Executives - Energize Your Job Search with These Best Practices for Executive Job Search
By Darrell DiZoglio, Executive Resume Writer/CPRW of http://RighteousResumes.com Copyright 12/7/2022 all rights reserved. This info article is continuously updated.
Well, that headline sure sounds good, but how can an executive/high-income earner revitalize and increase the chances of securing a rewarding new executive-level career when you have already been laid off, we are in a serious recession with mass layoffs nationwide, or you need transition to an entirely new field?
Find the best Executive Resume Writer you can and order a professionally written executive resume, cover letters and LinkedIn professional profile from an expert (it's an investment in you with a high ROI). You must insist on an expert who takes the time for in-depth personal interviews, is a CPRW and has a proven track record of success (see LinkedIn recommendations). Verify the creation date of their website with a WhoIs search because the Internet is so full of hype and scams it's scary. Ideally, you want a CPRW who is talented, skilled and smart enough to work for themselves and has at least ten years in business. If you don't do this foundational step, you could waste 6-18 months without invites to employment interviews. Every farmer has to buy his seeds and sew them. They do so with confidence annually because they know the return on investment is sky high.
Contribute something positive and helpful in your LI network feed/YouTube videos to help others. Champion a nonprofit organization that needs help with fundraising or volunteers. This increases your online visibility, helps you grow your professional network/followers, and when you impress the right people wonderful things can happen.
Reconnect with your professional network, make them aware of your current situation and ask for assistance. Yes, that's right now after helping others for decades, you deserve a bit of help. If you have less than 500+ connections on LinkedIn, it's essential to start growing your professional network as well.
Politely ask for LinkedIn recommendations or recommendation letters from your former Supervisors, Board Members, best clients and key business partners. With 15-20 LinkedIn recommendations you will be the most credible candidate with plenty of independent third-party evidence so executive hiring committees feel 100% comfortable hiring you.
Start having business lunches to reconnect with best connections/colleagues/ideally positioned to help you colleagues because friends help each other. Who they know and can recommend you to as insiders in great organizations is even more important than who you know.
Practice answering the most popular interview questions until you are 100% satisfied when you listen to your answers on playback from digital recorder. If this is a weak point, you probably want to consider hiring a Job Search Coach like myself for interview practice sessions. Completing three thirty-minute interview practice sessions with feedback is a big confidence booster.
If your education, training and technology skills are not impressive enough to make you a leading candidate, start doing something immediately to upgrade them. Master's degrees, IT Certifications, Executive Leadership Certifications and MBAs are very common now among executive candidates. Why should you appear less attractive to executive search committees?
Leverage LinkedIn's ultra-powerful search engine optimization and pre-existing audience/users aka your ideal target market (the executive selection committee/employers and recruiters) by ensuring you cast a wide net with your LI profile to attract as many profile views as possible. Most high-income earners/executives/senior executives are open to multiple leadership roles such as COO, Chief of Staff, CEO/President, Executive Director (if nonprofit organization), and/or Partner.
Review your Google search engine results, LinkedIn posting history, and Facebook history and delete any posts/ comments that would not reflect positively on you. You want to display good-great social skills, emotional intelligence and a positive attitude. Yes, employers will be reviewing your Google & Bing search results, especially if you are a high-income earner, leader, or executive. Larger employers will often hire a Private Investigator to do your background checks, employment verifications, Google search engine and social media review, and reference checks. Yes, the most admired employers, the federal government, and top tier employers in particular are very careful about who they hire as key employees, leaders and executives.
Capitalize on multiple targeted resumes for each of your primary career goals (see above example), to tailor your resume's content for each career goal/job title for far better results/highest keyword density scores = more interviews. Likewise, always avoid generic one-size-fits-all resumes like the plague because there is a tremendous difference between a CEO, CMO, CTO, Chief Sales Officer, CFO, COO, CISO, and a Chief of Health Care Operations. Using one multipurpose resume shows the executive selection committee that you are indecisive, dramatically weakens all the content/sales effort, and reduces keyword density too much to be viewed by human eyeballs. Who wouldn't want to be seen as a viable candidate when compared side-by-side with top contenders.
Face the cold, hard fact that every business/corporation has a duty to hire exclusively from the top 3-5% of candidates period. Why? Because every business is facing competition for their market share every single day. It's a matter of survival of the fittest, smartest and those who generate the best results.
Massive determined and sustained action on your part will be required in your executive job search. Yes, there are companies that say they can help you by delegating the job search to them, however over the last 20 years, I have never heard of a single high-income/executive-level client who was hired as a result of their services. The good news is that your professional network and the connections they have could be a great help to you in the race to secure employment. Further, your LinkedIn professional network can help you access the hidden job market. I am happy to report that many executives/high-income earners secure employment thanks to the efforts of their professional network.
Purchase or create irresistible executive-level letters of introduction with a call to action to open new doors of opportunity/access the hidden job market. Sending out at ten letters of introduction per week will certainly help you gain momentum in your job search.
Capitalize on mega-growth trends because that's where the bulk of the hiring is happening (Success Tip #1 - HowToFindWorkNow.org) and definitely steer-clear of declining industries.
Use a trump card to remove all doubt: Create, maintain (monthly), and use an evidence file to dazzle skeptical interviewers with during panel interviews with the executive selection committee.
Look for turnaround opportunities to unleash your true talents by using stock charts to find companies that have stock charts showing a sinking/plummeting/bottomed share price. These companies need leadership talent the most and they need it now. These employers are ideal candidates to create your own opportunity with a letter of introduction.
Use the LinkedIn EZ-Button on LinkedIn Job Postings and the Open to Work signal to employers/Recruiters. The LI easy button instantly transfers all your LI profile data and completes the application process for you in under five minutes per application vs. the traditional applications process, which can take hours. ***However, you must have a professionally written LinkedIn profile to do this because you will not get any worthwhile results unless you rank in the top 5% of candidates who have applied. Likewise, begging for help from your professional network with posts to your LI newsfeed/direct messages when you have a weak-subpar/awful LinkedIn profile is nonproductive at best.
If you are a high-income earner/executive who is not getting interviews/progressing in interviews or receiving job offers, send your best current resume, LinkedIn profile URL, and your favorite job posting/#1 career goal to me at zane@righteousresumes.com for a complimentary resume evaluation, recommendations and quote for services required. It could be your resume/LI profile, job search skills need to be updated to best practices in job search, employment interviewing skills need improving, your references are not all positive, you do not meet all the requirements or lack of professional follow up. Allow 24-36 hours please.
Target Member, Board of Director opportunities in your spare time to help boost visibility, C-level connections, perceived expertise, and increase your income, especially if you are unemployed.
Open yourself up to more opportunities by being open to interim positions/high-level consulting work (where you make new C-level relationships, solve problems, and demonstrate your prowess), remote opportunities/telecommuting, being willing to travel domestically/internationally as needed, and/or being willing to relocate. Consider using one of the established resume distribution services with great online reviews (big time savers).
If you are still struggling to secure gainful employment, consider hiring a Job Search Coach who serves high-income earners and executives. Sometimes all you need to tip the scales in your favor are an expert's insight or an outsider's perspective.
Keep learning new skills, demonstrate that you are a life-long learner in your career documents, add more education, training or tech skills. Why? Because if two high-income earners or executives are equal in all respects except one has two recent executive-leadership certifications and the other has nothing new since a bachelor's degree in 1982, the continuous life-long learner will win almost every time. Please don't let yourself slip into dinosaur status, when most employers are happy to reimburse you for continuing education/training that's relevant and helpful.
Follow up and follow through during your job search. Send off thank you letters after employment interviews, and high-quality follow up on all interviews that you know went well with a professional-grade follow-up letter if two weeks has passed without a status update/invite to another interview. Follow up is part of being a professional, proves you have desire, enthusiasm, confidence, and intelligence, and separates the winners from the masses.
We are in a serious recession, so letting employers know that you are willing and able to travel as needed, and able to relocate if necessary, will open up more career opportunities for you.
Finally, acknowledge that employers only want to hire the one best candidate out of thousands of executive-level candidates. So, when you see 499 candidates have already applied to a LinkedIn job posting, just know that does not include applications from dozens of major job-posting websites like Indeed.com, industry specific websites for job postings, the employer's career page, or passive candidates sourced by Recruiters. Re-examine the weakest parts of your job search and do the work/make the investment required to win-over executive selection committees. Executive-level vacancies do occur far less frequently than professionals, Supervisors and Managers, but you can measure your progress along the way.
Would you like to be winning from the beginning in your job search? If you answered YES, then visit the #1 Resume Writing Expert/Certified Professional Resume Writer in the nation at http://RighteousResumes.com. Offices located in Dallas Texas, however we service clients all over North America by phone and email. Click the link above to say, "Yes to Success."
By Darrell DiZoglio, Executive Resume Writer/CPRW of http://RighteousResumes.com Copyright 12/7/2022 all rights reserved. This info article is continuously updated.
Well, that headline sure sounds good, but how can an executive/high-income earner revitalize and increase the chances of securing a rewarding new executive-level career when you have already been laid off, we are in a serious recession with mass layoffs nationwide, or you need transition to an entirely new field?
Find the best Executive Resume Writer you can and order a professionally written executive resume, cover letters and LinkedIn professional profile from an expert (it's an investment in you with a high ROI). You must insist on an expert who takes the time for in-depth personal interviews, is a CPRW and has a proven track record of success (see LinkedIn recommendations). Verify the creation date of their website with a WhoIs search because the Internet is so full of hype and scams it's scary. Ideally, you want a CPRW who is talented, skilled and smart enough to work for themselves and has at least ten years in business. If you don't do this foundational step, you could waste 6-18 months without invites to employment interviews. Every farmer has to buy his seeds and sew them. They do so with confidence annually because they know the return on investment is sky high.
Contribute something positive and helpful in your LI network feed/YouTube videos to help others. Champion a nonprofit organization that needs help with fundraising or volunteers. This increases your online visibility, helps you grow your professional network/followers, and when you impress the right people wonderful things can happen.
Reconnect with your professional network, make them aware of your current situation and ask for assistance. Yes, that's right now after helping others for decades, you deserve a bit of help. If you have less than 500+ connections on LinkedIn, it's essential to start growing your professional network as well.
Politely ask for LinkedIn recommendations or recommendation letters from your former Supervisors, Board Members, best clients and key business partners. With 15-20 LinkedIn recommendations you will be the most credible candidate with plenty of independent third-party evidence so executive hiring committees feel 100% comfortable hiring you.
Start having business lunches to reconnect with best connections/colleagues/ideally positioned to help you colleagues because friends help each other. Who they know and can recommend you to as insiders in great organizations is even more important than who you know.
Practice answering the most popular interview questions until you are 100% satisfied when you listen to your answers on playback from digital recorder. If this is a weak point, you probably want to consider hiring a Job Search Coach like myself for interview practice sessions. Completing three thirty-minute interview practice sessions with feedback is a big confidence booster.
If your education, training and technology skills are not impressive enough to make you a leading candidate, start doing something immediately to upgrade them. Master's degrees, IT Certifications, Executive Leadership Certifications and MBAs are very common now among executive candidates. Why should you appear less attractive to executive search committees?
Leverage LinkedIn's ultra-powerful search engine optimization and pre-existing audience/users aka your ideal target market (the executive selection committee/employers and recruiters) by ensuring you cast a wide net with your LI profile to attract as many profile views as possible. Most high-income earners/executives/senior executives are open to multiple leadership roles such as COO, Chief of Staff, CEO/President, Executive Director (if nonprofit organization), and/or Partner.
Review your Google search engine results, LinkedIn posting history, and Facebook history and delete any posts/ comments that would not reflect positively on you. You want to display good-great social skills, emotional intelligence and a positive attitude. Yes, employers will be reviewing your Google & Bing search results, especially if you are a high-income earner, leader, or executive. Larger employers will often hire a Private Investigator to do your background checks, employment verifications, Google search engine and social media review, and reference checks. Yes, the most admired employers, the federal government, and top tier employers in particular are very careful about who they hire as key employees, leaders and executives.
Capitalize on multiple targeted resumes for each of your primary career goals (see above example), to tailor your resume's content for each career goal/job title for far better results/highest keyword density scores = more interviews. Likewise, always avoid generic one-size-fits-all resumes like the plague because there is a tremendous difference between a CEO, CMO, CTO, Chief Sales Officer, CFO, COO, CISO, and a Chief of Health Care Operations. Using one multipurpose resume shows the executive selection committee that you are indecisive, dramatically weakens all the content/sales effort, and reduces keyword density too much to be viewed by human eyeballs. Who wouldn't want to be seen as a viable candidate when compared side-by-side with top contenders.
Face the cold, hard fact that every business/corporation has a duty to hire exclusively from the top 3-5% of candidates period. Why? Because every business is facing competition for their market share every single day. It's a matter of survival of the fittest, smartest and those who generate the best results.
Massive determined and sustained action on your part will be required in your executive job search. Yes, there are companies that say they can help you by delegating the job search to them, however over the last 20 years, I have never heard of a single high-income/executive-level client who was hired as a result of their services. The good news is that your professional network and the connections they have could be a great help to you in the race to secure employment. Further, your LinkedIn professional network can help you access the hidden job market. I am happy to report that many executives/high-income earners secure employment thanks to the efforts of their professional network.
Purchase or create irresistible executive-level letters of introduction with a call to action to open new doors of opportunity/access the hidden job market. Sending out at ten letters of introduction per week will certainly help you gain momentum in your job search.
Capitalize on mega-growth trends because that's where the bulk of the hiring is happening (Success Tip #1 - HowToFindWorkNow.org) and definitely steer-clear of declining industries.
Use a trump card to remove all doubt: Create, maintain (monthly), and use an evidence file to dazzle skeptical interviewers with during panel interviews with the executive selection committee.
Look for turnaround opportunities to unleash your true talents by using stock charts to find companies that have stock charts showing a sinking/plummeting/bottomed share price. These companies need leadership talent the most and they need it now. These employers are ideal candidates to create your own opportunity with a letter of introduction.
Use the LinkedIn EZ-Button on LinkedIn Job Postings and the Open to Work signal to employers/Recruiters. The LI easy button instantly transfers all your LI profile data and completes the application process for you in under five minutes per application vs. the traditional applications process, which can take hours. ***However, you must have a professionally written LinkedIn profile to do this because you will not get any worthwhile results unless you rank in the top 5% of candidates who have applied. Likewise, begging for help from your professional network with posts to your LI newsfeed/direct messages when you have a weak-subpar/awful LinkedIn profile is nonproductive at best.
If you are a high-income earner/executive who is not getting interviews/progressing in interviews or receiving job offers, send your best current resume, LinkedIn profile URL, and your favorite job posting/#1 career goal to me at zane@righteousresumes.com for a complimentary resume evaluation, recommendations and quote for services required. It could be your resume/LI profile, job search skills need to be updated to best practices in job search, employment interviewing skills need improving, your references are not all positive, you do not meet all the requirements or lack of professional follow up. Allow 24-36 hours please.
Target Member, Board of Director opportunities in your spare time to help boost visibility, C-level connections, perceived expertise, and increase your income, especially if you are unemployed.
Open yourself up to more opportunities by being open to interim positions/high-level consulting work (where you make new C-level relationships, solve problems, and demonstrate your prowess), remote opportunities/telecommuting, being willing to travel domestically/internationally as needed, and/or being willing to relocate. Consider using one of the established resume distribution services with great online reviews (big time savers).
If you are still struggling to secure gainful employment, consider hiring a Job Search Coach who serves high-income earners and executives. Sometimes all you need to tip the scales in your favor are an expert's insight or an outsider's perspective.
Keep learning new skills, demonstrate that you are a life-long learner in your career documents, add more education, training or tech skills. Why? Because if two high-income earners or executives are equal in all respects except one has two recent executive-leadership certifications and the other has nothing new since a bachelor's degree in 1982, the continuous life-long learner will win almost every time. Please don't let yourself slip into dinosaur status, when most employers are happy to reimburse you for continuing education/training that's relevant and helpful.
Follow up and follow through during your job search. Send off thank you letters after employment interviews, and high-quality follow up on all interviews that you know went well with a professional-grade follow-up letter if two weeks has passed without a status update/invite to another interview. Follow up is part of being a professional, proves you have desire, enthusiasm, confidence, and intelligence, and separates the winners from the masses.
We are in a serious recession, so letting employers know that you are willing and able to travel as needed, and able to relocate if necessary, will open up more career opportunities for you.
Finally, acknowledge that employers only want to hire the one best candidate out of thousands of executive-level candidates. So, when you see 499 candidates have already applied to a LinkedIn job posting, just know that does not include applications from dozens of major job-posting websites like Indeed.com, industry specific websites for job postings, the employer's career page, or passive candidates sourced by Recruiters. Re-examine the weakest parts of your job search and do the work/make the investment required to win-over executive selection committees. Executive-level vacancies do occur far less frequently than professionals, Supervisors and Managers, but you can measure your progress along the way.
Would you like to be winning from the beginning in your job search? If you answered YES, then visit the #1 Resume Writing Expert/Certified Professional Resume Writer in the nation at http://RighteousResumes.com. Offices located in Dallas Texas, however we service clients all over North America by phone and email. Click the link above to say, "Yes to Success."