Yes, sometimes it comes down to what’s in a job ad or what a recruiter is sourcing for. However, if you’re proactively looking while employed, you may have the luxury of targeting associations that interest you the most.

Let’s assume for just a moment that you are an experienced executive director, and you get to strategically plan your job search–you’ll contact recruiters in your areas of interest, network with people in your target area, and apply to associations with missions that really speak to you–but what IS that mission?

There are a few ways to go about finding out:

• Look to your past work experience. What jobs did you enjoy the most? What tasks did you prefer spending your time on? What companies did you most like working for?
• Go back even further. What did you major in? As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• Think about which causes are closest to your heart. What organizations do you donate money to or volunteer with? How do you spend your free time (sports, arts, travel, etc.)?

While these questions may not give you an immediate answer, you should gain clarity on what areas you’re most passionate about. For example, if the arts are a strong theme, start exploring associations that focus on arts in the schools, professional theatre, or art museums. Depending on your area of interest, there could be a variety of options out there. According to the ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership, there were an estimated 86,054 trade and professional associations in 2004. While you may have to repackage your career marketing materials for your area of interest (if you’re breaking into a new industry) rest assured there are plenty of exciting possibilities within association management.

In thinking about the delay in BP’s PR response to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, do you see an ostrich mentality? I can’t help but see parallels in the lives of executives, many of whom are current or former JobWhiz executive talent agent clients. These very accomplished professionals ignored the necessity for proactively marketing themselves when times were fine and their careers seemed to be in good shape. They did not continuously strive to promote themselves, didn’t purposefully network to enlarge their impact and develop new contacts, were not on the inside track learning about potential new challenges on a constant basis, and were not sought out for their recommendations and referrals. They thought they would be safe if they focused on the job to be done at their company. Meanwhile their world
unraveled while they failed to promote a positive image and make others aware of their potential. They did not protect their good name, their reputation, their careers.

Unfortunately for some otherwise successful executives, it is only when the handwriting on the wall can no longer be denied, like BP, that they finally, too late, start their “official” campaign. They rush to implement their personal PR campaign. They seek to renew dormant connections, furiously attend networking events, work the phone and make appointments to meet with former colleagues, headhunters, etc.  It is far better to dig your well, as Harvey McKay says, before you are thirsty. And IMHO, BP should have started their PR work right when the first drop leaked and not when it was obvious that the problem was huge and they owned it.

How many top leaders are guilty of ignoring their own career needs for self-promotion when everything is working out at their current job? Only when disaster strikes, like they have to acknowledge an impending layoff or are faced with a sudden termination, do they respond appropriately by reaching out to their network, polishing a resume, joining groups, participating in social media, etc. all of which are the right steps to help them identify a new job. Too little too late just like BP. The time to take preventive action or be proactive in managing a career transition is before all the facts are in when there is more time to influence and make new contacts.
I see similarities in how an executive gets caught up in the day to day and
relies only on their current employer to take care of their future or they
think they have more time than they actually do to prepare for their next
assignment. Is it just human nature/wishful thinking to roll along until we
are forced to do something? Do we lack initiative? Do we make excuses
because it is easier? For all those reading this and seeing themselves, wake
up!! Start to plan your next career move even if you would rather not put the effort into developing new
contacts, publishing your thoughts, sharing your ideas with those who are
not your immediate colleagues in order to promote yourself within your
industry. Is it human nature not to act until an outside party tells us we
have to move? You know very well how much better it is to always be
networking and creating a positive professional image. Don’t be a BP!!!!

Please comment with your ideas for what these two initials can represent like blind XX or
blatant XXX etc.

When I first entered the careers field as an executive talent agent a decade ago, I asked those with expertise and experience for their words of wisdom and advice. Universally, at some point in the conversation, the colleague offering advice about executive careers would say that the candidate’s resume could make or break their campaign. I carefully researched and discussed differing resume writing styles with experts and soon found out what made some writers better resources, in my opinion, for my executive clients. Along the way, I learned to recognize different stylistic preferences and grew to respect, even revere, various approaches.

During the intervening years, the world of executive career management including recruiting, and in turn the role the resume plays in a job search has been changing. I think it is not an exaggeration to remark that we are living a revolution. Dramatic changes in communications, technology and the economy all have shifted the relationship between prospective employee and potential employer which in turn, are forcing career industry professionals to adapt. The Career Thought Leaders Consortium is one fine example of this trend

Many in our profession have recognized this sea change and have polished their skills, updated their knowledge, added new services and transformed their businesses.  They  continue to push our field forward and provide the high quality  services that more sophisticated clients demand. Executive clients today are more knowledgeable.  They can get information via Internet search, through virtual communities and online discussions.  Unfortunately for some,  they master this arena by spending their own time in the job market while in transition.

What I am getting around to is that today we are light years away from the olden days of paper resumes and are living with a complexity beyond the days of broadcast faxes and mass emails. Today, a candidate’s competitive advantage is not just a great (but static) resume documenting a fantastic track record of accomplishments. Their future career success stems from how an individual communicates and distributes and makes available their reputation and unique problem-solving capabilities to those who can hire them and offer them additional opportunities to learn and grow their success.  Sounds like a networking process doesn’t it?  Sure, the individual has to have the goods, but just putting it in writing is not enough, just communicating this in one well-crafted document is too little and just sharing this when asked is usually not enough to ensure  a career.

The best possible resume is a good starting point for discussion; a better strategy is not only to build a strong reputation (good resume content,) but to also be visible.  Achievements have always been necessary and still are necessary, but are not sufficient for success.  How an individual communicates their value has broadened from just a “dam good resume” occasionally distributed when the candidate was actively looking or asked to submit their credentials to being a full time, non-stop personalized PR campaign.  This means being visible and searchable online.

We’ve been learning that having a personal website or online portfolio or Linkedin profile alone seldom attracts enough attention or generates enough desired contacts from prospective recruiters or hiring managers. These online pieces are major parts of a larger effort that includes an online resume, a marketing presence that is vibrant, updated regularly and contains relevant data differentiate those who get noticed. Think: what did you do today, what will you be doing tomorrow that demonstrates your abilities. It is said that past performance is no guarantee for the future. To be competitive, executives have to prove themselves, visibly speaking, in real time. In addition to producing results, they engage others.  They develop new connections. They interact. They give to others. And when the timing is right, they learn about a new position and make a move. In other words, the resume is now an important part of the overall marketing plan implementation process.  There is an intention to attract attention and pull opportunities towards the candidate.  Contrast this to when all career marketing/job searching efforts were designed to push the candidate to potential employers.

Today’s environment means game-changing strategy and a new style for executing an effective search for candidates and the modern career industry professionals who support them.  The best solution is for every employee to always have the mindset and behaviors of a potential candidate:  maintain their visibility with up to date information and messaging. There’s no worry about anyone discovering they are looking for a new job because they are always open to new opportunities that are able to find them even when they are not actively looking for leads to a new job. They never are out of “job search mode” but their standard MO is inviting connections, sharing  ideas and being approachable.

Are you finding few to no job openings through “traditional” channels? With at least 5 or 6 people vying for every job opening in today’s employment market, executives who find themselves thrust into that market need to be proactive and creative. With well-thought-out and persistently pursued strategies, you can identify those famous “hidden” opportunities and in many cases create your own!

It’s largely a matter of mindset:

     Are you going to be a beggar or supplicant competing with potentially hundreds or thousands of others for a particular advertised or recruiter-handled opening?
     or
     Would you rather be seen as a subject matter expert and solutions deliverer in your field who offers the companies you contact remedies for their problems and challenges — in many cases problems and challenges they themselves may have not yet identified?

Once you’ve established the proper mindset, the first order of business is to research and identify companies that are potentially a good fit based on your functional skill sets, your familiarity with their industry, and/or your proven ability to solve problems similar to theirs. Here is a an outline of some basic actions that will help you identify your target list of companies:

• Use the job boards in a contrarian manner: not so much to apply for advertised positions as to gather intelligence on what companies are hiring and what those ads reveal about their needs.
• Visit their corporate websites to become familiar with their management team, corporate culture, market positioning, and competition.
• Use online resources such as Hoovers, Vault, Wetfeet, CorporateInformation, Forbes, AnnualReports, and Glassdoor to flesh out the picture.
• Leverage your online contact networks (including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and industry-specific forums, etc.) to find people with inside knowledge of the company (or perhaps even a direct foot in the door for you).
• Don’t neglect your traditional contact network. Face-to-face networking still outshines most other forms of networking in getting to decision makers in a company. Organizations such as ExecUNet and Netshare can be a valuable face-to-face networking resource. And your social network can also be a treasure trove of intelligence. Sources might be your church, other parents involved in your children’s sports teams, even your barber or tailor.
• Don’t forget the library. There is a wealth of free information there and friendly librarians who are eager to assist you.

Now that you have a good, solid list of target companies, you can begin to develop a value proposition and potential solutions for each. Soon you’ll be ready to approach them and make a powerful business case for why they continue without you on their team only at their peril.

If you want to ride a Google Wave into your next career perhaps this adapted how to list will compel you to think differently about how to bring your brand to a new level. Thinking on a different plane may allow you to advance your career path – real-time. Here are a few tips from the ever-invasive Google brain. Think about how these ideas will help you maintain an advantage.

Stay Connected – Google Wave allows you to keep in touch more instantly than IM. Tagging key conversations and knowing what’s going on real time matters.

Share Files – Google Wave allows you to share large files and sharing information may be a critical way to advance your brand, career and help others.

Share Photos - As you know full resolution now rules the digital footprint world. Google Gears can help you drag and drop images. Just remember that the world of work now thinks in pictures more than ever. Catch this wave.

Collaborate Collaborate – Google Docs does some of this kind of work but real time collaborations on critical issues matter. Executives always should be working on critical documents and collaborating, including those in career transition.

Newsletters and Information – You don’t need email or listserv to do this on Google Wave. Create a new Wave and add some collaborative friends.

When you have decided to make a career move at the executive or $100,000 plus job level, issues impacting your search may be different than other jobseekers especially if you are still currently in an executive position. You must know the special issues that surround this kind of search. Some of these tips were published on The Ladders as their lead story on March 1, 2010.

Here are three tips that should not be ignored in an Executive Confidential Search:

1. Watch Yourself – Know Who You Can Trust - Not all contacts, recruiters or friends may have your best interests in mind. Be very careful who you tell that you are interested in making a transition. A recent example comes to mind. A senior executive talked to some neighbors and acquaintances at a party in his home about several area companies. Weeks later a friend said “I heard you were looking – what’s up?” That shocked my executive contact. He said to me: “I didn’t think I had to watch myself.” You do.

2. No Sloppy Posts or Fishing Expeditions – Many executives and more than you might believe throw out some bait on websites, blogs and search engines. One example I have found through the years is that executives in transition try to disguise their resume and put it on Monster, Career Builder, The Ladders, and other sites. Most recruiters can tell by reading your content where you work. Good work. Your company can find out. Other executives create new patterns and really dust up digital footprints that can be tracked and followed…by people who don’t need to know but may want to know.

3. Watch Big Changes in Your Schedule (Others Are) – Nothing tips off people more than clear or radical schedule or behavioral changes. One executive I coached wanted to immediately reduce time at work and start networking in groups he hadn’t been active in for years. He said: “If I am ready I am ready.” We had to invest a couple of hours in convincing him to ease into his new networking schedule so as not to alert others who, for now, didn’t need to know.

If you are looking for your next move and you are an executive don’t incur unnecessary suspicion. As an executive career coach and outplacement partner to many executives, we advise a carefully thought out, intentional process so that you can remain confidential in your pursuit of your next meaningful work.