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By rashley, February 2, 2010 6:14 pm

Stalled out on your job search?  Here are a few links that discuss issues and advice you can use to get the ball rolling.

Do you smoke? Do you know how it affects your career?

Why do companies post executive jobs on job boards?

Are you really overqualified or do you just not know how to work the system?

Can you learn to interview better?

Do you know a proper metric for a good Job Search Engine (NOT job board).

Here’s where you can find links to research tools.

Fed up with recruiters who misbehave?

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By rashley, October 14, 2009 2:18 pm

This morning my email revealed four personal messages from LinkedIn readers who responded to my comments and posts.

Each complained of overly long job searches and expressed they had no clue what is going on.  They wondered:  Blacklisted?  Are the jobs real?

Nope.  Your writing is so poor your credentials are not being considered.  Seriously, if you can’t write a decent email or cover letter how can you be expected to speak  well and represent the company?

It’s too easy to assume follow-up didn’t occur because of age, too many applicants or other spurious reasons.

Fact is, most cover letters, emails and even blog post responses demonstrate very poor written communications.  No matter how informal the correspondence, it must demonstrate you are literate and educated.  Never say, “It’s just an email.”

Be especially mindful of use of advice/advise and never use exclamation points in business correspondence.  If what you say is important and true, you don’t need to call attention with punctuation.

Don’t get cute or use smiley faces.  Read your missive aloud to ascertain proper sentence structure and word usage.  Still not sure?  Let someone proof your work.

Job Search is stressful and mistakes are easily made. Don’t let your writing mistakes prevent you from making it to the next step.

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first thing people see about you.  Tear yours apart for grammar and sentence structure.  Does every line convey a compelling message?  Can the reader immediately see what you can do for them and why you are exceptional?

Make certain your writing is excellent and you will increase the success of your job search.  Just last week two of my clients received compliments from hiring authorities on the organization and flow of their resumes and cover letter.  People notice. Make certain your communications are being noticed for all the right reasons.

Need help evaluating your LinkedIn profile?  Is your resume getting complements? Do you have a compelling elevator pitch?  Check out my web site for information on Coaching to fix those elements…

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By rashley, September 3, 2009 4:09 pm

A stealth job search is always a risk. Just as soon as you take one interview, you run the risk of discovery regardless of your undercover social networking efforts. No matter how they promise secrecy, folks use the informal network to learn about you. And anyone who sees you enter the building or offices may know you and spread the news. Gossip is a wonderful thing.

Prepare for the worst. Protect yourself financially and know what to say when you are discovered. Then proceed with caution.

In my book, “Job Search Debugged” I discuss the stealth job search at length and mention a case where the candidate took a meeting 22 miles from his office and ran into the CEO’s admin. Discovery is likely regardless of your efforts.

The concept of the ‘passive’ candidate includes being found and courted. The comments above about how to assert your expertise, your brand, are useful but without active participation on the part of the applicant, landing a job that way is a slow road, at best. Establishing your brand for your career is a long term project and if you have been conscientious about that, you are already known. Branding is not just for job search.

Sometimes, honesty is the best policy. Remember, the folks you currently work for will ultimately become your references on the job after this one. Work to preserve them with integrity.

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By rashley, August 25, 2009 10:49 am

Job Coach Lament

I wore my jeans to interview

’cause that’s what they all wear

My job coach told me not to

but I really didn’t care

.

I waited in the Lobby

what seemed a very long time

no one offered eye contact

a wall I sought to climb

.

I thought I was invisible

worst fears of the night

no one took me seriously

could it be the coach was right?

.

Next time there was an interview

I definitely suited up

The receptionist’s eyes told me

my apparel said, “not pup.”

.

The next advice I passed on

with an even worse result

I gave too much information

from childhood to adult

.

I saw the eyes glaze over

no way that she could listen

I kept on giving bio

though I knew I’d blown my mission

.

They asked me about money

and I evaded an actual answer

she glared at me with venom

as if I’d promised her cancer

.

Coach told me to give a number

and not negotiate sans offer

but I argued most effectively

imagining an empty coffer

.

The interview ended quickly

and I was not called back

I guess I didn’t listen

my future looked quite black

.

Why did I pay her money

and then not take her heed

if I knew how to do a job search

I’d have a damned job already.

Original Poem by Rita Ashley, Job Search Coach

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By rashley, July 28, 2009 3:11 pm

Is Your LinkedIn Profile Working?

Working, you say.  What is it supposed to do?  I just want people to know what I do and my job history.

Your LinkedIn profile is often the first thing prospective employers and gatekeepers see regarding your background.  You know yours is working if you are getting introductions, invitations to chat and even interviews. You can check to see a sample of who read your profile.

Go to your ‘Home’ page and view the right side:  ‘Who’s viewed my profile,’ Click on: ‘see more.’

If you have connected with or were referred to some of the organizations listed and you did not get the results you wanted, chances are, you need to change your profile.  If you didn’t contact the organizations listed, chances are, they thought they were interested but didn’t see any reason to follow through.  Something is missing on your profile.

Most people believe a LinkedIn profile is just a truncated version of the resume.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It can be the single most important job search tool you have. Linda Tancs, an employment writer for NJ.com states: A successful LinkedIn profile takes effort.

Your Profile is a marketing piece. Your profile is a tool, which when used correctly, will entice the reader to learn more.  A tool that tells the hiring authority and people who refer candidates to them, exactly why they want to talk to you, immediately.

That’s a huge job for such a small bit of media.  But think about your own behavior.  How often do you ‘research’ someone before you talk to them or when you only think you may want to talk to them?

Where do you start? First off, let readers know how to contact you if they are interested.  Use your public email address (hotmail or gmail, for example) and insert it close to the top of your profile.  Need some ‘air’ around it?  Type a period/enter to create a blank line above and below your email address.

Most common mistake? Your LinkedIn profile is precious digital real estate; use it wisely.  If you want viewers to know how old you are right out of the gate, say, “19 years experience managing new product designs.”  Don’t tell readers how old you are.  Tell them the most important accomplishment in which they would be most interested.

“Launched seven unique products in six seconds with no budget and one hand tied behind my back.”

What it is not. Your profile is a marketing tool, not a biography.  You do not need to list all your jobs or all your positions.  It is neither a resume nor a legal document.

If you want to list previous companies to attract certain populations, go ahead, but only list those.  Leaving lots of white makes for a more pleasing viewing experience.  Leaving lots to the imagination encourages people to contact you.

Your opinion does not count. Readers are not interested in your own view of your work.  “Successful marketing executive with impressive history of product launches” may be true, but your readers need proof, not your opinions.  Try to give examples of your success and let your work speak for itself.

Other people’s opinions count a lot. Use the ‘references’ section eagerly.  Invite folks who have worked for you, with you and managed you to make comments.  Notice the first line is visible. Recraft them to be punch lines (ask permission to modify) to encourage readers to click to read more.

Invite references over time so your updates appear constantly in your network’s radar.  Nothing better to help them recall what a swell person you are and keep you in mind when they hear about a job or person you should know.

Resist the urge to respond immediately to those who give you a reference.  Space out your responses over time to appear in the updates sections and also to get around the appearance of quid pro quo on references.

More white space. Unless your groups memberships are germane to your profession, leave the logos off your profile.  Go to the membership section of each and click off the ‘show logo’ box.

Do you have a blog? I encourage all my clients to create and maintain an industry specific blog to enhance their personal marketing efforts.  If your blog titles are not spot-on to your professional job search efforts, write some new ones.  These headlines are an effective way for viewers to learn more about you.  Use them wisely.

It goes without saying, though you’d be startled to know how often I am forced to say it, check for spelling and grammar.  One mistake can turn viewers off because they immediately jump to, “Not detail oriented” or “careless” or worse, “illiterate.”  Invite someone to review your profile before you publish because we often can’t see our own mistakes.

When you are truly delighted with your profile, when you believe it is compelling and an excellent personal advertisement, incorporate your profile address in your email signature and use it anytime you write a blog or answer a blog online.  Broadcast this marketing piece and you become your own advertisement agency.

For more advice on using LinkedIn for Job Search download your free copy at www.jobsearchdebugged.com

For a job search tune-up read Job Search Debugged, an insider’s guide to a compelling job search.

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By thejobcoach, June 11, 2009 12:51 pm

  THE ELEVATOR PITCH–Is Yours Working?

Your brand [Elevator Pitch] is the promise you make to a prospective employer.  Shivonne Byrne, Microsoft Branding Executive.

Do people respond to it with questions about your work, your success or processes? Do they want to learn more? Do they invite you to talk about your credentials? Do they offer to introduce you to others? Do they show interest so you can invite them to meet at a future date? Do they ask for your business card?

Simply stated, the Elevator Pitch is a powerful tool to gain the attention of a person who will offer leads, an opportunity and introductions to people who can provide them.  The whole idea of the elevator pitch is to communicate very quickly why they want to learn more.

The tactic you use is to relate what you do to what they do. Understand your client. If, for example, you are talking to a financial person and you are an IT professional, you probably don’t want to stress the latest technologies you implemented in record time. You do want to stress how what you did affected the bottom line or the impact your work had on the stock or upcoming IPO.

Critical to this conversation is your own understanding of what you do.

• What makes you unique and why anyone would care?
• Your pitch must be clear, succinct and interesting.

Your pitch becomes the basis for your resume and all your outreach.  It is the fulcrum of all your communications and the trigger that creates conversations, generates interviews and signals to contacts why they want to help you.

This is your opportunity to convey your passion for what you do and the importance of the outcomes. Need more reasons to create a great Elevator pitch?  Think about all those social networking events where you just didn’t know how to start a conversation, or worse, stammered when someone asked, “what do you do?”  Your elevator pitch at the ready, you can respond with confidence.

An article worth reading: Good Advice for an Elevator Pitch.  For a tutorial on elevator pitches download Elevator Pitch Essentials from Chris O’leary.  His guide is free and endorsed by Guy Kawasaki.  Of course, I would be remiss if I did not suggest you should purchase my book, Job Search Debugged, to get the full range of elevator pitch uses.

OK, that’s the theory of the Elevator pitch, here’s reality. In all my years in recruiting and coaching I’ve rarely found anyone who has their pitch down cold. It is difficult to see our own image. Often, the pitch is lukewarm and the words just stumble out because the job seeker isn’t comfortable with it. Or worse, it sounds canned and doesn’t change with the audience.

Tip:  Say your elevator pitch to a twelve year old.  If they can tell you what you do, you have a good pitch.  If not, keep working until yours is clear and simple.  Crafting your pitch isn’t the time to show you are the smartest person in the room; it is the time to say something so interesting, the listener asks questions.

The Internet has fundamentally altered job search behavior – the way employers identify, evaluate and hire is changed forever.  Email me for your free chapter:     BASICS FOR SIX-FIGURE INCOME CANDIDATES

Job Seekers must accept employer behavior has evolved and learn how to use digital job search methods to land their jobs.  Effective use of LinkedIn, blogs and search engine alerts combined with excellent use of job search engines gets you a faster outcome.

Download Job Search Debugged and learn how to:

• Get what you need from your network; job leads and introductions
• Avoid common traps that trip up the competition
• Create messaging that makes you memorable
• Use digital job search tools to optimize your search

Want a sneak peek at the table of contents?  Job Search Debugged Table of Contents.

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By rashley, May 13, 2009 2:28 pm

Executives, are you using the same job search techniques you did when you were a manager or individual contributor?

Six figure income executives visit a different job search landscape from that of individual contributors and managers.

Over eighty percent of executive jobs are filled through some form of networking.  Thus, the tsunami of advice to job seekers to use social networking sites, job boards and resume submission-based recruiters is simply wrong.  Don’t get caught in a wave of desperation and give away your executive edge.

Here are just some of the errors I encounter weekly:

Executives send their resume to anyone with an email address. I am a job search coach yet half of the people who contact me to learn what I do send me an unsolicited resume.  I am not a recruiter, do not place people and have no direct access to employers.  I asked one sales executive why he sent his resume and his answer was, “You never know.”  Not a great strategy for an executive job search.

LinkedIn profile is the resume. Why would anyone call to ask for your resume if they have already read it?  There is no texture or color, just a resume.  The profile is an opportunity to create buzz; it is a marketing opportunity, not a biography.

Executives succumb to recruiters who cast gill nets for resumes on public forums.  How can you distinguish yourself with a mass resume acquisition process?  Recruiters who place executives have connections to those executives.  They expect to be introduced by way of their network; they do not use job boards or cattle calls to locate the “A” players their clients require.

Not knowing how to get an introduction, many executives resort to unsolicited email or even Federal Express to convey their resume.  As hiring authorities, when was the last time you responded to a spam-like email with a resume?  Bet you didn’t even open the attachment.   It is not unusual that subsequent emails will be blocked as spam.

And that resume you mailed, FedEx or not, will land on an admin’s desk and be forwarded to HR, not the manager.  Who knows what happens from there.

Cold calling the hiring authority sounds better than it is. Assuming you can even get through, making a pitch to an executive is typically seen as an aggressive intrusion.  Again, remember how you feel when someone pitches to you during your busy work day.  It is unlikely you will be invited to send your resume or interview, plus, the person you called is annoyed with you and will remember your name.  If you find another avenue to present your credentials, they are now seen as damaged goods.

When did you learn how to conduct a job search? Looking for a job is something most executives rarely do.  Most “A” players never have because they were always recruited.  They rarely had to ask for introductions, leads or find a recruiter.

So how do you become as expert at job search as you are at doing your job?  The successful look for advice from experts, ask for help and listen to any critique they can garner.  But there is so much bad advice out there, how do you know what will work for you?

Vet the advice the same way you would vet any vendor; check references.  Ask if you are the target audience.

Examine their credentials.

• Do they have experience hiring people like you or working directly with hiring authorities (Not HR)?
• Have they been an executive?
• Do they have a track record and time in service?
• Is that resume writer experienced with hiring people who do what you do?
• What do hiring authorities say about resumes from that service?

Be especially careful with advice you find on public forums. Most of it is directed towards people less senior in their career.  There are more of them and that is the sweet spot for most advice and employment service providers.  Much advice is offered by people who consider their advice, ‘giving back’ not realizing they don’t have the experience or world view to know if their advice is appropriate for others and in this job market.  It is akin to the CTO taking the advice of the product manager on how to architect an IT revitalization.

Take care to protect your brand. If you are a qualified senior executive, be selective in your job search techniques; you are judged by the company you keep and your process.  Vet the advice and vet the people who represent you.  Be as selective and careful in your job search as you are when you run your organization.

My solution: You wouldn’t be reading this blog if you weren’t looking for job search advice.  You checked my bio or have read my blogs and LinkedIn comments so you know you can trust my insights.  Now it’s time for you to take aggressive action on your job search to get the interviews you want and the offers you need.  Deconstruct your job search process and rebuild it from the ground up.  Purchase Job Search Debugged to walk you through an effective executive-level job search. Learn from hiring authorities and an industry insider who tells you where the rocks are and how to avoid them.  The book is specific to executives and has received rave reviews from my clients as well as general readers.

Join my LinkedIn group, Employment advice for executives.  Use the search box under find a group and enroll.  Executives only, no recruiters or other service providers.  Just advice, discussions and job lead sharing.  Ask questions, tell folks what resources work for you and gather with peers for support.

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By rashley, May 3, 2009 5:50 pm

Executives, Would you like to be caught for that big six figure job?

Let’s say you want to catch a sturgeon. Each day, you pay someone dearly to motor a boat to deep waters where there are sharks, deep sea anglers and dragon fish; lots of activity, many fish, but not one sturgeon in the bunch.   You are worn out and demoralized from trying.  You use your best equipment and you know you know how to fish; but still, no sturgeon.

If you want to catch a sturgeon, you have to fish in cold water lakes and rivers. Submitting your resume to job boards, corporate websites and all those LinkedIn recruiting sites is a bit like fishing for sturgeon in deep ocean water.

This is not another fish tale; you want to land a job? Go where the employers are looking for candidates.  You have to know how to be found because they are certainly looking.  There are jobs out there in spite of what the media and your unemployed friends tell you.  All those products need to be created, marketed, supported and sold regardless of our weakened economy.

Don’t believe for one moment that you chum the waters with resumes to countless job boards, resume sites and corporate websites.  All that accomplishes is you bloody the waters to become prey for sharks.  Those public resume aggregators receive thousands of resumes from job seekers; you have no opportunity to stand out from the crowd, to be seen.  And many are scams, identity thieves, and just plain bogus.  That’s why you rarely hear back and if you do, you rarely make it to the first interview.

Referred and recruited candidates trump random submissions every time. It is your job to do everything you can to get found, to be wanted.  Know the resources sophisticated employers/recruiters use and increase the possibility you will be lured into an interview.

One very smart internal recruiter caught the biggest fish possible for her employer.  Her success demonstrates the typical methods hiring authorities use.  She ignored all the website-submitted resumes gathering dust on her virtual desk; in fact, she never looked at them.

Her company had an EVP spot and needed an excruciatingly specific track record and skill set.  She knew the best use of her time was to talk to only those people with that skill set.  She located the top five companies who had the metric she needed then located the names of the execs responsible for that success.

She used a variety of resources to vet her suspects.  She first examined the corporate website for a bio and product information. Next, she used LinkedIn just to get an idea of former employers, quality of references and an overview of how these suspects saw themselves as represented by their summary.  She then looked at blogs and any number of other internet contributions from each of her suspects.  She needed someone who was beyond reproach technically, but who had a leadership style that demonstrated collaboration.  The tone and type of contributions (brand identity) she discovered narrowed her search to only two candidates whom she called to introduce herself.  She used a Boolean string to find direct contact information which interestingly, was also on the blogs she read.

Executives and technology leaders are in a different class from most candidates.  Do not be confused by all those recruiters who cast gill nets for new connections and make an appearance on every public forum trolling for submissions.  You are a rare breed and the recruiters who can place you are not to be found in their ranks.   If you are a big fish, avoid these recruiters.

Many jobs will be filled by the hiring authorities themselves through their network and online efforts which are not largely different from the resources recruiters use.

Quality employers and recruiters look for successful executives and technology leaders to recruit.  They have a network of long-term connections; they are not hit and run artists who collect (and ignore) resumes.  And these recruiters make anywhere from 20-30% of all executive level placements.  These are the recruiters by whom you want to be caught.  You have to swim in waters where they fish.

Blogs: Many experienced recruiters prefer to set alerts and search blogs for quality candidates. They use Boolean strings to isolate exactly the skills and requirements they need. They look for comments made on specific topics and they look for blogs on point to their client’s needs.

Clearly, if so many recruiters, both internal and external and hiring authorities in general, are looking for quality candidates on blogs, you need to be found there.

1. Answer questions using your full signature and LinkedIn profile address.
2. Write a blog of your own and keep it professional and on topic for your brand identity.
3. Create strategic alliances with other bloggers topic-adjacent and share links to each others sites.
4. Answer questions, start discussions and link to your site as a news article on LinkedIn and use your blog as part of your signature.

Social networking sites: Clean up and maintain your LinkedIn profile.  It is the first place people look once they have your name.  And some crafty employers use LinkedIn search tools to find people with certain former employers, titles and skill sets.

Twitter, Facebook and  others are, in my view, best used as a job search resource by job seekers young in their career.  You will read a lot about how they are used for job search, but your job search is different.  There are fewer jobs for executives and technology leaders than individual contributors and those employers tend to use more sophisticated options.

That having been said, do maintain your profiles and use the sites to promote your personal brand.  It’s like chicken soup, it couldn’t hurt.

Conferences and trade shows: Most companies set aside time and resources during conferences to cast a line to hook great candidates.  On more than one occasion when I was a recruiter, I was invited by clients to attend conferences with them to look for and qualify suspects my client could interview for key positions.  Today, even more resources are spent at conferences to locate industry-specific experts.  Be one.

1. Attend all conferences, trade shows and seminars where your target employer may be.
2. Volunteer to promote or organize the event
3. Offer a strategic employer your services to assist with booth duty
4. Attend your brand-specific topics and ask provocative questions
5. Come to each session early and linger to meet people
6. Stay in the radar of conference organizers as a prospective speaker or moderator
7. Write a brand-specific white paper to present or have available to attendees

Community: Many hiring authorities look to the community, both business and other for prospective employees.  They want to connect with people with shared values and interests.

1. Volunteer in organizations for which you are passionate
2. Attend business community events and engage.  Working to create and lead programs is a better advertisement for your brand than simply attending.
3. Participate in every and all alumni group for which you qualify
4. Become a mentor.  Get better visibility by helping others who succeed.

Your network: Job search by multiplication is accomplished through your network.  Employers ask the people they know and trust for referrals.  Big fish swim with other big fish.  Be that referral.  It is not enough to let your connections know you are looking for a new job.  You increase the chance they can actually help if they know what help looks like.

1. Hone your elevator pitch so everyone knows what you will be hired to do
2. Ask only for what your connection can deliver easily
3. Remember to return the favor
4. Stay connected but don’t badger; pay attention to their needs not just yours
5. Connect with and maintain relationships with a few good recruiters
6. Contentiously maintain your personal brand

And most important, maintain the big-fish attitude. If you are unemployed while looking for that next great job keep your spirits up; unemployment didn’t change your credentials or the value of your experience.  Just like that 100 lb sturgeon, focus on what you are going toward, not what you are going away from.

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By thejobcoach, April 29, 2009 3:12 pm

DIGITAL JOB SEARCH AND PERSONAL BRANDING

Installment five

Books, seminars and all manner of digital offerings are available to illuminate the nuances of creating and maintaining a personal brand.  Personal branding for your job search is not an arcane art. If you are a six figure income executive or technology leader, you already have a brand.  You may not know what it is, but it is there.

Jeremy Siegel offers a well researched piece on personal branding and social networking sites.  His article is an excellent overview and leads right into this post which tells you how to embrace your personal brand specifically for your immediate needs of your job search.

Step one: There are tools that reveal how the world sees you digitally.  I like setting alerts on search engines since a simple Google search reveals only a partial picture of your digital existence.

Step two: Uncover even more of what prospective employers see, select a few of the tools mentioned on this excellent list from JobMob.

Once you know your digital brand you can maintain or correct it based on what you want employers to know about you and to increase the probability you will be found when they use sophisticated search tools to locate your special expertise.  Don’t think employers use digital tools to find you?  Take a look at the Boolean Strings groups on LinkedIn, use a search engine ‘Boolean strings, recruiters’ and read what the Boolean Strings black belt has to say.  And this is just one resource they use.  Some recruiters have been quoted saying they prefer to use blog entries to locate the experts they need as candidates.

Step three: LinkedIn is a significant branding opportunity.  Use it correctly and you become a candidate, use it poorly and you are overlooked or discarded as a candidate.  For an extensive guide to using LinkedIn for Job Search, download my free white paper.

Most people use LinkedIn to vet any new connection.  Job seekers use it for myriad purposes.  And employers and recruiters use it extensively to determine if they want to take next-steps with a prospective candidate.  Here are a few things you can do today.

1. Use the profile section as a marketing tool, not a recap of your resume.  Learn the priority of prospective employers and highlight your expertise in that area.
2. Solicit every reference you can garner.  Prospective employers read them, especially if they are short, sweet and on point to their requirements.
3. Insert your public email address so anyone can contact you easily.  Public because the spam catchers are invaluable.
4. Ask and answer questions germane to your brand.

Step four: Measure every social networking site where you have a profile against the brand you want to portray.  Is it consistent with the image you want employers to see?  Sure, these are person sites, but make no mistake, employers see them.

Step five: Join and participate in groups associated with your brand.  LinkedIn provides resources for groups where you will be in contact with peers.  Go beyond LinkedIn.  Join your college alumni groups as well as alumni groups of former employers.

Step six: Blog.  Don’t have one of your own?  Then use key-word searches based on your brand and contribute to related blogs.  Use your LinkedIn profile in your signature.

Step seven: Know your elevator pitch.  Use it at all business networking gatherings and cover letters.  Let your elevator pitch broadcast your brand.

Take care of these basic chores and return here for other advice on personal branding for job search.  My personal soap box includes the advice to watch your writing; make certain you are seen as someone who pays attention to detail, is literate and communicates well.  Without this, no amount of branding will gain traction.

Click here to learn why your brand is critical to your job search Installment One

Click here for installment two on Digital Job Search and Branding.

For discussion of how to discover how the world sees you: installment three.

Click here for installment four to discover your current identity.

Click here to start your branding efforts for your job search installment five

If you are ready for a job search tune-up purchase Job Search Debugged.

For step-by-step guidance to improve your networking results read Networking Debugged.

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By thejobcoach, May 9, 2008 5:58 pm

You know the majority of management positions are filled through referrals and you want people to recognize and remember you when they are chartered with finding top management. Invest in your occupational future now. Get to the right people and engage in a highly targeted job search when the time comes, make time now and change your lifestyle. Learn business networking beyond the typical social networking opportunities

Focus on Your Golf game. Join the most prestigious country club you can afford and spend time there. Consider the expense of membership an investment in your career. Bring your significant other, be part of the community. Participate in planning and organizing for hosted competitions. No need to debate the stereotypes of executives and golf. Just accept that many highly placed notables play golf. There is instant rapport and kinship among members and as long as folks know what you do when you don’t play golf, they will remember you the next time a position opens. Don’t solicit job leads. You will quickly become persona non grata at the clubhouse.

Do meet people at the nineteenth hole and encourage conversations. Don’t over indulge. Remember, you are conducting a “pre-interview.” Come prepared with interesting topics beyond, “How about those Seahawks.” Listen well, ask appropriate questions and leave them laughing. Keep business cards available but don’t push them. If you meet someone you like and want to know better, follow up in a week or so for lunch.

Volunteerism is so important to corporate America that each year many companies furlough chosen executives to work full time on behalf of various charities. Red Cross, United Way, American Cancer Society to name a few have a corporate presence and encourage senior executives to participate in outreach. Google 200 largest charities to discover who best suits your geographic needs and temperament. Get involved. Get known for something outside your profession and people from your profession will take notice.

It is easier to get known to Board Members or “C” level executives when the purpose is to discuss giving. Remember, you are building a Rolodex for the future, so don’t lose focus on the charitable mission.

Every city with cultural venues needs locals to support their fund raising activities. Many of the Museum and Symphony organizations are run by wealthy volunteers; volunteers with spouses and connections who can help in your quest. Don’t be shy about encouraging your significant other to join you as you spend quality time working the upcoming auction or black and white ball. The camaraderie built pursuing a shared mission often results in long term associations.

Wrestle some free time from your schedule to work with a children’s organization or sports team. Not only will you enjoy it, you may find kindred spirits who can introduce you to their network. All outreach is good outreach.

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