Posts Tagged ‘Search Executive Jobs’

When Headhunters were Cannibals…

Monday, June 7th, 2010

It’s incredible how many highly talented executives I speak to each week that have little to no experience of searching for a job themselves.

Of course, historically jobs have landed on their laps having received calls daily from headhunters looking to lure them into their next role. All they needed to do was show up to the interviews.

These days, of course, the market paints a different picture and now executives looking for their next role typically don’t know where to start.

There are a multitude of ways to kick off the process however I’ve amalgamated some pointers that have proved extremely useful for our premium clients:

  • Strategy & Goals – identify your essential career goals and set out some structure to maintain your focus in what can be a long winded process.
  • Research – identify the key protagonists in your market, pick up the phone and find out about your market, there may be skillsets you have that are particularly in demand.
  • Differentiators – identify key unique selling points that set you aside from your competition
  • CV – it’s good practice to put your CV together yourself. By all means use CV consultancy services to fine tune it and get an informed opinion, but it is an essential exercise to help define your personal marketing strategy.
  • Cover letter – not many recruiters read the cover letter so make sure your overview is also covered at the beginning of your CV and tailored to the job.
  • Network – make sure you build your network with key, relevant and reputable contacts (good contacts will lead to good jobs)
  • Direct employers – make yourself even more attractive by approaching companies directly, limiting the cost of your hire whilst exhibiting a proactive approach.
  • Do not bulk email your CV, it’s tacky, desperate and untargeted.
  • Endorsements – only seek references/ endorsements from reputable contacts (if you can get clients even better)
  • Review and Innovate – make sure you review your approach to keep it fresh and reset your goals at regular intervals.
  • Open relationship – Make sure you show you’re in demand from other suitors and keep your options open, it’s more effective than playing hard to get.
  • Keep Active – And most importantly if you are unemployed whilst looking, make sure you get on some courses and mix up your week with additional activities and keep active. This will help you maintain your focus and sanity!

Have a productive week…

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Private sector must insulate against Civil Service freeze

Monday, May 24th, 2010

Last year, recruitment and expenditure in the public sector (albeit unaffordable) went a little way to limiting the effects of a harsh recession.

Now it’s essential that the private sector takes the reins to help the economy along and negate the effects of the cuts announced by George Osborne today, but there must also be moves from the government to help businesses create jobs and boost economic growth.

I’m not certain that Brendan Barber’s fears, warning against cuts, will transpire as positive signs are appearing (as covered in previous blogs) and one report from the CBI seems to confirm this (despite what the REC says). According to the report “A year ago nearly two-thirds of companies had a recruitment freeze in place. This fell to 37% six months ago and now stands at just 5%.”

For those looking for work in the public sector, what does the freeze mean for you?

Of course this is not good news for jobseekers working or looking to work in Central Government, however on closer inspection the government have allowed some room for manoeuvre:

There will be a civil service recruitment freeze across Government departments and agencies, with only limited exceptions for frontline and business critical staff, requiring the personal sign off of the relevant Secretary of State or Chief Executive.

In other words business critical appointments will be made and I’d imagine this would cover senior level appointments, there would have to be a good business case for an appointment or a replacement for an essential position, in which case it sounds like any recruitment could be a protracted process.

It may be an idea to look at your core transferrable skills and market them accordingly if these changes directly affect you. Of course not all areas of the public sector will be affected but it highlights the necessity to ensure you continually look at ways to stand out from other jobseekers and maintain your edge.

Have a productive week…

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Shifting goal posts require goal rethink

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

It’s amazing how many senior executives I speak to who haven’t set clear goals, not only for short term job searching purposes but also for their overall long term career strategy.

Now you may feel that your short term goal is an obvious one, to land a top executive job, but you need to set goals along the way otherwise this process can be unrelenting and aimless. It is particularly important to set goals regularly to quantify and evaluate success, especially in your job search.

This allows you to identify how you are going to achieve those goals,  it gives you direction and enables you to identify the need to adapt your strategy. Your goal doesn’t necessarily have to be accepting an offer, it can be key milestones along the way (such as your opportunity pipeline or network) or it can be the number offers from certain companies.

The key to maintaining a thriving executive jobsearch is to continue setting goals once others have been met and it is essential to rethink your goals when they aren’t met, to discover ways to improve the process.

The job market fluctuates rapidly, your competitors adapt and you need to shift your goal posts accordingly, particularly in the current market.

This holiday period is a great opportunity to give your job search a good Spring clean and set your strategy.

Have a great Easter!

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Ch..Ch..Ch..Change your executive career strategy

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

The National Strategic Skills Audit report was published last week and I was particularly interested in their findings on the “high priority skills needs for immediate action”

A paragraph of particular interest is:

“Corporate managers as a group, and a range of specific management skills have been identified in a number of key sectors. The sectors are likely to include retail, business services/ computing/ digital media organisations, financial and professional services, health and social care, education, public administration and hospitality. Management and leadership covers a multitude of different core activities and behavioural competences, and includes leadership, change management, people management, financial management, risk management, negotiation and procurement skills requirements which must be delivered exceptionally well to fully respond to and exploit future challenges and ensure High Performance Working. This therefore explains the red rating.”

The findings unsurprisingly but worryingly highlight a number of key shortages in leadership, management and technical skills. A number of conclusions can be made from a career strategy perspective, and most importantly this highlights opportunities I’ve covered in previous blogs.

This report covers not only current but also future anticipated skills shortages, the corporate landscape is ever changing from a behavioural and technological perspective and this throws up continual corporate challenges. If you are looking for direction, you need to be asking yourself the question “can I offer the solution?”

a) If the answer is YES, you need to make sure you are marketing these skillsets effectively, highlighting tangible achievements

b) If the answer is NO, you need to adapt/ change your career strategy and decide how to upskill to meet these demands

I don’t think there is as big a skills shortage as made out in the current market, it is mainly a future concern and the report highlights this as a high priority due to the amount of time needed to address it. I speak to executives every week who have not fully realised they have the skillsets and experience necessary to provide companies with solutions in this area, they are focused on what they did rather than how they did it.

This oversight could go some way to addressing this shortage – you don’t necessarily need a qualification or specific training in these areas to have you these skillsets (although this undoubtably helps) – experience is often the most important aspect but there clearly needs to be a mindset ‘change’ both from ar a corporate and executive level to go some way to solving the future need.

However I must stress I am always looking at reports such as this to highlight the trends, opportunities and threats from a jobseeker/ career strategy perspective – this particular report mirrors concerns for the overall economy, these shortages need to be addressed, as well as the shortages in education, technology and research which a service based economy such as ours depends on.

I hope you have a productive week…

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Cover me, I’m going in! Executive job search application…

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Having worked in recruitment since the ‘paper age’, I have always been one for formalities. My consultant and company details would be listed in the Grapevine rather than on the 100s of internet networking channels available today; jobs would be advertised in traditional media solely; research conducted through nurturing of contacts and applications would be received through the post.

Quaint eh? Those were the days… well not really, the internet has made marketing much easier, job advertising more targeted, professionals more transparent and communication (applications) instant. However all of these benefits have led to bad habits creeping in and traditions lost and you need to adapt to these changing working practices.

Senior executives brought up with these traditions can be forgiven for assuming that it is just the medium that has changed. For example it would be nice to think that taking the time to tailor a well drafted opening email (letter) would highlight your key experience for the job and give you the edge… alas I believe that the detail in covering letters will be missed 95% of the time, with the more traditional recruiters making up the 5% of those who will read it (with some demanding it).

The emphasis on your CV is now more important than ever. I hesitate to say that recruiters have become CV administrators, however CVs are the commodity and they drop into recruiters inboxes all too easily. Unless the recruiter is retained for a particular mandate, the huge amount of competition can drive a quantity rather than quality approach, pushing CVs around the ether at a rate of knots. There is no time to read an opening letter or email, they will go straight for the money shot.

It is now more important than ever that your CV communicates key tangibles more effectively. Your message still needs to be communicated the shift in emphasis now means it’s just a matter of where rather than whether you should include it.

The first page is the most important part of your CV, it’s your shop window display, and an opening profile with key skills and quantifiable achievements is often the best place to showcase the skills relevant to the mandate. The aim of the game is the same, it’s just the tactical positioning that has changed.

You need to cover your bases so make sure you use this tailored summary in your opening email and will also increase the chances of the message being communicated.

I hope you have a productive week…

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Round pegs, Round roles… not ideal for that executive job?

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Good morning

Over the past few weeks I have been stressing the need to be positive and to tailor your key tangible experience to fit the remit of the job  you are applying to.

This has provoked some reaction from executives who had been wary of the current climate and, in particular, I performed a consult last week for an executive who had purely focused on jobs that were in his sector.

Current market conditions dictate the need to ensure you fit as many criteria in a job as possible however this does not mean that you have to have the exact experience. In fact some differences can add strategic benefits. Transferrable skills are one thing, however experience from other markets can bring much needed change and benefits to a firm that needs to adapt quickly  with the times.

We’ve seen it in the public sector where classic private sector/ commercial experience has been used to good effect. As long as you are realistic that there will be a longer period of transition, a good manager will always surround themselves with good people to plug any gaps in a specialist environment.

Ailing industries may present opportunity – identify where your transferrable skills can help a company/ sector rebuild or change direction. If you research this thoroughly, you can sell this effectively at interview. There has to be an element of calculated risk when looking for a job and some industries are changing so fast that an ideal candidate is redundant before they’ve got the job.

This does not mean applying for everything, this  can appear desperate and can waste your time. However, this does accentuate the need to research any new markets thoroughly, identify synergies, opportunities and threats – be realistic with what bridges you’d need to overcome to adapt to a new industry, and provide solutions.

Perhaps this will inject new inspiration into a stuttering executive job search and present new opportunities to kick start your career.

I hope you have a productive week…

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It’s not rocket science: Two positives don’t make a negative job search

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010

“Your attitude, not your aptitude, determines your altitude.” Zig Zigler

OK so I decided to google some quotes for this blog and I found the most suitable one from someone I hadn’t heard of before last week. In fact this is just one quote from many others I could have chosen from him. What is patently obvious is that as a motivational speaker, Zig delivers a positive message in almost every sentence.

It not only exudes a positive message about what he is saying, it also exudes a positive message about him. He appears credible even though I don’t know anything about him.

Depending on the situation you find yourself in, it can be extremely difficult to be positive during a job search. I spoke to an executive yesterday who had been looking for a job for just over a year and I could tell, she didn’t even have to say it.

Throughout all aspects of your job search you must maintain a positive theme, from the positive (active) language you use in your CV to the positive message you’ll deliver at interview. You must take the monotony out of the search and look for any positive slants you can get from any introduction or job opportunity:

  • Give yourself a little time to get into a positive mindset for the search. The last thing you want to do is come across negatively especially as you will set the foundations of your network during the first few weeks of the search.
  • Look for the positives in any aspect of your career that you may perceive as negative, go through this diligently and you’ll avoid surprises at interview.
  • Research and understand not only the requirement but the company dynamic. Network, if you can, to find out if there is a particular issue that you are qualified to address or if there’s a particular reason the previous incumbent is vacating the position.
  • Adapt to the market and tailor your application to each position, bringing out the positive salient aspects of your career in your CV to meet their requirements.
  • Provide positive and quantifiable tangibles where possible not watery descriptions such as ‘driven’ ‘results oriented’ etc… anyone can claim this so you need to set yourself aside from the competition.In this market you need to work for the position otherwise the position won’t work for you.
  • Deliver a positive message about your job search at interview and avoid mentioning any negative experiences, give the impression that you have many irons in the fire.

This may seem obvious to some, however I want to hit home the importance of applying positive spin, negating the negatives to avoid any misconceived prejudices during your search.

I hope you have a productive week…

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    Mingle all the way…

    Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

    December is historically one of the slower months to search for jobs – new assignments are often held until January, budgets are stretched and the thoughts of pastures new put off until after the ‘cold turkey’.

    However, in my experience December can be an extremely effective time to reflect on your approach to the jobsearch and open up new avenues.

    A surprising amount of recruiters and executive search consultants work over the festive period and many have more time to take your calls. This is a great opportunity to add some personality to your search and drop in to see your key contacts. The personal touch will always help your cause no matter how far technology advances.

    Requirements don’t just disappear either, recruiters just factor in the holidays and latent demand – with the increased popularity, cost effectiveness and targeted nature of job boards, more and more recruitment is conducted throughout December. When I worked in executive search, this was a great period to start research to be ready to hit the ground running in January.

    It’s also a time for you to get organised and perfect the tools you have at your disposal. Make sure your CV is in order, give it a fresh lick of paint ready for our silly season… January.

    Use this period to gain any advantage you can to stay ahead in this competitive market. In my experience this is the best time to build your contact base, develop your strategy and maximise the effectiveness of your digital footprint.

    Have a productive week…

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