The New Work Coach Cafe Team is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Sometime late last year, my friend and colleague Susan P. Joyce, an esteemed online job search guru, told me she was about to purchase the career blogsite Work Coach Cafe, and asked me if I’d like to be part of her team of career professionals supporting the site. I was thrilled to be asked and, without hesitation, said yes.

The founder, Ronnie Ann Himmel, had decided to move on to the next stage of her career. I’ve known of Ronnie Ann and the great work she’s done with Work Coach Cafe since it began in 2007. She built an amazing community of supportive members and will be sorely missed.

Susan summed up the challenges she’s facing in taking over the reins from Ronnie Ann:

“Ronnie Ann’s are the proverbial “big shoes” to fill, and I will do my best, honoring what Ronnie Ann has created over 5 years of hard work, and, hopefully, continuing to help people with work and job search issues.”

For nearly 15 years, Susan has been the publisher and editor of the top Internet employment portal Job-Hunt.org, named Forbes Best of the Web for Job Hunting and U.S. News & World Report Top Site for Finding Work.

I’ve known Susan for about 5 years and, for about that long, I’ve been Job-Hunt’s Personal Branding Expert, contributing articles on the various aspects of building and leveraging branding in job search.

With Job-Hunt, she is fiercely dedicated to providing job seekers the best and safest resources and advice. You can always trust her to have job seekers’ best interests at heart.

Because she knows most of the best career professionals in the industry, you can be assured that she and the new team’s mission will be to continue Ronnie Ann’s legacy of providing job seekers a safe place to fall in the daunting new world of job search and work.

You’ll see me responding to comments on Work Coach Cafe, and I’ll likely contribute blog posts and assist Susan with various behind-the-scenes activities.

Come visit us at Work Coach Café and subscribe to receive the latest blog posts. Lots of good things will be happening!

Online Personal Branding: 5 Key Elements is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

The following is my latest Job-Hunt.org article as the site’s resident Personal Branding Expert.

Do you want to increase your chances to be found by executive recruiters and your target employers?

What job seeker doesn’t?

Most recruiters and hiring authorities source talent by searching relevant keywords on LinkedIn, Google, and other search engines, and then assessing the people those searches reveal by what they find about them online.

If you’re in a job search and have no “online footprint” – that is, a good number of positive, solid search results when your name is Googled – you may be invisible to the very people you need to be positioned in front of.

The better your online reputation, the better you position yourself online, and the stronger your presence online, the more appealing you’ll be to these people.

Take a look at your own online footprint right now. Type your name into a Google search, and see what you find.

• Do you “own” the first several search results?
• Or does it take several pages of results before you get to anything related to you?
• What information will people find about you when they click on those search results?
• Is it what you need them to know about you and your potential value to the companies or organizations you want to work for?

[Note: If you are logged into your Gmail, Google, or Google+ account, Google usually "personalizes" your search results specifically for you, so log out first to see what the rest of the world sees.]

Here are the 5 components necessary to build a strong online brand for your job search:

1. Relevance

You should know, before starting your job search, which companies or which kind of companies you’re targeting, and what information about you is relevant to them and will resonate with them.

Without a clear target, how can you possibly differentiate your personal brand, ROI value and best-fit qualities, and create career marketing communications (online and offline) that will hit home, attract them and clearly distinguish you as a good hiring choice?

Keep your brand messaging relevant to your target, detailing how you can help them solve their current problems, and position yourself on sites that are relevant to and frequented by them.

2. Quality

Be careful what you post on social networks, or anywhere online. Continuously monitor your online presence. Get used to self-Googling regularly (about once a week) to see what exists on the first several pages of search results.

If someone has posted something nasty about you, see about getting it taken down. Adjust what people will find, whenever possible.

Are you finding any “digital dirt” that may disqualify you? Do you have the same name as others who have an online footprint? If so, you may easily be confused with them. That’s bad news for you, if any of them have a sordid reputation. You’ll have to work on building more positive search results to outdistance those of the bad guys.

3. Diversity

You need a good mix of static profiles/web pages and vibrant real-time content. A few online profiles that all contain the same content won’t cut it – change up the information in each one.

• Express your opinions, showcase your expertise and add value by blogging on your own site, commenting on other sites and/or guest blogging on other sites.
• Get busy on social networks like Twitter, Google+, Facebook, etc.
• Contribute to online forums that are open to the public, LinkedIn Group discussions, LinkedIn Answers.
• Publish white papers on relevant sites.
• Put up a profile and post book reviews on Amazon and other online booksellers.

4. Volume

Keep working on building more and more search results for your name and increase your number of diverse and accurate results on the first few pages.

To build up your volume of search results, focus on sites with strong “Google juice” (meaning, sites that Google and other search engines deem authorities because they’re content-rich, have been existence for a long time, and have a strong following, among other things), such as – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and Google itself (Google Profile).

Any activity on strong sites will likely result in those web pages (with your name on them) landing towards the top of your list of search results.

5. Consistency

You should already have done the back-end work of defining your personal brand, built around what will resonate with your target companies. (See my 10-Step Personal Branding Worksheet).

Express that same personal brand message, across all communications channels and social media you decide to use. I don’t mean that you should use the same information over and over. As I mentioned above, mix it up.

Put yourself in the place of people assessing you through your online identity and deciding whether to hire you or do business with you. If your brand message and focus varies from one real-life setting to the next or from one social network to the next or from one website to the next, your target audience won’t clearly see your promise of value to them. You’ll confuse them.

Use the same name or handle across all channels online, so that you’re easy to find and distinguish from others.

Bottom line:

Building your brand online takes planning and effort. It will take time for your hard work to gain traction and give you the kind of online presence that will appeal to your target companies. Get started now, and work on outdistancing your competition!

Related posts:

Does Your Online Presence Scream “DON’T Hire Me”?

Get Personal With Your Executive Brand Statement

How Twitter Helped Me Build My Personal Brand

photo by Vince Alongi

New Year. Time to Revamp Your Executive Brand? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Many of us take time at the beginning of a new year to reflect on the past year. We make, and try to stick to, challenging resolutions to improve some aspects of our lives.

Many take a cold hard look at their careers in January, and consider whether it’s time to make a career move.

If you’re having these thoughts, you’re probably looking for your resume and thinking about how to update it.

Back up a little. Start with your brand.

Take a look back at last years’ career accomplishments and consider how the things you did for your employer will impact the value you offer to potential new employers — your executive brand.

Whether you’ve already worked on developing brand messaging for your personal marketing in job search, or never have, go to my 10-Step Branding Worksheet.

Even if you’re not planning a career move, times being what they are, you never know when a new job opportunity, or even a lay off, may come your way. You need to be ready.

For tips on revamping your personal brand, see my Executive Career Brand post, Brand New Year. New Personal Brand?

Related posts:

Bullet-Proof Your Executive Career in the New World of Work

Get Personal With Your Executive Brand Statement

10 Things to Love About Your Executive Brand

Executive Job Search and LinkedIn: Do I Need a Photo on My Profile? is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Whether or not to include a photo on LinkedIn and other online profiles continues to be debated among career professionals.

My c-suite executive clients are typically over 50. They’re understandably concerned about ageism. A photo could indicate age and leave them open to discrimination.

Often, posting a fully completed LinkedIn profile is their first foray into online job search and career marketing . . . the first time they have considered putting a photo of themselves “out there” and exposing their image to the world.

If you’re like many of them, you worry that your LinkedIn photo may red-flag you for discrimination – age, weight, ethnic background, etc.

But think about this. NOT having a photo can be a red flag, too.

You may have reasons not to include a photo, but I encourage you to include one. The benefits far outweigh the pitfalls.

Find out why HAVING a photo on LinkedIn is important, in the post on my Executive Career Brand site, Does My LinkedIn Profile Really Need a Photo?

Related posts:

LinkedIn Guide for Executive Branding and Job Search

My free e-book: Executive Branding and Your LinkedIn Profile: How to Transform Your Executive Brand, Resume, and Career Biography Into a Winning LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn: Best Tactic for Undercover Executive Job Search

29 Biggest LinkedIn Mistakes

photo by nan palmero

Blogging for Executive Jobs: Overcoming Writer’s Block is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

I encourage my c-level executive clients to blog as part of their online brand communications plan.

Blogging is one of the most important marketing strategies I use to build my brand, market my business and attract potential clients. Potential clients find me through my blogging efforts.

Because job search is much like running a business, blogging greatly benefits job seekers, too. Those who blog purposefully are found by executive recruiters and hiring decision makers who are searching for and assessing candidates.

But maintaining a blogsite that gets action takes effort and commitment. What are you going to write about in all those blog posts?

I don’t have too much trouble coming up with ideas, but when I do, I fall back on a favorite strategy — getting inspiration from other bloggers’ posts or other bloggers themselves.

I like to showcase or link to their work, and I do it often. Over the past year, I designated separate posts to some of my favorite job search bloggers. You can see the list in my post about blogger Jason Alba of Jibber Jobber.

Read about why I love this strategy so much in the post at my Executive Career Brand site, One of My Favorite Blogging Strategies.

Related posts:

You’re a C-level Executive Job Seeker and You’re NOT Blogging?

C-level Job Search: Blogging? What Am I Going To Write About?

Blogging and Twitter: How Tweet It Is!

photo by Sean MacEntee

How To Land A C-level Executive Job in 2012 is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

If you’re like most of my c-suite clients, it’s been several years — maybe more than 10 years — since you were thrust into a job search or considered a career move.

You figure all you need to do is find a copy of that old resume of yours, dust it off and update it to send to the recruiters who helped you in the past.

Then you can sit back and let them do all the work, right?

But things have changed drastically in the past several years. Jobs aren’t as likely to just “come to you”. You may not be in demand with recruiters the way you were in the past. These days, such passive tactics can sabotage your job search and keep you from ever getting into a good-fit job, or prolong landing that job. You need to develop a proactive plan to uncover opportunities yourself.

Okay. So you’ll use job boards, too. After all, you think, job boards are a big part of job search in the digital age.

Not so. Only an estimated 3-5% of jobs are filled through job boards. If you spend more than a minimal amount of time there, you’re wasting a lot of precious effort.

Most jobs are not posted or advertised anywhere. They exist in that nebulous “hidden job market” that can only be uncovered through purposeful networking.

Landing an executive job takes work. There’s a lot to pull together before you’re ready to cast a far-reaching networking strategy. Here’s what you need to have and do, along with links to relevant blog posts I’ve written on each topic:

1. A specific career target and list of 15-20 (or more) target companies that are a mutual good fit, as far as size, location, industry, culture, and environment.

Without a clear target (type of job and industry), your resume and other career marketing materials will be too generic, and won’t help qualify you in the minds of those assessing you or attract them to you. And, if you can’t succinctly describe what kind of job you want, you won’t be able to explain to your network how they can help you.

Don’t worry that these companies may not be advertising jobs anywhere. You’re going to network your way into their hidden jobs, remember?

The Biggest Executive Resume Writing Mistake

How To Tap Into Hidden C-level Executive Jobs

2. Research each target company and the industry

This takes time, but your research will help you determine why your target companies need your help, provide you with those all-important relevant keyword phrases to use in your career marketing materials, and help you with due diligence in assessing companies.

Research Your Target Employers

3. Target contact list for networking

Determine which people at your target companies are key decision makers or close to their inner circle. Also look for employees, vendors, customers and others associated with your target companies. Find them on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and follow, like, or connect with them there. Join the LinkedIn Groups they belong to and make yourself and your expertise known.

4. Personal branding designed to resonate with your target companies

Uncover and differentiate the strengths and personal attributes that make you the best-fit candidate. Create an executive brand positioning statement to be used in your career marketing materials (resume, bio, LinkedIn profile, etc.), to transform into an “elevator pitch” to introduce yourself when networking, and to answer the “Tell me about yourself” question when interviewing.

10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand

10 Things to Love About Your Executive Brand

5. Branded career documents – Executive Resume, Biography, Case Studies, Leadership Initiatives Brief and other supporting documents

Use the research on your target companies to help you create brand and ROI value messaging that will clearly differentiate your good-fit qualities and expertise over your competition.

How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Resume in 10 Steps

HOW TO: 8 Ways to Use Your Executive Biography

6. LinkedIn

Your 100% complete (according to LinkedIn’s criteria), branded, keyword-rich LinkedIn profile will help recruiters and hiring decision makers at your target companies find you on LinkedIn, as they source and assess talent. If you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re probably invisible to these people.

Also, LinkedIn offers all kinds of tools for networking with people who can help you with opportunities and leads, and position yourself as a subject matter expert and good-fit candidate.

LinkedIn Guide for Executive Branding and Job Search

7. Google Profile

Use your career biography and pieces of your resume to flesh out a Google profile, which has become a close second in importance to LinkedIn profiles, as a valuable page one search engine result for “your name”.

8. Recruiter relationships

Recruiters are certainly important. Source a good number of them who specialize within your niche, send them your resume, let them know what you’re looking for and stay in touch.

You can find recruiters in Kennedy Information’s Directory of Executive Recruiters, the “Red Book” which lists over 10,000 recruiters at thousands of search firms

Build Winning Relationships with Executive Recruiters

9. List of references

Be sure your references are prepped in advance to know what kind of position you’re seeking, and what information they can provide to best position you.

10. Online brand-building communications plan

Work on building relevant, diverse, on-brand results that consistently support your credibility.

Include static web pages (online profiles, personal website, etc.) and social networking/real-time content (Twitter, Google+, Facebook, blogging, writing book reviews on Amazon, etc.).

Executive Brand Online Reputation Management: Relevance, Quality, Diversity, Volume, Consistency

11. In-person and online networking strategy

Your ultimate goal is to networking towards hiring decision makers at your target companies. Use your list from #3 above, and also connect with other employees at your target companies.

If you can get a referral from an insider, you greatly improve your chances of landing a job with that company. Pull everyone you know into your network (you never know who may be able to help you), along with a good number of recruiters who specialize in your niche.

How to Build a Powerful Executive Network

12. Interview preparation

Prepare and rehearse your answers to expected questions. And be ready with the questions YOU should ask, based on your company and industry research. Be ready for the “Tell me about yourself” query and have a salary negotiation strategy.

Prepare to Ace & Brand Your C-level Executive Job Interview

13. Thank you notes

Don’t forget to follow up each time you have an interview, with each person you’ve spoken to. This gives you the opportunity to restate your interest in the company, and to stay top of mind with key decision makers. Hand-written, snail-mailed thank you notes have the most impact.

The Power of Thank You Notes

14. Job search management and tracking system

You’ll need some way to keep track of all your connections, meetings, informational interviews, etc.

JibberJobber is an excellent web-based tool that will help, and basic membership is free.

Additional resource:

My ebook will provide many more specifics on launching a successful executive job search campaign.

23 Ways You Sabotage Your Executive Job Search and How Your Brand Will Help You Land . . . A practical guide to executive branding, marketing your ROI value and navigating the new world of job search

photo by o5com

C-level Executive Networking: What NOT To Do is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Every job seeker should know by now that networking is the best way to land a job. If you don’t know and embrace this, and you’re in a job search, you’re probably looking at a protracted one.

If you do know this, then you’ve been working hard to expand your network toward the key decision makers at your target companies and those people who can help you in your job search.

But you may not be going about networking in the best possible way.

Many of my c-level executive clients have expressed annoyance that they’re constantly tapped for advice … a “few minutes” … a lead … or a favor by people they don’t know, or only know of through several degrees of separation.

They are the people who are at, or very near, the top of the totem pole at their companies – the key decision makers. The ones job seekers (and others) are trying to network their way towards. A few minutes of their time is like gold.

Because they’re in such demand, they often hesitate getting involved with social networking and building an online presence. A number of my clients have said that, although they know they have to be on LinkedIn, they don’t want to open themselves to more requests for their precious time.

Are you a c-level executive? One of these in-demand people that so many aggressive networkers want a piece of? Then you should understand more than anyone that, when you approach the top executives at your target companies, you need to gently network your way towards and around them.

I’m in a similar situation. I guess because I’ve been around for about 20 years in the careers industry, and have a fairly strong presence online and on various social media, people I don’t know personally, never spoke with or communicated with, or never heard of at all, reach out to me all the time.

All too often, they want something from me, so I’ve become selective about how I respond. In some instances I don’t respond at all … for some I’ll gently explain that I’m not able to respond to all the request I get … for some I’m all on board and eager to get to know the person, and help them if I can.

Don’t get me wrong. I have happily mentored many people over the years, just as I have been mentored. But I can’t mentor everyone who asks, or even give half an hour of my time to everyone who asks.

Here are the kinds of first approaches that completely turn me off:

With an invitation to connect on LinkedIn:

• I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn – using the thoughtless default message LinkedIn provides, and nothing else … no personal message.
• Will you take a look at my profile and let me know what you think of it?
• I’m looking for an XYZ position in the (fill in the blank) industry. Can you introduce me to anyone who can help me?

Direct emails from others in the careers industry with whom I’ve never communicated, or I may not know at all:

• Please help me promote my new book (or product)
• Can we set up a time to talk about how you built your business using social media?
• I’m just starting my own career services business. Can you tell me how you did it?

Where did they go wrong?

Their first communication was a request for a favor – to someone they don’t know at all, or just barely know. They didn’t practice “give to get” networking. They didn’t give me a reason for connecting with them.

Maybe they only wanted that one favor and weren’t interested in long term networking with me. But I could be setting myself up for an endless one-sided relationship, with someone constantly “picking my brain”, and offering me nothing in return.

What should they have done to make a positive connection?

Don’t just tell me how I can help you. Tell me how we can help each other.

Give me a reason to want to connect with you, get to know you and help you. Tell me how you know about me, why you want to connect with me and why cultivating a relationship with you might be beneficial for me, too.

When you reach out to me, or anyone you intend to ask a favor of, don’t make your first communication the request for that favor. Build the relationship a bit before you expect something in return. Healthy networking requires balance and reciprocity.

Related posts:

How to Build a Powerful Executive Network

Executive Job Search: The Old Way (Networking) Still Works Best

How To Write a LinkedIn Invitation to Connect

photo by ricki888c

Twitter and My Personal Brand Communications Plan is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

I’ve been actively on Twitter for a few years now and it’s become an important piece in my personal and business branding efforts.

Although Twitter is wildly popular and much has been written about its value, many of my c-suite executive clients and potential clients are still surprised when I promote Twitter to them as a valuable executive job search tool.

Without taking the time to find out more about it, they still think most people are on Twitter for chit chat, tweeting about what they had for lunch, or other trivial matters.

I explain to them that mounting a job search campaign is very much like running a business. I tell them to think of themselves as a company of one — BRAND YOU — and market themselves in the same way. Twitter and other social media need to be in their brand marketing plan.

For me, as an entrepreneur, Twitter is all about getting my brand and promise of value noticed by potential clients and those who can lead me to more clients, and getting recognized as an industry thought leader and expert.

The idea is to get on their radar and stay top of mind with them so that, when they have a need for my services or know someone who may, they’ll reach out to me.

Sounds just like job search networking, doesn’t it?

Read more about my Twitter strategy, which works for job search too, in my Executive Career Brand post, How Twitter Helped Me Build My Personal Brand.

Related posts:

Twitter Turbocharges Executive Job Search and Personal Brand Visibility

Twitter Executive Branding Strategy: The Beauty of a Retweet

14 Reasons I Won’t Follow You On Twitter

Twin Twitter Executive Job Search Tips

photo by josh semans

10 Steps to Bullet-Proof Your Executive Career is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

(This article was originally posted on Quintessential Careers as part of the fourth annual Job Action Day initiative, celebrated this year on November 7.)

What many job-seekers today don’t understand is that staying employed is very much like running a business. You need to think of yourself as the CEO of your own start-up company — BRAND YOU — and continuously market, network and strategically position yourself, just as a business does.

To ensure you’re ready for the many inevitable shifts and moves your career is likely to make over your work life, adopt a start-up mentality, whether or not you’re currently facing a job search.

Finding a job and staying employed today — two separate challenges — require more effort and strategic planning than ever before.

Maybe you think that finding a job in the digital age means posting your resume to as many job boards as possible, then sitting back and waiting for the interview offers to come flooding in.

If that’s how you spend most of your job-search time, you’re setting yourself up for failure, and building a false sense that you’re working hard on finding a job.

The fact is, most jobs are not posted on job boards. The majority of jobs that are filled are not advertised anywhere and not posted on a job board. Yet, most job-seekers pay attention only to that small percentage of jobs that are advertised and visible. The rest are part of the “hidden job market.”

What is the hidden job market?

• Positions created to accommodate specific candidates, once they connected with and spoke with companies’ hiring decision makers.
• Existing positions that open up when an incumbent is replaced with someone better.
• An open position that isn’t advertised outside the company. Only insiders know about it.
• Jobs that, for whatever reason, are not advertised or visible, and can only be uncovered and accessed through networking.

But understanding where to find jobs won’t bullet-proof your career. Understanding how to stay employed will.

As crucial as networking is, along with understanding where to find jobs, these strategies alone won’t bullet-proof your career. Understanding how to stay employed will.

Gone are the days, for the most part, when you could expect long-term employment (5-7 years or more) with the same company. Employer loyalty rarely exists these days. No job is permanent and everyone should expect to be in perpetual passive job search.

Savvy careerists continuously market themselves, always anticipating job transition. Career situations can change at any time, and everyone must be prepared.

Flexibility is key. Some viable strategies include temp-to-perm and portfolio careers (multiple part-time jobs or consecutive short-term consulting positions, including temporary jobs, freelancing, and self-employment). Creating income security, instead of job security, is the new wave.

As Quintessential Careers’ Randall S. Hansen said:

“Portfolio careers are usually built around a collection of skills and interests, though the only consistent theme is one of career self-management. With a portfolio career you no longer have one job, one employer, but multiple jobs and employers within one or more professions.”

Dive in Right Now, With this Checklist:

1. Define your personal (or career) brand.

Personal branding is a method to uncover and differentiate the personal attributes and hard strengths you possess that outdistance your competition for good-fit jobs with your target industry and employers. Branding is no longer optional. Employers want to see hard skills linked to your softer ones — indicating who you are, what you’re like to work with and how your strengths and expertise will translate to a strong bottom line for them.

I’ve written a 10-step personal branding worksheet that will help you.

2. Get your resume, biography and other career documents together as the foundation for all your personal marketing (or Brand You) communications.

Gone are the days when all you needed to land a job was a one-size-fits-all resume outlining your comprehensive skill sets and qualifications. These days, you need to first have a clear career target so that you can build your career marketing documents around content and messaging that showcase your ROI (Return on Investment) and resonate with a specific audience.

3. Move your Brand You communications online with LinkedIn and other social media.

Being on LinkedIn and having a strong online presence are also not optional. You may not feel comfortable putting yourself out there, but without an online identity, you may be completely invisible to recruiters and hiring decision-makers who source and assess candidates through LinkedIn and other search engines. Transform your portfolio of career documents into a LinkedIn profile that’s a magnet for these people.

Beyond LinkedIn, build a diverse online footprint across multiple channels, monitor it regularly for “digital dirt” or incorrect information, and make adjustments when possible. Show that you’re social media savvy by networking through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and others.

4. Keep your network alive . . . always!

A vibrant, far-reaching network is career insurance. Your real-life and social networks need to be ever-primed for you to tap into for new opportunities, introductions, and hot leads, and help you penetrate the hidden job market. You need to practice “give to get” networking, being there for your network so they’ll be willing to reciprocate.

Put your online and offline brand communications to work in all your networking efforts.

5. Improve or add relevant skills and stay educated.

Job seekers with up-to-date skills are much more attractive than those who haven’t kept up, which means learning industry-relevant skills as well as the new social-media skills.

6. Work on developing a back-up or side career.

Think additional income stream to supplement your “real” job and possibly pump up to full-time, if you lose your real job.

A beloved hobby or favorite pastime could become a money-maker. Maybe you’re handy around the house and can hire yourself out to help people with their “honey-do” lists, or odd jobs. Maybe you’d go for a part-time job in retail, healthcare, restaurant, or business services.

Other options could include teaching or substitute teaching, consulting or contract assignments, and home-based work or telecommuting work that could include technology, sales, office support, bookkeeping, personal services, and more.

Now you’ve done the backend work, and you’re ready for the inevitable. When you’re laid off, forced into another job search or choose to transition:

7. Get clear on what kind of job you want, who your good-fit target employers are, what their needs are right now, how you can help them and who their key hiring decision-makers are.

8. Work on circumventing the gatekeepers at your target companies and connecting directly with the key hiring decision-makers, where they hang out online and offline.

9. Cultivate relationships with several executive recruiters who specialize in your niche.

10. Prepare to brand and “own” your job interviews.

Final Thoughts

Launching a targeted personal marketing campaign, with purposeful networking to uncover the goldmine of hidden jobs, and strategically positioning yourself, leads you into the huge pool of unadvertised jobs.

Related posts:

Today’s Executive Job Search Toolkit

How to Build a Powerful Executive Network

LinkedIn Guide for Executive Branding and Job Search

The Way C-level Executive Job Search Works Today is a post from: Executive Resume Branding

Do you think that the way to land an executive job is to revisit your resume, update it, post it on all the big job boards, and then just wait for interview offers to pour in?

Oh, and you’ll also connect with that recruiter that got you a job or two in the past.

Your work is done, right?

If this is your plan, you’re in for quite a protracted job search. It just doesn’t work that way, unless you’re somehow lucky and something falls in your lap.

You need to proactively seek out jobs in the “hidden job market”. That is:

• Jobs created to accommodate specific candidates, once they connected with and had dialog with companies’ hiring decision makers.
• Existing positions in which an incumbent is replaced when someone better comes along.
• An open slot, waiting to be filled, that isn’t advertised outside the company. Only internal people know about it.
• Jobs that, for whatever reason, are not advertised or visible, and can only be uncovered and accessed through networking.

For the whole inside skinny on landing a good-fit executive job today, read my post at Executive Career Brand, Today’s Executive Job Search Toolkit.

Additional resource:

My ebook will provide many more specifics on launching a successful executive job search campaign.

23 Ways You Sabotage Your Executive Job Search and How Your Brand Will Help You Land . . . A practical guide to executive branding, marketing your ROI value and navigating the new world of job search

photo by o5com