If you have been in a C-Suite position for some time, it is quite likely that you have spent years building the company’s brand and even spent a little time developing your own. If you find yourself in the position of having lost employment or are looking for an environment change, you are going to need to upgrade your online brand presence. Here are the essential elements you will need to embrace to make your executive job search much more effective.

 

“All of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.” – Tom Peters in Fast Company

 

Re-Evaluate Your LinkedIn Profile

You want to make sure that your profile is up to date and utilizing all of the best practices for the platform to increase your visibility. Make sure that any recruiters or potential employers can easily reach you by including your contact in your summary. Make sure you’ve included a professional profile picture and a detailed chronological résumé for your profile.

You can use the introduction section to highlight the opportunities you are seeking and why your exemplary track record makes you perfect for the job. Make sure your privacy protections are set so that anyone can see your profile. Get busy writing useful, informative blogs –sharing links to others articles are not enough. Join in forums related to your industry and share your insights. Actively engage with the LinkedIn community to optimize your online networking options. Remember to attempt to engage across a few social media platforms for maximum impact.

 

Revamp Your Elevator Pitch

 

You have 30 seconds to make a lasting impression. You have years of experience, and you might be tempted to want to unpack your expertise in an hour-long presentation. That will come later. Give yourself only one question to answer, “What do you want to do going forward?” You want to rehearse your answer so that it covers where your expertise lies and what opportunities you are seeking in your next job. Keep your elevator pitch clear, confident and succinct. Don’t let your audience glaze over in boredom or confusion. Keep them captivated and engaged for 30 seconds. It’s the length of an advert. It’s your personal advert.

 

Sing It from the Rooftops

 

Be bold and brazen. Let the world know you are actively seeking a new position. Utilize the network you have created over the last years to spread the word that you are on the job market again and eager to wrestle new challenges. Be clear about what opportunities you are looking for so that you don’t get swamped with suggestions or offers that don’t match your vision for the next phase of your career. Send out your announcements to business associates, family, and friends. Although the tone of the messages might need to be slightly different between professional contacts and personal ones.

 

Activate Your Networking Giant Within

“Networking is marketing. Marketing yourself, marketing your uniqueness, marketing what you stand for.” Christine Comaford-Lynch

 

Yes, you have alerted everyone you can think of about your job search, but one mass email is not going to cut it. Having pushed send doesn’t mean you can kick back, relax and wait for the offers to roll in. Pick up the phone to influential colleagues in the industry with the express aim of meeting them in person. If you do get an appointment –keep it short (20 minutes), do your pitch, engage in brainstorming with the person for any new contacts they could introduce you to and ask them to keep you in mind for any possible jobs that could be in development. Stay in contact with them after the meeting on LinkedIn and other social media platforms, so you are top of mind. Always send a thank you message. Remember that there is a “hidden” job market where many jobs might never be publicized and by connecting with effective networking will put you onto this radar.

 

Target Your Ideal Company

 

You need to spend time targeting these companies by finding out the right person in the organization to contact. You are not just going to go to their website and look for any open positions (which you can also do), but it is more about using your networking skills to get a foot in the door. They might not have a job for you at the moment, but you would have made an impression with your proactive approach, and if something comes up, you are likely to get a call. It’s time-consuming but highly effective.

 

A Few More Tips…

• Keep active in volunteer programs. It keeps you busy, you meet new people, and you have a great answer to the question, “what have you been doing recently?”
• Prepare yourself for tough interview questions. Find strong answers to all of the questions you hope you are never asked.
• If you are struggling to find a position in your industry, perhaps it’s time to broaden your horizons and move into a different career?
• Create a playbook to attract top recruiters. This should include sharing insights, opinions and original content across many channels.
• Investigate all relevant job boards but ensure that your résumé is going to get through the Applicant Tracking System software. This means you are going to need to rework your résumé.

 

 

Executive Résumé Resuscitation

 

If you want to make sure that your résumé gets through the job board ATS or is in a more modern format, it might be time to hire a professional résumé writer. You want to ensure that it emphasizes your quantitative results, provides a detailed description of each of your previous employers, shows the size of your staff as well as your budget responsibilities.

If you want your résumé to truly stand out and capture your experience and expertise, let us assist you. Speak with one of our Résumé Experts today by submitting an inquiry here – we would love to hear from you.

 

Respected Résumés has 20 years’ experience in the field, producing more than 100,000 résumés.  We have a 93% success rate in obtaining interviews