Like thousands of other executives, perhaps you are bored, discouraged, burnt-out, laid-off, on thin ice, plateaued, or over-qualified. Clearly it is time for a better job. Talented and focused - you attack the employment shop with the drive that has made you successful. However, results are bad so far and you do not know why or what to do next.
Hunter College
Tactics
What have you been doing? Your advent worked before, right? You may scour want ads in the Wall street Journal and your local paper and apply to many listings - sometimes when you are overqualified. perhaps you send your updated resume to each headhunter you know personally and, with an online 'shotgun' service, to thousands of recruiters you do not know. Maybe the web did not exist when you last looked for a job or it was less popular then. You assume, of course, the key to looking selected jobs is posting resumes on sites where 'the power of the internet' will shop you, right away and confidentially, to employers worldwide. You spend several days to subscribe and to enter resume and preference data on 30 or 40 sites. Mental ahead, you thought about return to each site each week to 'refresh' your resume - changing a word or two so, in electronic terms, it will return to the top of the pile to be looked at first - again.
Odds
Why the poor results? The write back may be how you use resources in what is now a distinct market, according to research by the firm of Taylor Nelson Sofres. Their recognize of job seekers suggests the environment is evolving and successful hunters have changed tactics.
Newspaper Ads - Once a basic part of job searching now useful just 16% of the time, and most results are for lower level positions.
Headhunters/Agencies/Search Firms - other marketing channel once thought about foremost but now less than 2% report success this way.
Websites - 'Leveraging technology to improve your penetration in the global employment market' is evidently a long way from meeting expectations - helping only 3.6% of those surveyed.
Leave the Wandering Herd
Astonishing perhaps but true - people still rely on newspaper ads, headhunters and websites to look for (versus find) jobs. perhaps they do not understand - at best they can hit.200 and, if they want a senior position, the odds are worse.
Low odds are one problem. Compounding this question is other - the crusade taking too long. It is not unusual to see experienced executives looking - ineffectively - for 2 years or more. Their lost income can total hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Wrapped up in time and money concerns are psychological effects - stress, anxiety, depression, insomnia, etc. That deplete vigor and self trust and make it tougher to network, interview and negotiate well - foremost perhaps to more psychological strain and so forth. A cycle to avoid.
To break from the pack, pause first and think straight through your options. Get the best expertise you can afford and then apply it. Start on the right path, using the right methods, with the right strategy, built on current research, for results with minimum time, money, and irritation.
It's the Networking, Stupid....Right?
Reading the word 'networking' above, what is your first thought? Some guesses: Yawn...so what else is new? I've read this stuff since college! What cave has this guy been living in?
Confident you are efficient or even master at networking, you understand why the Taylor Nelson Sofres study shows over 60% of jobs - and more among senior positions - supervene from networking and researching. What will surprise you is that executives do need training to network and research well adequate for these skills to come to be competitive assets.
A easy Example
A seasoned networker, Bill walks into the hotel lobby where his expert relationship is meeting. He has business cards. He is friendly, outgoing, even charismatic - a fine schmoozer. He has learned to appear casual in talking with other attendees. He looks for moments in the conversation to ask about events, developments, job openings, and other news. He makes good use of chances to moderately slip in comments about his recent projects, clients, and activities.
Bill of policy scans the lobby while talking. He remembers to focus up - seeking the right chance to chat with attendees more experienced, senior and influential that he is. Feeling a bit awkward, synthetic and self-serving, he figures he has to pay his dues this way to promote himself and his interests 'just like everybody else'.
Mary is an administrative at the same conference. She is more introverted than Bill and less comfortable and skilled at 'working the room'. Knowing this, she has been coached and trained. Here in the lobby, she tries to discharge facts and listen. She meets people and swiftly asks about their careers, successes, aspirations, and needs. She stays focused on them. When she has chances in conversations to talk about how she might help people meet their goals, Mary does - particularly when her help will not directly create business for herself. For example, she arranges for someone she talks with to meet one of her colleagues at the conference, a hope for the first person's services.
From time to time, Mary confirms back to others how she understands the uniqueness, value proposition, niche, strategy, etc. Of their stock or service. She approaches everybody she meets this way: front desk clerks, hairdressers, and Ceos.
Now, having been coached, she can work straight through her natural shyness to feel reasonably calm and helpful. Her orientation to other people's interests is fascinating and powerful. Word about Mary spreads fast and her influence builds. Attendees will remember and help her in the future more than they ever will Bill.
Unfortunately Bill's advent to self-promotion is typical and transparent to everyone, despite his taste and truthful effort. In networking terms, he is a dime a dozen.
Jobs - hunt and Find As the shop Shifts
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