Searching for a new job while being employed presents plenty of challenges. You have to be extra careful when you’re conducting your search, because you don’t want to burn any bridges or seem untrustworthy. The best executive resume writers can help tailor your resume to be confidential, so it won’t be as easy to identify you on a job board. There are many secrets to conducting a confidential executive job search, and here are a few of them we would like to share with you.
Be Creative With Networking
The hidden job market is the best way to go about conducting a secret job search. Nowadays, you don’t have to post your executive resume bio online to get a job. By networking at professional events or through LinkedIn, you can find out about jobs you didn’t even know were available. Even volunteering or being involved in your community can lead to new opportunities, so being active can move your job search forward as well.
Use LinkedIn Carefully
If you don’t have your LinkedIn settings updated appropriately, your connections may be able to see every change you make. Chances are your co-workers, or even your bosses, may be included in your LinkedIn network. You definitely don’t want them to see you update your resume or profile to indicate you’re looking for a new job. When you’re working on your LinkedIn profile development, alter your settings to ensure the wrong people don’t see any changes you’ve made.
Make Your Resume Private
As mentioned, the best executive resume writers know how to effectively make a resume confidential. By using the term “confidential applicant” instead of using your name, you’ll avoid showing up on your current employer’s search for a new candidate. Also, not using your company’s name anywhere on the resume is important. These are just a couple ways you can make your resume private, and a potential employer will understand why you’re doing it.
Conduct Your Job Search On Your Own Time
Nothing is worse than conducting a job search on company time. If your current boss finds out, there’s a chance you could be fired. And if your potential employer finds out you’re conducting your search on company time, they may think you’ll do the same to them and not offer you a job. Do yourself a favor and only send out your executive resume bio when you’re not on company time.
Professional Resume Services is here to help you conduct a confidential executive job search. We have the best executive resume writers to help you in this area, so you can feel confident sending in your resume to potential employers. Feel free to reach out to us at any time if you need other secrets to pulling off a confidential job search.
Traditional ways of networking still exist today, but there are plenty other ways you can meet professionals. As an executive, it’s easy to get caught up in the traditional ways of networking, such as attending formal events, speaking engagements, seminars and passing out resumes and cover letters at business meetings. However, with the digital and social media age peaking at its highest level, new networking techniques are being used to connect with professionals effectively. Here are some of the top new ways to network today.
Networking While Exercising
Building a professional network doesn’t have to be limited to wearing business attire. Plenty of connections are made while exercising at the gym and other places. This is especially true in organized fitness and group activities, where several people are working out together. Some people prefer to meet others through their LinkedIn profile first and then connect at the gym or similar events, just so they are familiar with each other ahead of time. While social media is great for making initial connections, there is no substitute for face-to-face communication.
Conversation Differences
The language used in your executive bio doesn’t need to be used in conversation anymore. Nowadays, conversation starters don’t usually revolve around a career. Instead, the conversation tends to shift to what the person’s lifestyle is like, including work-life balance. Having a solid 9-5 job is still important for many people, but it’s more impressive to have freedom to do the things they want to do while having a stable career. Listen in on some conversations at a networking event you attend and you may be surprised at the discussions taking place.
Multitasking
Whether you’re an aspiring executive fresh out of college or an experienced veteran, multitasking is essential today. Many executives with children have to be creative in their networking efforts. Some parents will schedule playdates with other executives who have kids, so the kids can play while the adults connect. This usually isn’t a place to exchange a formal executive bio, but getting creative with multitasking can help improve your work-life balance exceptionally.
At Professional Resume Services, our services go beyond simply writing effective resumes. Our experts stay on top of the latest trends in networking as well, since the two go hand-in-hand. For more tips on how to effectively network, or for more executive job search assistance, feel free to contact us at any time.
Making a mistake in your executive resume can be detrimental to your success in landing your next job. Even if you use the best executive resume format imaginable, a typographical errors shows you could lack attention to detail, which is an important characteristic of any executive.
Proofreading your executive resume is essential, but proofreading it the right way is even more important. When you’re working on your resume for several hours, it’s easy to overlook a mistake. Here are some of the top ways you should proofread your resume.
Proofread Out Loud
When you read your resume out loud to yourself or to someone else, you’ll be able to identify some obvious issues. Whether the issues revolve around the overall flow of your resume or a word that simply doesn’t make sense, sometimes reading it out loud will help identify problems you overlook when reading it silently.
Don’t Skip Sections
The key to writing resumes that get you hired is to treat every section of your resume with equal importance. If you have a references section, proofread the phone numbers or other contact information. It’s easy to skip sections like this, but it will look unprofessional if your potential employer calls a wrong number when trying to reach your reference.
Have a Peer Review Your Resume
Your peers can play a big role in your effort to create resumes that get you hired. Ask a friend or family member you trust to look over your executive resume in detail. When you’ve looked at your resume for several hours over the course of a few days, sometimes it’s easy to overlook minor details. Having a peer review your resume can help identify these minor issues to clean up your resume overall.
Hire a Professional Resume Service
Hiring a quality professional resume writing service to proofread your resume should be your last step before finalizing your resume. But just because it’s the last step doesn’t mean it should be skipped. With the highly competitive job market today, having a professional proofread your resume can ensure it is in the best shape possible for improving your chances of getting an interview.
At Professional Resume Services, we can help executives not only write their resumes, but proofread them and provide constructive criticism and suggestions to make it better. If you are pleased with your resume, but want another set of experienced eyes to review it, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Many executives forget a job isn’t theirs until they sign on the dotted line to become employed with the company. Receiving a job offer is great, but some mistakes could lead to the offer being withdrawn. You’ve worked so hard to get your executive resume bio in shape to get recognized, land an interview and ultimately get a job offer. Here are some of the common mistakes you need to avoid both before and after receiving a job offer.
Not Being Honest
Don’t tell your interviewer you have another job offer elsewhere if it isn’t true. Similarly, don’t lie about the salary at your current position or previous position. Employers have the right to look at this information for verification before they make a job offer. If you’re caught in a lie, they may question your entire executive resume bio and not give you an offer.
Not Keeping Your References Informed
Your references on your executive resume could be critical in getting you a job. However, any of the top resume writing services will tell you to always keep your references informed when you send in a resume. Employers often call those references, so you don’t want them to be surprised when it happens. You want your references to be prepared so they can discuss your past work most effectively.
Negotiating Too Much or Too Early
Negotiation is part of the interview process for executives. However, there’s a time and place for negotiating, and doing it too early or too often could make an employer uncomfortable enough where they won’t offer you the job. You are entitled to fair pay and benefits, but there has to be some give-and-take as well.
Social Media Blunders
Potential employers almost always look at social media profiles because it gives them insight as to who you are. Use a LinkedIn profile service to get your Linkedin profile cleaned up from a professional standpoint. Also be careful not to post any photos or commentary that could be offensive or otherwise hurt your chances of not looking and sounding professional. Social media is a valuable tool, but it can also be extremely costly when not used appropriately.
Professional Resume Services is one of the top resume writing services in the industry. Not only can we help you write an effective resume to boost your chances of landing an interview, but we also have valuable tips about various stages of your executive job search. Feel free to contact us at any time if you’re struggling with your job search.
What you say during your executive job interview plays a huge role in determining whether you get the job. On the same notion, your body language is a factor as well. You’ve worked hard to optimize your LinkedIn profile to get noticed and eventually land an interview, so learning some body language tips will help you succeed once you get there. Here are some of the top executive interview tips people don’t think about, but should.
Eye Contact Demonstrates Trust
Always make eye contact with your interviewer. Eye contact shows they can trust you, since people who don’t make good eye contact might have something they’re hiding. Of course, try to avoid staring as much as possible, so looking away occasionally will reduce some awkwardness.
Firm Handshakes Show Confidence
Follow up your strong executive profile with a strong handshake when you meet your interviewer. A firm handshake shows you are a confident person, so practice with peers or family members if you have to. A good handshake is memorable to an interviewer, since it’s likely the first in-person impression they have of you.
Have Good Posture
No interviewer wants to see a slouch in chair across from them. Slouching or posture other than sitting up straight shows you may not be too interested in the job. Even worse, slumping in your chair may indicate a lack of confidence, no matter how strong your executive profile is.
Be As Natural As Possible
Too many people spend way too much time studying interview questions and rehearsing their answers. While this is good to an extent, studying too hard can make you sound unnatural. If you used an executive resume writer to polish up and make your resume sound natural, translate some of their tips for your interview. Things like nodding and smiling are natural gestures, so don’t hold them back. The hard part is noticing the gestures you make as a nervous habit, so be careful not to use them to the point where they become unnatural.
Professional Resume Services does much more than simply write resumes. We can help you by giving advice on how to land interviews, what to do in interviews and even how to optimize your LinkedIn profile, just to name a few. Be sure to reach out to us if you need any assistance with any aspect of your executive job search.
LinkedIn can be an extremely valuable tool for executives. However, not knowing how to use it properly can also damage your reputation without you even knowing. LinkedIn isn’t difficult to use, but there are some unwritten rules about etiquette that many executives overlook. If you’re going to spend the time to write your executive profile on your LinkedIn page, you owe it to yourself to be familiar with these unwritten rules executives sometimes violate.
Personalize Your Connection Requests
When you connect with someone on LinkedIn, you could use the default message LinkedIn provides, or you could personalize it. Personalizing the request is valuable in many ways. You could state how you met the person, just in case it was at a networking event where they met dozens of other people. Or you could simply say you’re impressed with their profile and admire their work. Either way, a personalized request makes a much better impression.
Adjust Settings When Updating Your Profile
When you need to optimize your LinkedIn profile, you’re likely going to change a lot of different sections of it. What you may not know is all of your connections will see each and every change you make if you don’t update your settings accordingly. Go into the Privacy Controls of your profile and turn off update notifications to spare your connections from dozens of notifications. Turn it back on when you’re done updating it, so your connections will only see the important changes going forward.
Give Endorsements and Recommendations
The top resume writing services will tell you not to put too much emphasis on endorsements and recommendations through LinkedIn. However, giving and receiving the proper ones is important. Don’t ask for an endorsement from someone you didn’t work with directly. On the other hand, it’s not appropriate to give an endorsement or recommendation to someone you didn’t work with closely. These should be personalized and well thought out, so make them meaningful.
Connect With The Right People
If you’re actively searching for a job, connect with people who work in the same industry as you. With LinkedIn groups, you don’t even have to make a connection request until you get to know them as part of the group. It takes a little time to get to know someone through LinkedIn, but a single quality connection is much more valuable than a dozen connections from people you never met or have any association with at all.
Professional Resume Services is one of the top resume writing services for many reasons. We not only help with writing executive resumes, but we can also assist with cover letter writing, developing LinkedIn profiles and helping out with job searches in general. Feel free to contact us at any time to learn more about the written and unwritten rules of LinkedIn or anything else pertaining to your executive job search.
There are many different tools you need to have as an executive looking for a new job. Using these strategies will keep you on par with your competition, and your job search strategies can put you over the top. However, without utilizing every resource available to you, there’s a good chance you’ll be left behind. Whether it’s updating your LinkedIn profile or optimizing your resume, there are certain things you must have with your job search.
Executive Biography
Your executive resume biography tells a story and is more conversational than a resume or cover letter. This is your opportunity to go into detail about a particular situation that highlights your skills, brand and personal attributes. Some executives focus more on resumes and cover letters, but a strong executive biography can tie everything together.
Executive Resume
Writing an executive resume today is much more difficult than it was a decade ago. With so many automated systems used to identify keywords, you have to be precise with the words and phrases you use. Many times, executives will leave the resume writing to professional resume writing services to ensure their resume gets noticed.
Updated LinkedIn Profile
If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile, it’s time to get one. If your LinkedIn profile isn’t up-to-date, it’s time to update it. Recruiters and HR managers will sometimes look on LinkedIn to find candidates. Other times they will look on LinkedIn after they’ve viewed a resume to get more information on a candidate. Your LinkedIn profile gives you the opportunity to go beyond the information on a resume, so take it seriously and don’t just rehash your resume.
Networking Card
There’s a difference between a business card and a networking card. When networking, you need to have a card that displays your personal email address, cell phone, branding statement and social media accounts. A traditional business card may not be the best for networking with new people to find new opportunities. Having both could be beneficial, but a specific networking card is unique and will help you stand out.
Professional Resume Services is here to help ensure you have everything you need to be successful with your job search. Whether it’s writing an executive resume biography or just giving you tips on how to approach your job search, contact us any time you feel like you need a boost.
Many executives make the mistake of simply rewriting their resume and calling it their biography. Including a lot of numbers, statistics and data may look impressive, but it’s not necessarily what needs to go on an executive profile. This is your chance to tell a story about your career that you can’t necessarily state on a resume. You should also reiterate and strengthen your brand when writing an executive bio. Here are some tips for what to include in your c-level executive biography.
The First Paragraph Must Grab Attention
If the first paragraph of your executive profile is bland, you’ll quickly lose the attention of your reader. Instead, start off your bio with a quote that highlights your brand, or make a strong statement to capture your reader’s attention another way. The more attention-grabbing the first sentence and paragraph is, the better chance you’ll have of the reader reading the entire biography.
Highlight Soft Skills And Attributes
You can’t include soft skills on your executive resume, in most cases. When writing an executive bio, you have a chance to not only demonstrate your soft skills and attributes, but also tie them in to how they enhance your brand and bring value to companies. Provide examples of how you’ve applied your skills in the past to bring them to life.
Support Your Success With Data
You shouldn’t pollute your entire executive profile with data, but sometimes it’s appropriate to provide some numbers for support. However, think of data you don’t already have on your resume. And instead of simply making a one-line statement to support your success, tell the story of how you were successful, including all the twists and turns. Just don’t take up too much of the reader’s time when you do so.
Provide Some Personal Insight
An executive resume service can help you write the first aspect of your bio, but there’s another point they can’t help you with as much. The part which deals with your personal life. You don’t want to get into many details about your life, but people want to know if you have a family, what ages your kids are, what your spouse does and what your hobbies and passions are. People connect with other people based on their personal interests rather than business success. When you have similar personal interests with other executives, they’ll be more likely to reach out to you since it seems like a natural fit.
At Professional Resume Services, we can help you piece together your executive profile to help it flow naturally. One of the hardest parts of an executive bio is making it easy to read and captivate the reader’s attention. When you’re ready to sit down and write your c-level executive biography, consider giving us a call to help you get started.
