Posts tagged: executive jobs
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Job search for six figure executives: It’s not a shell game
By rashley, October 29, 2009 7:37 pm
Krishna P. was set to interview with a major company starting a new group/product line. As he prepared he had no idea where to focus, what part of his experience would be appropriate to mention and even if the job as group manager was a replacement or new job.
To say he was at a disadvantage for his first interviews is an understatement. How could he have prevented this confusion? If he wanted to rise above all the competition, he needed to have precise answers to all the interview questions. He could only do that if he could anticipate their needs.
He could have asked questions of the internal recruiter who first contacted him. Why didn’t he? For some odd reason candidates don’t understand they are expected to ask questions about the job so they can prepare for the interviews.
The employer is highly motivated to hire the right person for the job. It isn’t a shell game. They want you to have all the information you can have to make your attempts at the job spot-on. It would have been ok to ask the recruiter why she felt he was a good candidate for the job.
It is ok to ask about the organization, reporting structure and growth plans. It is even more ok to ask if this is a new position and if not, why? If the person moved up in the company, great. If they left, it’s ok to ask what they might have done differently to be more effective.
You can also ask the recruiter what the hiring manager considers to be the top three priorities for the job. The answer may be different from the job description. If people skills are stressed you know what examples to use. If technical expertise is their main concern, you know to tilt your answers that direction.
Ask questions and help the employer hire you.
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Four fatal job search mistakes
By rashley, August 28, 2009 4:12 pm
Executives are used to being in control. They know the outcome they need and how to get it. During a job search, there is little they can do to get what they are after. Sometimes, this results in fatal mistakes.
Is Your LinkedIn Profile Working?
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.
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Overqualified: What can I do? I just want a job.
By rashley, June 14, 2009 4:33 pm
What does ‘overqualified’ really mean?
Few comments by employers are as demoralizing to candidates than, “We like you but you are overqualified for this job.” Read why employers tell you you are overqualified and what you can do about it.
ELEVATOR PITCH HOW TO
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.
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Would you use social networking sites for your job search?
By rashley, June 3, 2009 5:51 pm
A thread in the Executive Marketing Group of LinkedIn* opened a discussion on the value of social networking sites and extreme SEO as marketing tools. Many great points were made, but the main idea was, would social networking take the place of current marketing techniques and outreach?
As a former marketing executive back in the day when computers were steam driven, I tire of listening to all the pet rock conversations. The basics of marketing are the basics of marketing for a reason.
As for the social networks and commerce, doesn’t it all depend on the target audience? The assumption is that the entire customer base for all the products uses Twitter et al. The increased population of social network sites does not reflect those who stay away in droves…read, missed opportunities.
I whine; cannot commerce benefit from a focus on more than just genX, genY.
In the words of one savvy respondent, Paul Van Winkle, Corporate Marketing Officer, “There are clear basics and fundamental principles (of marketing and any other practice) — and there are new developments and contexts. New developments don’t change the requirements for basic principles and knowledge! Yes, false prophets and counsels of fools seem often confused, and are often driving the buses.”
I keep track of the thread and have contributed my own two cents. The concept of using social networking for job search reared its ugly head and I am provoked to rant. Readers of my blog know it doesn’t take much.
In my practice for executives and technology leaders I often field questions about the viability of Facebook and Twitter as employment resources. The answer remains the same and probably will for years; nothing beats talking to people to create a real network (as apposed to simply acquiring contact information). There are better places for executives to spend their precious time be it online or off.
Again, as a job search coach, I am inflamed by the mythologies and carpetbaggers who derail candidates’ job searches with simplistic solutions. I shake my virtual fist at Paul’s false profits who encourage candidates to rely heavily on Twitter et all for leads, connections and job opportunities.
Those who embrace that advice take what looks like the easy way out (it is hard to pick up the phone when you are an exec and you more so when you need something; far easier to use the keyboard) and thus postpone the time when they are once again contributing to the economy by spending their six figure income.
Net? In my view the big picture is the ECONOMIC RECOVERY IS DELAYED by job seekers who embrace all the hoodlihoo about social networks as job search nirvana…And that’s the truth (a quote from Edith Anne, which tells you, I am not a GenY,X.)
I anticipate as I post this blog that I will receive many comments, anecdotal declarations of success using Facebook or Twitter. But the fact remains, statistically, a technology leader or executive’s time is best spent establishing personal connections to real people with whom they create a bond.
*you must be a member of the group to see the thread. LinkedIn is not, in my view a social networking site; it is a business networking site and does not fall into the category discussed in this blog.
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Recruiting cattle-calls and why you should avoid them
By rashley, May 26, 2009 10:35 am
Why executives should avoid being part of the herd
Would you use the lottery as your investment strategy? Are the odds appealing? Do you feel lucky, well, do you?
That’s exactly what you do career-wise when you submit your resume to random recruiters and recruiter groups; play the job-search lottery.
Recruiters post appeals for resumes every where from LinkedIn groups to Craigslist. They frequent sites trolling for resumes to add to their stash. Do you have any idea how they use them? Do you know what happens to your contact information?
Chances are the job you want is local. Chances are the recruiter representing the company you want to work for is also local. Why then, would you seek representation of random recruiters in distant locations, perhaps even distant countries? And why would you seek representation along with a herd of others from across the country?
Doesn’t it make more sense to stand out from the crowd with personal contact? As a hiring authority yourself, were you not always more interested in people to whom you were introduced rather than a faceless resume that found its way to your desk? Who would you invite for an interview? Someone who made the effort to find you, learn about your company and the opportunity or someone who simply sent in a resume through a random recruiter?
Hiring authorities tend to spurn unsolicited resumes submitted by recruiters; and that is what most of the cattle-call recruiters do. They collect resumes and submit them anywhere they know there are openings. They don’t necessarily have the job search, they are playing the placement lottery with your resume.
While that seems appealing at first blush, it is actually quite damaging to your search. Once a resume lands in a company through a recruiter, whether the company invited submission or not, no other recruiter and certainly not the individual, can submit credentials. You are effectively locked out of any jobs from that company because they chose not to deal with that recruiter. And there is no way for you to stand out from the crowd; in fact you rarely know where they have sent your resume.
Once a recruiter has your resume they retain the right to earn money if you are placed where they present your credentials. That is why some recruiters submit your resume to various job boards with their own contact information instead of yours. You have lost control over your resume and wound up in the hands of someone who knows neither how to represent you nor how to represent the job opportunity.
If you are a sales executive the affects of bad representation are doubly damming. You are expected to get to the right people with the right message. What message do you send when a recruiter unknown to the company slings your resume about?
Why run the risk of being shut out, ignored or scammed when there are recruiters who actually have searches for jobs for which you qualify? Don’t take the line of least resistance, you are not a lazy executive, so don’t be a take-the easy-way-out candidate.
The good news is, there are many reputable recruiters who do not engage in such opportunistic activities. Learn to connect with the right recruiters. There are many types of recruiters and the ones you want are established, respected by their clients and typically, looking for you through their network. Learn how to be found. No matter how compelling your resume, without an introduction, the best recruiters will ignore you.
Executives: Retain control over your resume; send it not to cattle-calls or any public forum. Participate, network but don’t expose your resume. Use your LinkedIn profile to attract attention.
Ready to deconstruct your job search? Use Job Search Debugged to remove the obstacles. Learn how to vet recruiters to connect with the one that will place you.
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DON’T ask these questions
By rashley, May 20, 2009 2:19 pm
Most of my clients are driven, successful and highly competitive executives and technology leaders. During their job search, they are compelled to ask employers with whom they have interviewed how they compare to the competition.
- Am I in the running for this job?
- Where do I stand in the ranking?
- How do my credentials stack up compared to the others?
If asked directly, most people will tell you what you want to hear. The data is corrupt. Does knowing where the competition excels change your credentials? Does knowing change your behavior? You can’t change your own credentials and worrying about what others bring to the party is useless and demoralizing. Your self confidence is one of your biggest job search assets. Don’t damage it by asking questions that could hurt; don’t damage your chances by making the interviewer ‘take care’ of you.
Asking ‘how am I doing’ puts the interviewer on notice you are insecure. Why waste your precious interview questions conveying you are needy? Why not ask instead:
- What part of your background is the most compelling for this spot?
- What are the top priorities for hiring? Offer an example of how you have accomplished something similar.
- What do you need to know about my background to consider me for this job?
It is not always the person with the best resume who gets the job. It is the person who conducts a good interview, shows they are enthusiastic about the company, the products and the challenges and the person the interviewers feel is the best fit. Best fit often means, someone with whom I am comfortable. Don’t make the interviewer uncomfortable by asking questions that put them on the spot.
You can’t know what the interviewers are thinking and you can’t know how other candidates interview. Without that data, you are stressing about intangibles. Focus on you and why you believe you are the right person for the job. Help the employer know what you know and that is more than enough.
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Deal-Killer Comments for High Income Executives
By rashley, May 18, 2009 3:42 pm
And how to avoid them.
You know it is true and your frustration is apparent. If you say it out loud, you make it true.
- Job Market is very bad.
- There aren’t a lot of jobs out there at my level.
- I have been looking for quite some time with little results.
- It’s hard to get interviews. I am relieved to have this one.
No one wants to hire a loser. If you make comments like these, that’s exactly how you sound. The folks interviewing you may be friendly, but they are not your friends. Do not confide your frustration. When they ask about how your job search is going, and they may, say instead:
- I am delighted and surprised to see how willing people are to help.
- I am meeting many new people and find networking invigorating.
- There are openings, all those products still need to get created, marketed and sold.
- I like that companies are being very careful in who they hire. It makes good business sense.
People hire positive, high-energy executives. Come across carrying a cup half full. Discuss challenges and solutions, not problems. And most assuredly, ask for the job.
More Deal Killers.
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