Times Have Changed
Remember when you used to get tapped on the shoulder for that executive position? Nine times out of ten, you were not looking for a new job. The opportunity came to you. You kind of sort of evaluated it and then made a decision.
But the key here is that they didn’t know if you were “available.”
They didn’t even care.
They tapped you on the shoulder for a reason and one reason only.
You were the right person for the job.
It didn’t matter if you met all of the criteria, or any of it for that matter. They knew you. You were a known entity to the person who mattered.
And that’s how it worked. The hiring “process” was a mere formality.
But times have changed, haven’t they?
Somewhere along the way, you stopped getting tapped on the shoulder for your next opportunity. Now you actually have to look for a job. And I mean really look.
But in today’s world. What does “looking” really look like for an executive.
Or rather, what should “looking” look like?
5 Lessons That Matter When It Comes to Your Executive Job Search
I’ve been working with executives for years – more than 20 in fact. And there’s one thing I know about your executive job search.
- Just because you know how to do your job doesn’t mean you know how to do job search.
- Just because you know how to develop and execute a business plan doesn’t mean you know how to develop and execute a successful job search.
- Just because you’ve gotten this far in your career doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to take yourself further.
Most executives, like you, struggle in your approach to finding and landing the next great opportunity. Why?
Because you’re doing it wrong. Yes. That’s right. You’re doing it wrong.
Here’s are the lessons you need to learn. Because this is what you’re probably going to do… or worse, what you probably have already done....
Lesson #1: It Doesn’t Matter If You’re Available
Since when do you have to be available in order to be considered for a role? Did we not just discuss the fact that you were tapped on the shoulder time and time again? We’re you “available” then? No. Of course, you weren’t.
In fact, the less available you look, the more attractive you are. Don’t be so quick to notify the world of your availability. And that new “Open to Work” banner on LinkedIn...No!!! You might as well put a tattoo on your forehead that says, “Don’t pick me.”
Don’t be so available – publicly or privately!
Truth be told, most hiring executives want people who are currently working. They have this erroneous belief that if you’re “available” you must not be any good. And therefore, it’s easy to put all those unemployed in the first elimination round.
Lesson #2: Decide What You Want To Be Before You Take Another Stab At That Resume
You haven’t even decided what you want to do, but you spend hours upon hours updating your resume. You work it and rework it until you’ve driven yourself crazy. Every person you ask has a different opinion and just when you think you’ve nailed it, someone comes along and tells you that it needs some serious revamping. Revamping for what? Your resume is fine as is… for now.
Remember that sage advice – if you don’t know where you’re going… any road will get you there. Or as I like to say… “If you don’t know where you’re going, every road will get you nowhere.”
Decide where you’re going before you publish the directions.
Lesson #3: Most Key Executive Roles Are Not Posted Online
Searching jobs online makes you feel like you’re working hard on your search. You carefully select the ones for which you’d be perfect. You’ll then waste precious time thoughtfully composing a well-worded email. And finally, you hit send. And then you wait. And wait. And wait. Did you know that more than 94% of companies never even respond to candidates who apply for a position?
Let’s think about this, think about why a key executive is being hired. The majority of executive roles are for replacements.
Someone is about to be let go. Someone is about to resign. Someone needs to find the right executive for a new business – and they’ll know the right person when they see them.
Who is posting for these roles? I’ll tell you who. No one.
Because it’s hard to post for an unexpected resignation that hasn’t happened.
It’s hard to post for the role you want to be vacated before the person in it knows there will be a vacancy.
It’s hard to post for a role that’s part of your new strategy, especially since you haven’t quite fleshed out the role yet and you’re not ready to announce it to the world.
It’s hard to post for something that is confidential – which is one reason they go through an Executive Recruiter.
You can’t wait for roles to be announced before you go after them. By then, it’s too late.
Quit standing on the sidelines. If you want to be in the game for any of these roles, you have to be in the game before the game starts.
Lesson #4: Build The Relationship With The Executive Recruiter BEFORE You Need It
You Google “executive recruiters” and send your resume with a cover letter. A cover letter. Really? But when you don’t get a reply, you’re surprised. You follow up with a phone call, yet receive no call back. Again, you’re confused. Isn’t that their job?!
Recruiters provide a valuable resource to corporations in finding great candidates. It’s just that recruiters are paid for bringing in candidates that EXACTLY match the company’s criteria. Once the position is put in the hands of the recruiter, if you don’t meet 12 out of the 10 attributes – yes, this includes the two criteria they never even thought of – then you’re wasting their time.
Maybe you get a hit. Maybe, if you worked for a competitor to the company in which they’re doing a search, maybe they’ll reach out. Because maybe the “researcher” found your resume. You know the resume… the resume that leads to nowhere.
Did you know the “researcher” is in college? Yes, college…. for the first time.
Do you think that researcher has a clue about what you do? Yet, they’re deciding whether you’re interesting enough to like, be, like, in the like running, like for that like role.
Like it or not, putting your career in their hands is, like, a really bad strategy.
Guess when you should have built that relationship with the Executive Recruiter?
Before you needed it.
That’s when.
Here’s the thing, even when times are not busy, Executive Recruiters are busy. Recruiters don’t typically have a lot of time to spend with you if you’re not a fit for what they’re working on today. And I mean today. Exactly today. They may be cordial. But if you didn’t work for a competitor for the exact search they’re working on, chances are good they’re not all that interested in talking to you. At least right now.
Lesson #5: Quit Sending Your Sad, Pathetic Job Search Email No Matter How “Excited” You Are About Future Endeavors
Want a quicker way to make people have pity on you? Guess what? There isn’t one.
Here’s what happens when you send out a generic email to everyone… they feel sorry for you, and they don’t know how to help you – unless of course, you end with the all-important line: “If you know of any companies looking for someone with my skills, please let me know.”
What you’re really looking for is help. This email won’t help you.
If you really think you need to tell your circle about your job search via email, think again! If they’re that close, they already know your situation. And if they knew about an opportunity, wouldn’t they have already told you?
That email only serves as a reason to not call you… because they don’t know how to help you. And they feel bad about it.
And if you call them, they’re afraid to answer the phone… because they don’t know how to help you. And they feel bad about it.
Again, remember how we started this conversation? People don’t need to know you’re available in order to consider you for a role.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to see who you really are inside.
Why Your Search is Taking Longer Than Expected
When I was in a longer-than-anyone-ever-expected-especially-me executive job search, I found myself wondering why….
- Why wasn’t I being tapped on the shoulder anymore?
- Why didn’t people absolutely LOVE the resume (and the next version, and the next one) I had painstakingly put together?
- Why didn’t I make it to even the first round for all those posted positions where I was the perfect fit? And I mean the perfect fit!
- Why did most recruiters never call me back? And when they did, why did they keep calling me the “wildcard” candidate? They liked me… but let’s face it. I was filler. I rounded out a slate of candidates who worked for the target companies.
- Why wasn’t my network more helpful?
The only reason it was so long and drawn-out was because of me. Seriously. It was 100% my fault. Day in and day out… I did everything wrong. Everything.
I wasted days, weeks, months, months, and more months doing all the wrong things.
Until one day, I essentially fired myself from my job search. And I started to look at things differently.
I developed and implemented new strategies that ultimately enabled me to land a great position – and get a bunch of offers in the process.
The position I accepted was a good one. I even had multiple job offers six months to a couple years after I landed. One was for more than 400% of my six-figure compensation. It’s still hard to believe I turned that one down.
But here’s what I knew. I knew who I wanted to be. And I knew what it was going to take to get me there.
Most executives I work with have no idea who they want to be. They look at their next job like they looked at their last one — with barely the blink of an eye.
When you’re no longer being tapped on the shoulder for roles…
When you’re having to compete, quite possibly for the first time in your life, for roles…
…You have to think about things differently. You have to think about your search differently.
You have to look at it for what it really is.
The Game of Job Search
If you haven’t figured it out by now. Executive Job Search is one big game. And the best player is going to win. Not the smartest. Not the most qualified. The best player.
The hiring process is a series of rounds. Truth be told… I hate boxing metaphors… always have. Mostly because it’s a year-round sport… so it was always on TV. But it fits here.
You have to excel in every single round in order to be declared the winner. But just like boxing, you can be ahead the entire match only to be knocked out in the 12th and final round.
It’s hard to win the game if you don’t realize you’re playing one. It’s hard to win the game if you don’t know how to play it. And if you haven’t successfully executed multiple job searches during difficult economic times, my guess is that you really don’t know how to play the game.
Once I learned how to play the game it was easy. It was fun. It was… well, it was a game. And even after I won – the prize coming in the form of an offer – I continued to play the game. Because I wanted to see what would happen. I wanted to test out some new strategies. Some new game plans.
I wanted to see how “close” I needed to be to the job specification. How many qualifications I needed. How much experience I needed within the domain and industry.
Turns out… not much. Not much at all.
I was amazed.
All this time, I’d been focusing on how I was the perfect fit when in reality, it had little bearing on my ability to get an offer. None whatsoever.
It’s all a game. You’re simply playing a game.
And knowing this… how much will it change your executive job search?
For you it might be round one and you’re about to step into the ring. Or maybe you’re in round four… and getting pummeled.
Let the Games Begin!
Are you ready? Are you ready to play the game?
First thing. Take a time out and get clear on your vision. Get clear on who you want to be. Get clear on how you’re different. Get clear on how to leverage that into the right opportunities.
Let me ask you this, how many years are left on your Career Horizon? How many job searches do you expect to have in that time period? To get that number divide your Career Horizon by the two to three years. That’s how long most executive positions last.
And if you’re a change agent, err on the lower number – two years being on the high side and 12-18 months being more accurate.
If you have 15 years left on your Career Horizon, on average, plan to execute at least five+ job searches.
If you get good, you may have three real searches and a couple taps on the shoulder. If you get gooder… you may only have two real searches and some serious ins for the next roles.
Isn’t it time to get good at this executive job search thing?
Okay… what’s next?
Make some calls? Nope. Not so fast.
Let’s go back to your Career Horizon.
How are you planning for that? How are you ensuring that you'll be good to go for the rest of your career?
Do you want to keep doing the same thing until you don't?
Over time, do you have visions of sitting on boards?
Maybe being a coach?
Perhaps doing consulting?
Having a little more time without the day-to-day demands.
Guess what?
You can't just decide to do that and then do it.
You have to plan for it.
You have to plan your career. And that planning needs to start now!
What's Your Next Move? And Your Next Move After That?
This is just about the time you realize that your job search is not just a job search. It’s a chess game. And it happens to be the chess game of your career.
In chess, you win when you take your opponent’s King – or put it in checkmate. But that’s never your first move. It’s impossible to get to the goal on your first move.
And the same goes for job search, it’s impossible to get to your Career Horizon goal on your first move. You need to start with your last move and work backward. Or maybe it’s working forward? Either way. Start with the last move you want to make.
And what should the position before that last move be?
And what about the one before that?
And the one before that?
And keep working forward (or backward?) Keep working toward present day until you realize the move you need to make today… that will enable you to get to your endgame. But keep in mind, every move should be strategic.
And now that you know what you need to be today, now, and only now, can you start working on what to do next.
See. It’s that simple.
Before you jump into your executive job search any further, invest some time thinking about that Career Horizon. Think about how much time you have left in your career. Think about where you want to end up and ask yourself this: Are the actions I’m taking today the right ones to lead me to where I want to be?
Do I even know where I want to be?
Most executives don’t. Like I said before, most executives execute the next job search with barely the blink of an eye but then they wonder why they’re in one again so soon.
Take the Time Your Job Search Deserves
Take the time.
Take the time you deserve to get input into what is possible.
Take the time to consider all the potential opportunities out there.
Perhaps there’s an idea or a role or a path you never even thought of, or wished “someday”.
This is what usually happens on my monthly Executive Job Search Coaching call. I remember when Jim came into the call and started rattling off the roles he was pursuing. The more I listened, the more concerned I got.
Jim had incredible value to bring to the table and actually had a unique angle on a relevant skill that should have been in high demand. He was a diamond in the rough but didn’t even realize what he had going for himself.
After a while, I said “Okay Jim. The way I see it, you could do what you have always done OR you could take your experience, skills, and that angle – and do something different.”
And when I began to float some career ideas I envisioned for him, I watched it happen — he changed. At that very moment, I watched all the possibilities light up in his head like the Rockefeller Christmas tree. He started to see what could be. What he could be.
Sometimes it takes an outsider to see who you really are inside.
Where To Go From Here?
I know what you're probably thinking, “Okay, Molly… this is a lot. Where do I go from here?”
Getting tapped on the shoulder may be a thing of the past, but your career potential isn’t.
You know you still have what it takes to make impact and get paid what you’re worth.
You know you can lead circles around some of these less-than-qualified applicants getting roles you know you’re perfect for.
Think about who you are.
Think about how long you want to work and what you want your Career Horizon to look like.
Think about your end game.
Now, start working your way backward.
Reevaluate your job search strategy. Have you been doing it wrong? Have you been relying on those ancient methods of the past to get you a “tap on the shoulder” that will never come?
It’s time to put yourself back in the job search game, but this time equipped with the strategies to make you the best player in the game.
And how do you become the best player?
You start by avoiding these critical mistakes: 7 Mistakes You Can’t Afford to Make in Your Executive Job Search
FREE MasterClass | 7 Mistakes You Can't Afford to Make in Your Executive Job Search
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