The Executive Update

Ask the Coach: Getting More Lift from Your Elevator Pitch

Each week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session with our newest expert to join Ask the Coach, Christine Dennison, The Job Search Coach.

This week’s coach, Chris Dennison, stressed the value of networking and especially tools like NETSHARE, and the need to hone your personal brand in order to make the most of networking tools. You need to be able to impart your brand promise quickly and efficiently when you make a new connection.

Chris also noted that there is a common misconception about the “elevator pitch,” that brief introduction you use to describe yourself when meeting someone new. Most networkers seem to understand that they need to make the elevator speech an effective part of their personal brand as part of their search strategy. However, they do not really understand what the elevator pitch is (and more importantly, what it isn’t).

Many people believe you have to cram your entire career into a short pitch. That’s not the purpose of an elevator pitch. Yes, you should be able to introduce yourself using your elevator pitch at the drop of a hat. And your pitch should be natural and authentic. It also needs to be concise. It is an introductory statement to help you start the conversation. It also should pique the interest of the listener. They should feel compelled to add to the conversation and ask questions. This provides another opportunity for you to provide additional insights into what you offer and where you add value.

The elevator brand statement is the classic sales pitch. There are two forms of sales pitch: the push sell and the pull sell. Most people don’t like to be pushed into something; they would rather be pulled in. By starting a conversation you are the one that can control its direction. By focusing on the listener, you can create a comfortable environment in which you can build a common bond. By starting the conversation you can take charge of the direction of the discussion.

April’s Experts Connection session with Ross Macpherson is about “The Top 5 Critical Marketing Tools for Executives: What Works Today!” and includes the brand statement as part of the arsenal of essential marketing tools. You also can try out your new brand statement with other professional on the NETSHARE networking forums, or join NETSHARE’s LinkedIn networking group. Your peers can help you refine your message and your brand strategy.

Ask the Coach: Tools for a Targeted Job Search Strategy

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 career coach Don Orlando.

With any job search strategy, your best approach is to be targeted. A rifle shot approach always works better than a shotgun, and as part of that targeted strategy you need to be able to identify both the right companies to target, and the right contacts to help you open doors.

Whether you are changing industries or professional roles, Don recommends using LinkedIn and resources like NETSHARE’s LinkedIn Group to connect with resources that can help you the most. To target specific companies, you can use trade associations, organizations, trade journals, and other resources to find the right companies. For example, the National Association of Manufacturers can help you identify companies by specialization and geography. You can use these kinds of directories to find out about a company’s size, geographic locations, products, etc. Don’t forget to tap the expertise of your local reference librarian; they are trained at rooting out information from obscure resources. Most libraries also have business directories, including searchable directories on CD, that allow you to search by parameters like SIC code, location, sales volume, etc.

Once you have identified the targets, you can approach them directly. If you can establish connections within the organization, you will have a much better chance of being in the right place at the right time, talking to decision makers at a time when they are ready to make a change.

To help you infiltrate these organizations, enlist experts from the field. The experts will be the ones writing articles, speaking at industry events, and who are active on the LinkedIn Forums. Try to contact them and engage with them about topics related to your industry, what challenges lie ahead, etc. Determine who might be a good mentor and ask for their insight and assistance. Don’t ask for a job, ask for their expertise. Ask them probing questions about the industry and what you need to know to understand it better. You also should show passion for what they are doing; show them you care.

With the help of your mentor, you can get smarter about the industry and find ways to infiltrate your target companies. Don always asks himself the same question about the companies he is targeting: “What is the one thing that is keeping this organization from achieving its goals?” The answer to that question will unlock many doors, and will be the linchpin in your strategy. It will help you identify the right hiring managers, help you pinpoint your value proposition, and will help you take charge of the interview. It also will help you connect the dots for the hiring manager, demonstrating how your past experience and expertise will help them solve their current dilemma.

Why You Need to Manage Your Online Reputation

We have been advocating managing your online brand for a long time, and now there is research to explain in no uncertain terms why it’s so important. Microsoft commissioned a new Online Reputation Research study that highlights the disconnect between user perception and what recruiters are really doing online.

This new survey polled 1,200 consumers and 1,200 hiring managers and recruiters in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the findings, only 15 percent of consumers believe that information found online will have any impact on their getting a job. The reality is that 79 percent of hiring managers are searching for information about candidates online, and 70 percent of those hiring have rejected candidates based on what they have found. So if you think what you post on your blog or your Facebook page or your Twitter feed doesn’t matter, think again.

At the same time, 85 percent of the recruiting professionals polled said that they were positively influenced when they found favorable information online. This is another reason for you to make a proactive effort to manage your online reputation and find ways to get your best work and your insights posted. Use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, a blog, and other resources to tell the Web world about our professional prowess. That’s the kind of data you want to make sure hiring managers find when they look for you online.

Ask the Coach: Add Interviewers to Your Network

Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from this week’s session with Barbara Safani, owner of Career Solvers based in New York City.

Some job seekers keep coming up to bat but can’t connect with the right placement. During this week’s call with career coach Barbara Safani, one of the callers said he has been lucky and has been through multiple rounds of interviews in the last nine months, but he’s still looking. Apparently many of those job opportunities were closed due to budgetary constraints. He asked Barbara if there is something else he should be doing.

Her immediate response was, “Yes!” Maintain contact with those executives with whom he has been interviewing. They are now more than just names in an e-mail database, but real people who now know you. You have a relationship with these professionals, and the fact that they felt confident enough in you to recommend you for employment shows you have made a favorable impression. You need to turn these recruiting relationships into part of your network.

Don’t limit your discussion to the job at hand. Throughout the interview process, you should have gained a good understanding of the challenges facing the company. Keep your eyes and ears open and forward pertinent information to your new contacts to give them something that might be beneficial, or at least interesting. This will help cement the relationship.

Now you can work with your new networking contacts to see if they can refer you to someone else, either within the company or elsewhere, who might be able to help you achieve your goal. Is there someone who might be a good mentor; who can help deepen you knowledge of the company and its business (and thus increase your value)?

Recruiting interviewers as networking contacts uses the same principles you already are applying to expand your professional network. Anyone you meet in a professional context is a potential ally in helping you land your next opportunity.

How to Identify and Select Target Employers to Land a New Challenge Faster

The Executive Update often accepts guest posts from career experts. Here is a contributed post from executive talent agent Debra Feldman from JobWhiz.com.

 

Yes, Virginia there is something like Santa Claus for choosing companies that belong on a candidate’s target employer list. Specific circumstances, conditions, observations and trends are often strong indicators that a particular company may need new talent, will soon be posting openings or be receptive to having potential employees initiate contact and demonstrate interest in discussing how to address and solve their challenges. Therefore, those who recognize these opportunities first gain a competitive advantage in the job market and can increase their ability to Network Purposefully and start a meaningful dialogue with appropriate hiring decision-makers, getting their foot in the door and a chance to present their qualifications.

 

By setting up Google Alerts, monitoring Twitter for news, following the Facebook fan page, browsing employee blogs, and staying in close touch with contacts and company connections who have inside company knowledge, it’s possible to find out about which decision-makers may be hiring or looking to talk with experts who can help them increase profits, reduce expenses, or improve processes.

 

Here are a dozen of the most common signs that harken potential opportunities for the astute, attentive, and aggressive candidate who’s on the watch.  These are indicators signifying unadvertised jobs, coveted opportunities in the hidden job market, and positions that most of your competitors will only learn about "too late."

 

1. Announcements of promotions, re-organizations, consolidations, expansions, relocations, etc.
2. Corporate M & A activity
3. New products or services
4. Regulatory or changes in other mandated requirements
5. New funding sources
6. Changes in outsourcing policies
7. New technology
8. Adoption of new policies or procedures
9. Hiring a consultant
10. Switching partners or consultants
11. Taking on a new partner or establishing a new alliance or change of terms of an existing relationship
12. Cluster of job board postings (in one area can have ripple effect and produce needs elsewhere)

Arm Yourself with the 5 Critical Marketing Tools

If you have been reading this blog regularly, you know that a resume and cover letter are no longer adequate to get you to stand out with potential hiring managers and recruiters. You need a full arsenal of marketing tools that you can strategically use to present your personal brand, highlight your expertise, and open new doors.  That’s why we have asked Ross Macpherson, president of CareerQuest and a recognized authority in resume writing and job search strategies, to address “The Top 5 Critical Marketing Tools for Executives: What Works Today!” at our next Experts Connection teleseminar scheduled for April 28.

This is an important topic for everyone, so I wanted to share a little bit of what Ross will be talking about here as a sneak preview. Ross has identified five basic tools you need as part of your personal marketing arsenal, but these tools are only the foundation for a solid personal marketing kit:

1. A LinkedIn Profile – Everyone needs to build a solid online presence, and LinkedIn is the best place to start building your online brand. Recruiters and hiring managers are looking on LinkedIn for talent, and they are Googling candidates, so you want to make sure you can be found, and that you have a compelling LinkedIn profile to highlight your skills. And remember, that a LinkedIn profile is different from your resume.
2. A Resume and Cover Letter – Although some pundits keep preaching that the resume is dead, hiring managers still want to see your credentials presented in a resume format. And at the executive level, you need to be sure your resume is compelling, well-written, and polished.
3.  An Executive Bio – A bio is different from a resume. Where a resume should be chronological, the executive bio allows you to present yourself any way you want. This makes it easier to highlight your strengths and emphasize those points that will help you demonstrate your value for a potential position or to make a career change. An executive bio is typically a one-page document that gets a different level of attention and can be used to make an introduction without making it look like you are seeking a job (which is what happens when you start with your resume).
4. A Brag Sheet – Like a bio, a brag sheet lets you emphasize your strengths and value by cataloging the real value you had in different jobs and the results you generated in different roles. You can organize your credentials as you want and show the real value behind your job title and activities.
5. A Brand Statement – Some like to call this an elevator pitch, but your brand statement should be more than that. It needs to capture who you are and what you have to offer a prospective employer. Once you create your brand statement, you can use it in other branding documents, like your resume and bio, as a differentiator.

Each of these marketing tools can be used in different ways to move your job search forward. Ross will offer greater insight into how to develop and use these tools in his Experts Connection presentation. You can register at www.experts-connection.com.

Ask the Coach: Slant Your Resume to Sell Yourself

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 Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.

One of the biggest concerns for executive job seekers is how to present yourself. Career coaches like Nicola can be a big help here, and NETSHARE maintains a database of the best career coaches in North America, including those with specializations like working with CFOs or CIOs. NETSHARE is always happy to recommend qualified career coaches to its members, and this week, Nicola demonstrated her expertise with insights into how executives can best present themselves through their resume.

One of the most important things to remember about the resume is you need a chronological format. There is no “one size fits all” approach to resumes, but recruiters do seem to universally prefer a chronological approach. The chronological summary allows the reader to quickly review a candidate’s experience, scan job titles and dates, and make sure there are no glaring holes in their career path. However, many candidates feel this pigeonholes them and limits them by tying them too closely to their last job. In these times it’s important to be able to show you can handle new challenges and transition to a new role with your current skill set.

Nicola recommends working with the chronological resume format and using your experience to lead the reader where you want to take them. As an example, Nicola offered Joe, President of Widgets, Inc. If you look at his resume, his most recent position was as president of a family-owned widget company. If you go back in time, you see that Joe has been a senior executive with other widget companies, as well as president of other family-owned firms. By carefully crafting his marketing documents, Joe can make a solid case for candidacy as president of a widget company, or a family-owned company in a different industry. It’s the context that guides the reader to the conclusion you want them to make, which means you need to understand what you want to attain.

Of course, the resume is not the only weapon on your job search arsenal. On April 28, Ross Macpherson will join Experts Connection to review “The Top 5 Critical Marketing Tools for Executives: What Works Today!” Ross recommends augmenting a professionally written resume with other tools, including a solid LinkedIn profile, an executive bio, a brag sheet, and a brand statement. Each of these marketing tools is crafted in a different way, and each is used in a different way. Together they form a strong foundation for any job search campaign.