Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from a recent session with our newest career coach, Kristin Speer of Accelerated Search Consulting.
This week we welcomed a new career coach to the Ask the Coach call. Kristin Speer is the founder and CEO of Accelerated Search Consulting based in Silicon Valley, who brings 20 years of experience working with high-tech companies. Her special passion is working with people who have been out of the work force for a while.
Kris noted that she is starting to see things start to move, especially with technology start-ups. She recommends organizing your search into three parts:
- Be found – Make sure your information is out there in the logical places
- Respond – Keep your eyes open for appropriate openings and get to the right person when you see a position posted.
- Go after what you want – Be proactive in identifying the companies in your area that you want to work for, and identify the right hiring authorities.
An emerging trend that Kris has identified is that large companies are using internal recruiters to do their executive search. Companies are looking to take advantage of the large-scale layoffs at recruiting firms, snatching up the talent for their own benefit. Of course, many times these internal recruiters aren’t as effective as a recruiting firm, but this trend means you need to find the Internal Talent Group.
As a job seeker, this means a shift in strategy. You need to make sure you are in the recruiting firms’ databases as well as their partners. Concentrate on the partners that are appropriate to you. Determine who primarily works with your expertise and reach out to them.
The best way to get the attentions of recruiters – both internal and external – is through LinkedIn. Make sure you have a solid profile that shows your value up front. Make it easy for the reader to connect the dots, matching what they need to what you have to offer. Use the right keywords, and if you are not sure what to put in your profile, try reverse engineering the search process. If you were hiring for the position you want, what would you expect to see? You might search through LinkedIn looking for similar positions and see how others write about themselves.
LinkedIn Groups can be extremely useful. Find groups that relate to your profession and monitor the jobs section and discussion sections. Join the conversation. Offer value by responding to questions. That way you will be seen as an expert and make yourself known, and remembered.
One caller asked Kris how, as a recruiter, she uses LinkedIn? She said she uses the Advanced Search section. Since most companies prefer to deal with local candidates, she first searches by zip code for the company’s location. Then she looks for titles – vice president, senior vice president, CEO, etc. Then she narrows the search using keywords. She typically uses three or four filters per search to uncover the right candidates.
As a closing note, remember when sending your marketing documents to send .DOC Word format or .RTF files. Don’t send .docx format files since many companies have not upgraded to the latest version of Microsoft Office.
