Your personal brand is one of the main factors that will differentiate you from other candidates throughout your job search. Too many executives make the mistake of thinking c-level personal branding doesn’t matter once they reach a certain level, especially if they have no intentions of leaving their current job. The truth is establishing and maintaining your personal brand is important no matter what stage you’re at in your career. Your executive LinkedIn profile is one of the best ways to do both. Here’s why LinkedIn can be so valuable for personal branding for senior level managers.
You Are More Discoverable Online
You have to expect recruiters and hiring managers to do an online search for your name after you send them a resume or meet them at a networking event. The ultimate goal should be to have your executive LinkedIn profile show up at the top of the search results. If that happens, they will read the information you want them to and it will demonstrate your personal brand accordingly. With the right mix of keywords and content, your LinkedIn profile can be a major reason why you get recognized.
A Platform For Demonstrating Your Knowledge and Expertise
Part of c-level personal branding is demonstrating what you have to offer to potential employers. LinkedIn is the perfect platform for broadcasting your value, whether you do so by joining LinkedIn groups, commenting on or sharing posts or even posting original content. The more active you are, the more knowledgeable you will seem depending on the nature of the posts you make.
Shows You Are Savvy With Today’s Technology
Sometimes not being active on LinkedIn is worse than not having a profile at all. Companies today want to know how savvy you are with technology. How you utilize your executive LinkedIn profile is one way to do it. Recruiters can’t tell if you simply don’t prioritize c-level personal branding or if you don’t have the knowledge to build your profile. Most of the time they will default to assuming you aren’t technologically savvy, so do your personal brand a favor and polish your profile.
Professional Resume Services believes c-level personal branding and crafting the perfect resume go hand-in-hand. There are so many different variables to think about in today’s job searching landscape, so it’s easy to overlook some aspects. Our experts are ready and willing to help you out with any part of your career efforts, so don’t hesitate to contact us at any time for assistance.
There are a lot of discussions nowadays about the importance of personal branding for senior level managers. Some professionals who have established careers with many years of experience believe c-level personal branding is only required for the young up-and-coming executive. The truth is no matter where you are in your career and whether you’re searching for a job or not, your personal brand is critical for your career. There are no age barriers with c-level personal branding and here’s why it’s so important.
Branding Defines Who You Are Now
If you’re actively searching for a job, brushing up your executive LinkedIn profile is a necessity. Recruiters look at LinkedIn to learn about a candidate’s skills and experience, but also to get an idea of who they are. LinkedIn is a perfect platform to demonstrate who you are as a person and as an executive. When a recruiter looks at your profile, they should clearly see what value you could bring to the table and how well you would fit into their organization. This is what c-level personal branding is all about.
How Personal Branding Helps Your Job Search
Your personal brand will stand out to a hiring manager. Whether you met them at a networking event or reached out to them on LinkedIn, the initial conversation is what will be most memorable. But in order for a hiring manager to know what your personal brand is all about, you have to know how to demonstrate it. Otherwise, they may get a wrong impression of you and your job search efforts will suffer as a result. Companies want to know exactly the type of person they are hiring, so make sure you’re clearly demonstrating what you’re all about.
Branding Has No Age Limit
Even established executives with dozens of years of experience have to focus on c-level personal branding. Your personal brand does more than just help with a job search. It builds your credibility with others in your industry even if you have no intentions of searching for a new job. No matter how old or young you are, the best business relationships happen when everyone knows what you stand for, including yourself.
Professional Resume Services works with executives in various aspects of their career. If you have an executive LinkedIn profile, we can help you optimize it to clearly show your personal brand and potentially increase your number of opportunities in your career. There are no age barriers when it comes to c-level personal branding, and every action you take is a reflection of it. To learn more about how we can help you with personal branding, feel free to contact us at any time.
Executives often have a similar skill set, background and education. So how can you set yourself apart from the rest? There are plenty of ways to do so, but there’s one overlooked skill you must possess: listening. In the world we live in today, too many people want to talk about themselves, which leads to one-sided conversations no one really listens to. Your executive resume biography is designed to talk about your achievements, but when you’re networking, let someone else do the talking while you listen attentively. Here’s why listening skills are so valuable for executives.
Build Your Personal Brand By Listening
The best resume writing service builds their reputation by listening to what their clients have to say and acting on what they’ve heard. On the same hand, you can build your personal brand by simply listening to others when they talk, asking questions in return and acting on anything you hear. Always be listening for things people say where you could fulfill their needs, or where they could fulfill your needs. In many situations, you will leave a conversation with people thinking highly of you even when you don’t say much.
Ask Insightful Questions
When writing resumes and cover letters, you have to ask yourself important questions about your past experiences in order to determine how well they fit with the company you’re interested in working for. When talking to someone, the only way to know whether your experiences are beneficial to them is by asking insightful questions. And the only way to know what questions to ask is by listening closely to what they are saying. When you ask the right questions, the other person will do most of the talking so all you have to do is listen.
Good Listeners Stand Out Among A Crowd
When you combine listening skills with asking insightful questions in return, people will take notice. You likely talk to many different people at networking events, but the ones who stand out most often are the ones who listen and respond accordingly. People are experts on themselves, so that’s usually what they talk about the most. Instead of returning the favor and talking about yourself, focus on the other person and you’ll earn a lot more respect in return.
Professional Resume Services has earned the reputation of being the best resume writing service, but we do much more than simply write resumes and cover letters. It’s easy to indicate on your resume that you’re a good listener, and it’s even better to put those skills into action. If you aren’t sure about what type of insightful questions you can ask or how to respond to people during networking events, feel free to contact us for tips and advice.
Executives oftentimes have different views on what exactly c-level personal branding is. Some see it as the best way to show who you really are and the value you bring to the table, while other people see it as being overly self-promoting. If your views fall into the latter category, then it’s important to understand personal branding for senior level managers is about much more than simply self-promotion. Here’s how you can benefit from your personal brand more than you may think.
Discover Your Purpose And Have A More Fulfilling Career
Many executives focus on c-level personal branding because it helps them learn more about themselves. They may want to be a leader, but if they become increasingly uncomfortable when they are put into leadership roles, they may realize they don’t have the personality for it. On the other hand, people may thrive when they are put into those positions unexpectedly. The point is when personal branding is at the forefront of your mind, you can learn a lot about yourself and experience a more fulfilling career as a result.
Understand What Culture Fits You Best
With employees focusing more on being happy in the workplace, the concept of culture is becoming even more important. If your personal brand involves interacting with co-workers and constantly collaborating as a team, then you probably won’t want to work for a company where the employees sit in their offices all day without coming out. Focusing on c-level personal branding can help you clearly identify which type of culture you belong in.
Build on Your Strengths And Improve Your Weaknesses
You likely know what your main strengths and weaknesses are, but chances are you will discover even more as your career progresses and you get more responsibilities. When you truly prioritize c-level personal branding, you can reflect on how your strengths can bring value to the table. It’s also important to evaluate and understand your weaknesses and work on improving them. Neither is possible without understanding your personal brand.
Become An Established Leader
Executives need to be go-to people for others within a company and even outside the company. When people view your LinkedIn profile, they should be able to clearly see your leadership qualities and see you as a valuable resource. If yours doesn’t show those qualities, then it may be time to work with an executive LinkedIn profile writer to help show your brand.
Professional Resume Services sees c-level personal branding as much more than just self-promotion. In fact, it’s actually the opposite. Sure, you have to tell people why you are valuable in order to promote your brand, but there are many more benefits to personal branding than just making yourself look good. To learn more about the concept of personal branding and some strategies to go with it, feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Some things simply go out of style, and your resume may be one of them. The best professional resume writers always see resumes that look like they were written 20 years ago. And if it’s clear to those professional writers, then you can guarantee it will be clear to a hiring manager as well. Not only will an old-looking resume potentially give away your age, but it could show you’re not quite caught up with the times and hurt your job candidacy as a result. Here are some of the most common things people still do on their resume that makes it look like it’s from the stone age.
Not Including Links To Social Media Accounts
The top resume writing services will always suggest including links to your social media accounts, assuming they’ve been cleaned up. Your LinkedIn profile definitely needs to be one of the links. You can consider incorporating Twitter, Facebook or other platforms if you use them to promote your personal brand or expertise, such as with original articles. Employers today want to know more about you than what’s on a resume and cover letter, so including these links is essential.
Not Conveying Your Personal Brand Clearly
When the best professional resume writers look at your resume, they need to see exactly what your personal brand is. Older resumes are typically generic and lack any type of branding throughout the content. Conveying your personal brand can be as simple as explaining your expertise, your overall views on workplace culture and what you believe in and stand for. Personal branding is not an optional component for resumes today.
Including An “Objective” Section
Every executive resume service today will delete an objective section if they see one on a resume. By submitting your resume to an employer, you are implying your objective, which is to get a job. You don’t need to reiterate it on your resume. Instead, use the space to show why you are the best candidate for the job. Hiring managers aren’t necessarily interested in what you want, but rather, want to know what you can do for them.
Including Your Street Address
Putting your street address at the top of your resume was acceptable more than a decade ago, but not today. The best professional resume writers will only include a name, phone number, email address and maybe a link to a LinkedIn profile. Anything more than that just clutters up the resume and is essentially useless to a hiring manager.
Professional Resume Services is here to help you modernize your resume to increase your chances of landing the interview you desire. Crafting the perfect resume can be difficult with the technology employers use to filter out resumes, but having a modern one is a great first step. If it’s been a while since you last created or updated your resume, feel free to contact us for an evaluation and see how we can help you modernize it.
Focusing on the goals you’ve set for yourself can keep you motivated even when times are tough. However, the top resume writing services always see people set unrealistic or overly-ambitious goals, which often ends up hurting them more than helping. One aspect of goal-setting everyone can benefit from is always looking at the end result of what you actually want to achieve. Most goals are based on money or production, but many people feel a hollow happiness when they’re actually achieved for several different reasons. Here are some of the main reasons why you should think about setting realistic career goals for yourself.
Work-Life Balance Is A Necessity
One of the main career goals proven to lead to happiness is having a good work-life balance. Besides, what good does a six figure salary do if you never have the time to enjoy the benefits? Everyone has different lifestyles, so if you live to work instead of work to live, then do what makes you happy. But when work begins taking a toll on you and is impacting your personal life in a negative way, then your executive resume writer may suggest reevaluating your goals and making adjustments as needed.
The Right Salary Expectations Will Make You Happier
Making your goals based around the amount of money you make usually won’t lead to genuine happiness. Money is necessary to live and get the things you want, but if you set unrealistic salary expectations, then the constant grind to achieve it will eventually catch up with you. Instead, every executive resume writer will suggest looking at your current finances, what possessions would make you happy and how much money you need to live comfortably. Taking the time to do so can be eye-opening in either a good way or a bad way. The main idea here is to not focus on the size of the paycheck solely, since long-term happiness usually doesn’t stem from it.
Love What You Do
If you dread the thought of getting up to go to work every morning, then it may be time to reevaluate your career goals. Sometimes the mental aspect of not liking your job will outweigh the size of the paycheck significantly. The happiest executives are the ones who base their goals off of enjoying what they do every day. This doesn’t mean you have to brush up your LinkedIn profile and start looking for a new job if you aren’t happy at your current one, but it may mean you need to set new goals and make little changes. Achieving goals is all about perspective and being realistic. Small victories throughout the course of your career make a big difference in having a positive mindset.
Professional Resume Services is one of the top resume writing services because we focus on every one of our clients as individuals. We understand everyone has different goals and are motivated differently, so we will adapt and cater to those needs and desires. If you struggle with setting attainable goals that will make you truly happy, we can help you think about certain aspects you may not have considered before. We are always available when you need us, so feel free to contact us when that time comes.
Believe it or not, it’s more common for people to have employment gaps on their resume and LinkedIn profile today than ever before. There are plenty of reasons for this as well. You may have taken time off to raise a family and are now ready to re-enter the workforce, had a change of heart about your career and took time to gain education and experience in other areas or for a different reason. If you’re in a situation where you have a glaring employment gap, not all is lost. Here are some things you can do to address these gaps and still find the job you desire.
Never Lie About Employment Gaps
Employers don’t necessarily like to see employment gaps on a resume, but the nature in which you address them can make the perception better or worse. Regardless of the reason for the time difference between jobs, you always have to be honest when asked a question about it. A potential employer will see right through you if you fabricate a story about the gap, and it could cost you the job. The best thing to do is be honest and talk about the learning experiences you had and how you’re a better employee because of it.
Try To Fill Those Gaps If Possible
An executive resume writer can make employment gaps less obvious on your resume without hiding them, but you shouldn’t rely on that. Instead, when you’re faced with an unemployment situation, make the most of it so you can easily justify the gap when the time comes. Consider taking online classes or certification courses, find temporary or volunteer work or do some freelance projects on your own. Your executive resume writer may not necessarily include these actions on your resume, but the potential employer will appreciate the fact you were working on your skills while unemployed.
Make Quality Connections And Demonstrate Your Expertise
Not having a job is a perfect opportunity to take the time to network and make quality professional connections. You never know when an opportunity will arise from talking to new people, so brush up your LinkedIn profile and start becoming more active. Networking both through LinkedIn and in person can be valuable. You have a great chance to demonstrate your expertise by producing valuable content and sharing it with like-minded individuals. Many times when your personal brand is obvious and a positive one, employers will brush off any potential issues regarding gaps in employment.
Professional Resume Services is more than just a professional resume writing service. We have some of the best writers who can make your resume look perfect, but we also want to help you in other aspects of your job search. This includes enhancing your LinkedIn profile, providing networking tips and much more. Be sure to reach out to us if you ever have any questions or concerns about your current or future career situation.
Asking for advice when you’re struggling with making a decision can be valuable. However, when it comes to getting career advice, you have to be careful who you’re listening to. Most people you ask won’t intentionally give you bad advice, but it also may not be very valuable to you. The best executive resume services will typically offer different bits of information than you would receive from family, friends, co-workers or anyone else. Here’s how to know if you’re listening to bad advice and what to do instead of following it.
Set Realistic Expectations
One of the most vague things anyone can tell you is the ability to be anything you want to be. Better career advice is to take a look at your skills and desires and set a more realistic path for success. It’s never a bad thing to dream about being at a certain level in your profession, but you can’t overlook the work it takes to get to that point. Start by working on your c-level personal branding and achieving realistic expectations before reaching for the pinnacle of your profession.
Don’t Choose A Career Based On Money
You may have also heard to choose a career based on the salary if you aren’t sure exactly what you want to do. This may be great for a couple of years, but it will be short-lived excitement if you don’t like going to your job every day. Instead, focus on long-term happiness by looking at the values a company offers, the culture within the organization, the opportunity for advancement and growth and more. Believe it or not, the people who are motivated solely by money are typically the people who aren’t happy with their jobs and overall lifestyle, with some exceptions, of course.
Choose Your Network Wisely
Take a look at your LinkedIn profile and see how many connections you have. Many experts tell people to get as many LinkedIn connections as they can, because you never know who you will cross paths with. However, the quality of your connections is typically much more valuable than the quantity. Having a dozen or so quality connections on your LinkedIn profile will be more beneficial to you than having hundreds of connections you don’t even know personally.
Patience Usually Won’t Move Your Career Forward
There’s a time and place to be patient in your career. Too many times you see people getting passed up for advancement by people who were more aggressive. There was a time when the duration of your tenure with an organization played a factor in promotion opportunities. However, the times have changed and tenure isn’t quite as important. It’s more important to step up and ask for more responsibilities, demonstrate your leadership qualities and make it known you want to move forward in your career. You’ll likely have much better results compared to being patient and waiting your turn.
Professional Resume Services provides the best executive resume services tailored to your specific needs and desires. We are always willing to offer career advice based on our years of experience, but will never provide advice to people who don’t want to hear it. Our goal is to help you find the job and career you desire, so feel free to contact us at any time when you need us.
