Of course, this all speaks to job search preparation — for interviewing, networking, online reputation management, etc.

With more challenging competition in this job market, executive candidates must be able to clearly communicate, in person and online, what differentiates their unique value proposition and why they’re the best hiring choice.

They must be prepared to provide examples of how they’ve added value in the past so that people can envision them doing the same for their organization.

Best,
Meg

We also use a very structured approach with our candidates in our executive search practice to prepare answers for interviewing and for collateral material – resumes/online personal branding/linkedin profiles/etc.

Most candidates (99%) do NOT understand the importance of weaving stories together combining the issue/challenge, details, role, impact, budget, resources, problems, outcomes, etc.

As a result, they never get asked to interviews and if they do, many never make it past the first phone interview stage.

Many candidates approach interviewing and communicating their background with an arrogance of “my background speaks for itself” – no need to add to the bullet points on my resume.

What a disaster. And some candidates wonder why it’s taking 9-12 months to land a job.