‘What does your instinct say to you would be the right way to solve this?’

“What makes this career so magical is that you’re finding these people that are part psychologist, part meeting planner, and part detective — all of these amazing skills,” she said.

An interview with Gross about her career and  the event marketing team she has built from scratch at Univision appears in Convene‘s April issue)