Searching for executive jobs in today’s world can be tougher than ever. It’s imperative that executive-level job seekers stand out from their competition and prove to their potential employer that they offer a high return on investment. To do this, job seekers need certain tools, including the essential job-search documents needed to effectively market oneself in the job hunt: executive resume, cover letter, career biography, reference dossier, etc.
If you are a part of the executive job hunt remember that personal branding is important to strategically position you ahead of the crowd. It links your key personal attributes, passions and strengths with your value proposition. Does your resume brand you? What about your LinkedIn profile? Does that let the reader know that you are the leader their company needs? If done right this will translate into a crystal clear message that differentiates your unique promise of value that will resonate with your target audience. By showcasing your expertise and unique personal brand in the best possible light, you’ll open doors that others can’t and be in charge or your career destiny.
Make sure you do your research! Tap into the hidden job market by taking advantage of all that’s available online in the way of targeted industry and company research. Check out websites of companies that interest you and start by identifying the challenges they’re facing, learning about the company culture and attempt to track down warm leads at those companies. It’s important to pinpoint how you can have a positive impact and help those companies reach their goals. Save time by identifying and connecting directly with top decision makers at companies through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or other online social networks when possible. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people you’ve never met. LinkedIn is known for its members welcoming connections from unknown contacts. The point is to expand your network and make new connections.
A good executive resume will be the backbone of your job search. It’s important to identify exactly what you want your resume to convey before you get started. Remember, every resume is a one-of-a-kind marketing communication that should tell your story. In order to do that it’s imperative that you make sure your executive resume is well designed and executed. There are a lot of DIY resources and resume writing tips available on the internet that you should take time to review, but in the end it may be better to hire a professional to convey your personal brand. Either way, with a good executive resume in hand that translates your unique attributes you are sure to be on your way to the executive job of your dreams!
Many times, someone will look at the price of having a professional resume writer develop their resume and wonder if it is worth the cost. There’s a way to put the cost of a professional resume service into perspective:
How much will it cost you to stay unemployed and searching for a job?
Say you are hoping to find a job that pays $52,000 a year to make this exercise easy. That means your pay before taxes is $1,000 because there are 52 weeks in a year. If you have been looking for a job and nobody is calling you back, your resume usually has a lot to do with that, so your current resume and job search methods have already cost you however many weeks you’ve been using them.
Now take a look at the prices of the various a la carte services or packages. Look at those prices in terms of the salary you are hoping to earn and the time you have been searching for a job — and think how improving your resume or distribution will improve your chances of finding that job. It may cost you less than one day’s worth of future salary to have your current resume critiqued and know how to improve it. It could be less than a week of your future salary to have a professional resume written.
There’s no guarantee that you’ll get hired with a professionally written resume, but you almost certainly will get called in for an interview, and the rest is up to you. It’s costing you quite a bit in lost wages to use an inferior resume that is not getting results.
LinkedIn’s popular “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” just added a new feature: “How You Rank”. It provides a lot more insight on the way you stack up in this essential network, and that’s good because it also provides suggestions for improving your ranking.
I sure hope you have a profile on LinkedIn because, if you don’t, you are missing out on the best way to network with potential employers, clients, colleagues…and all the rest of the professionals who have joined. Networking is important because the reason why strangers don’t get good jobs is measurable: 92% of recruiters and hiring managers said either “they knew the person or the person was referred by a co-worker or other trusted source. What’s even more interesting – and far more important – is that the primary decision to hire these people was on their actual ability to do the work and excel at it, not on some arbitrary list of skills and experiences.” (Lou Adler did this survey and explains it in the linked article.)
- So the research shows that people who are even vaguely familiar with you are more apt to see your value, and the “How You Rank” tool gives you a customized list of ways to improve your ranking.
- Improving your ranking means that more people are looking at your profile, which means that more people will be familiar with you.
- The more people, particularly professionals in your career field, that are familiar with you — the more apt you are to get a job when you apply.
The customized ways to improve your ranking are pretty important because this is LinkedIn telling you how to get higher rankings on LinkedIn. That means you should pay attention to their suggestions since they know the algorithms for the site. And I like how you can use the tool to track your networking progress and analyze the results. You can even look at the higher ranking people in your network and see how your profile and activity compares to theirs and get a few more ideas on improving yours.
If you want an even more individualized strategy for your LinkedIn enhancement, consider our LinkedIn Profile Development service. The “How You Rank” tool is good, but a professional evaluation that works with you to improve your online brand is better.
One of the ways to improve your online brand is by being active online in ways that focus on your professional arena. You can start out by using search engines to find news in your field, but you can also find niche communities of your peers and connect on social media sites like LinkedIn, Google+, and Facebook.
Once you have some professional places to hang out on the web it’s a good idea to start interacting with others on those sites. Make intelligent comments on blog posts, have discussions that are courteous, and always have a link back to your own blog under your name. Be the opposite of a troll. This gives you a wide audience of people who view you favorably and probably will be interested in visiting your blog to see if there is more good stuff to be found.
When they come to your blog, have some good stuff there. This isn’t as difficult as it sounds:
- link to content that you found helpful and make some comments then ask for opinions
- write a short (250-500 word) post every few days about something in your field
- have a mix of news items and evergreen content that is always useful
If you do a little bit every day, it slowly builds up into an impressive, authoritative presence that gives weight to your online brand. When potential employers look you up online, you look good. Many people actually are hired based on internet activity that created a relationship and developed respect for the knowledge displayed. The job offer came as a result of the added authority of their online presence.
If you decide you need professional help for your online brand, we offer online branding/profile development coaching that just might be what you are looking for.
Have you ever really looked at blueprints? We had our own experience with them last year when we expanded our office. They can make most people’s eyes glaze over, but those professional schematic drawings are the reason buildings don’t fall down, plumbing works efficiently, and electric outlets are located where you want to plug in your hair dryer. Professional plans mean that using the hairdryer in the bathroom doesn’t blow a circuit because the wiring is sufficient for the task.
Professionals use the training and experience they possess to create building plans that will safely accommodate the activity anticipated there. If there needs to be a remodel, professionals know how to do the adaptations successfully. That same level of expertise applies to a lot of other areas in life, don’t you think? How about your career plans?
Your career is certainly as important as the building you live in, and should be planned with as much expertise. There are many good suggestions for career plans to be discovered by reading blogs and doing the research, and that is a good place to start. Many people live quite happily in buildings designed for the general population and you do the equivalent with your career by following the general advice you read from professionals.
But a custom home involves blueprints drawn up by experts with input from the home owner to ensure that every aspect of that home is perfect for the people living there. This could mean shorter counters, a special sewing room, or bathrooms with enough outlets and load capabilities to run a couple of hair dryers at the same time while listening to music. The blueprints would show those specifics: lower counter heights, cabinets for sewing materials, and a bathroom that won’t go dark when the hair dryer comes on.
Your career plans can be customized by working with an expert, a career coach who is qualified to draw up a blueprint for your job goals and help you figure out what needs to be on the plan.
Have you ever gone past a series of modern windmills? I just did recently-they were amazing. At first, they don’t look real. Then as you get closer, they begin to loom in jaw-dropping proportions because they are huge. These gigantic pinwheels are carefully placed to catch the wind in the best spots available. A lot of study goes into how tall they need to be, where they should be located, and which direction they should face. This is because they are very expensive to manufacture and install so they need to be where they will catch the most wind and generate the most power. Why would anybody put this expensive piece of technology in a random spot because it is easier? No matter how well the windmill is constructed, it will not do what it’s designed to do if it’s not in the right place.
A well-crafted resume is the result of a similar type of investment. Just like the modern windmill, they are carefully designed and can be expensive to create. So why distribute that resume in a random pattern because it is easier? If your resume is not being put in the right place, it will not be able to do what it’s designed to do.
Professional Resume Services has the ability to put your resume in the place where it will be most effective through our Recruiter Resume Distributions. Since we maintain a database that is updated weekly, we know which recruiters are working in the various industries out there and we can specifically target your unique preferences and project parameters. We will only put your resume where it will act like one of those high-tech pinwheels and generate the most energy for your career goals.
Among the rest of the things you need to do before that job interview, looking at your credit report is up there in priority. Actually, your credit is something you should be in the habit of checking several times a year. Here’s why it should be done before that job interview:
- The Fair Credit Reporting Act is the federal law covering the whole issue. This link is to a pdf of the law. It’s a little overwhelming.
- According to Workplace Fairness, it boils down to the fact that if an employer asks and gets your written permission, they can do a credit check any time after that, even if you have been employed for a while.
- If there is something negative in your credit report, and they decide that is reason not to hire you (or reason to fire you), the federal law doesn’t have any remedies for it even if the report is inaccurate. Some states have laws covering this area.
- If you are rejected for a job based “in whole or in part” on a negative credit report, the employer has to follow guidelines laid out in the law: give you a copy of that report, and written instructions on challenging the accuracy of the report (like handing you a brochure like “A Summary of Your Rights Under The FCRA” by the FTA).
- Employment Background Checks are a fact of life in the US, so the Federal Trade Commission monitors them. This link is to their page explaining things in a quick summary.
- If you have been keeping up on your credit report monitoring, you are already prepared to explain any negative things on that report. You are familiar with the way it all works because you’ve been consistently learning about it. So you aren’t being hit with a bunch of unfamiliar stuff and you are ready.
Honestly, if you aren’t paying attention to things like your credit report, you are kind of like the guy who puts his dollar bills in a pile and gets surprised when they disappear in the wind. He is making the mistake of thinking a minor detail won’t affect much. It’s really important these days because identity theft happens to anybody and that regular credit check will let you know it happened to you.
Professional Resume Services has covered credit checks along with a lot of other topics on this blog. You can poke around in the archives and get a lot of information! Best of all, you’ll see a little popup (Let’s Talk!) that gives you a chance to ask questions and get answers.
Have you noticed that the working world is kind of like a track event? Some races are marathons, and the runners who win are slow and steady folks who keep on moving ahead, where the sprinters, the ones who zip past leaving their co-workers in a cloud of dust, don’t always stay on track. Not that sprinting is bad, it’s just a different race and the techniques that work in a short speed contest don’t do well in endurance challenges. Track events will generally have a variety of contests and different skills will win different events.
Sometimes an athlete will move from one event to another, like the sprinter in the marathon. If the sprinter has developed the endurance to keep a steady pace and still have the strength to run fast at the end, they will likely be the winner. If they have no endurance, they won’t be able to keep up in the long run. An athlete who has learned how to adapt can switch to several events and win them all, but it takes experience and training. It also takes recognition that they are capable of moving from one category to the next.
A worker who has moved up to manager or supervisor and shown 2 – 10 years of quality work is often ready to be promoted from one event to the next, but they have trouble getting the recognition for their abilities. Because they are seen as capable managers or supervisors, it doesn’t necessarily follow that they will be seen as executives. It’s like the marathon runner has announced they are entering the sprint.
Our professional resume packages highlight all the accomplishments in your career and showcase the skills that you will bring to a promotion. They are perfect for presenting your abilities as a professional ready to add a different category to your career.
If you have been the race for a long time, maybe it is time to up your game. Go over your resume part by part and make sure it represents who you are today and where you see yourself going. Do your accomplishments shine brightly? Is your experience rich with detail but yet concise enough to not bore your reader to tears? Does your resume have action statement and keywords to pass a keyword scanning machine? To stay competitive, update your resume yearly with highlights of what you did the previous year. Don’t leave it until the last minute when someone is asking for it. Like training, it takes a bit of time and thought, but the results will be worth it.
