Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with Kim Batson, The CIO’s Coach.
Kim has been keeping close tabs on changes in the field of job search, and this week she shared some of her insights. As she said, things have changed even from a year ago. Here are some of the “new rules” that Kim touched on in the call.
First, large job boards are not that valuable. There are lots of boards out there that scrape job listings from one another, and as a senior executive looking for work, you are sure to get lost in the crowd. Online leads should, as a rule, account for no more than 10 percent of your time. Remember that networking and personal referrals account for 50 to 70 percent of all hires. That means you need a multi-prong approach and you should be investing your time in online resources, such as social networking sites and sites like NETSHARE and its forums, and in face-to-face meetings. Know the types of companies you are interested in, and then seek out people who know people connected with the company.
You also need to be proactive. The Internet has created real competition for retained recruiters. Korn Ferry now has an online site that lets executives upload their resumes – that’s new! With her background in technology recruiting, Kim says it’s important to know how the big firms work. When you submit a resume it is “pulled” by one recruiter and held so no one else can access it. Since a recruiter may work on one or two searches a month, your resume could be in limbo for some time. So you need to be proactive and get your resume to the people who need to see it. Ask people you trust and other executives whom they trust. Use the big site, like Korn Ferry, but also use boutique sites. Be targeted. And keep track of everyone who has your resume so you can keep them up to date.
Kim also admits that she’s a latecomer to Twitter. She has been doing her research, and seen how her colleagues use Twitter to make excellent business contacts, and now she’s a believer. She is reading Twitter Power by Joel Comm (check out the recent session with Joel on Experts Connection), and noted that the latest reports predict Twitter will overtake LinkedIn for professional networking. Twitter takes a little time to understand, but for older job seekers, the mere fact you are using tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn demonstrates you are still on the cutting edge. That alone is a good reason to embrace the new rules and the new technology.
