The Fork in the Road for Executive Job Seekers
If you are an executive level employee looking for a new job opportunity, where do you turn? Nowadays, we are socialized to believe that the typical job search is reactive and relies exclusively on networking and job boards to identify opportunities. But, the results are not promising. Why? For a few different reasons.
First, if you are an executive, you have a very high pay grade and a very specific skill set, right? Well, given the very explicit background that is required, companies know that opening the floodgates to applicants through job boards is just a waste of their time. Executive positions are NOT for the masses, they are for a select few. Without these positions advertised publicly, we are then left to think that we must network. But again, the results are not promising. The problem with networking: no one knows you better than you know you.
Don Garrett, the CEO of Resume Not Required, states: “Perhaps the most troubling trend among job seekers that I have identified in my 15 years in the human capital industry is people’s willingness to allow others to make critical decisions about their careers for them.” Don’t let others make decisions for you. At an executive level, “It is your turn now. You get to DECIDE what you want to do, where you want to do it, and how. You’ve earned that right. The only way that can happen, however, is for you to know who you are.”
While it may seem unconventional, it is entirely logical to assume that proven executives ought to be able to choose where it is they takes their experiences, rather than allowing others to decide for them. Nobody has followed them around in their career, and nobody, but them, knows what they are truly capable of.
“This concept resonates strongly with the executives I’ve spoken with over the years; yet, very few ever actually take the time to go through the gut check to figure out who they are and what they want to do with their experiences (a.k.a. their definition of success).” Without knowing what your own personal definition of success is, how can you possibly find the RIGHT job?
So, for all you executive job seekers out there, its time for a “gut check.” Know who you are. Understand how you create value in the world and insure that the people that need such value are aware of it. CHOSE your next job. Why not? You’ve made it this far… you’ve earned it!
The Job Search: The Negative Impacts on Our Self Esteem and the Temptations that Arise as a Result
Unemployment, or underemployment, brings with it a lot of ill side-effects besides the lack of a paycheck. One being an unhealthy self-esteem. When we don’t have a place to go and things to do on a day-to-day basis, we feel lost. Without a professional agenda, we feel purposeless. Therefore, we all WANT to find a job (for those of us who don’t already have one). But with how the job search process works these days, we are beginning to feel even more purposeless.
We’ve all had the dreaded experience of finding a new job:
We send out hundreds of resumes that never get responses.
We found a job we think is a perfect fit: our experience exactly matches the posted requirements. Yet, the employer obviously doesn’t agree because we do not get so much as an interview scheduled.
We finally landed an interview. We thought it went so well! We got very positive feedback, only to get a follow up email that states: “Although we admire your credentials, there is not a fit for you in our organization.” But they make sure that you know to never give up because, “We will keep you in our database in case any other opportunities arise.”
Networking. We talked to dozens of friends, colleagues, neighbors and ex-business associates about our job search only to chase dead ends.
Trying to find a job is no longer exciting, but more like running away from a painful situation. The job search process is not only daunting, but emotionally exhaustive. Hearing no’s, after no’s, after no’s really takes a toll on us. The end result: a reduction in our self esteem. We feel as if we are unemployable. We are left with an overwhelming fear because we either have bills to pay, a family to provide for, student loans to pay off, or a reputation to uphold.
So what do we do? We are tempted to take the first job that is offered to us without regards to our desires, conviction, and long-term success goals. The thought being, “Something is better than nothing.”
That’s where we are wrong. Yes, not having success in finding a job (excuse my language) SUCKS, but what sucks even more: finally having that place to go and things to do on a day-to-day basis, but HATING the place you’re going and the things you’re doing. Talk about a self-esteem killer. Going into work miserable every day contributes just as much, if not more, to that feeling of purposelessness as not having a job does. So, although it’s tempting, don’t take a job “just because.” Take a job you enjoy.
Don’t let the job chose you. Chose the job.
Don’t let all the no’s get you down. While it is cliche to say, “it’s not you, it’s me.” It’s true. It is not you – you are employable. It’s the current way in which we go about finding a job that sets us up to fail. There is a better way… Check it out: www.resumenotrequired.com.
Taking a Day Off (Almost 250 Years Later)
Every year we take a day off work to honor our Forefathers who made the conscious decisions of sacrificing their own careers to Co Author an Original proposal of rights to be honored as Law.
Would this historical attempt to support their perspective vision of Freedom be considered as a foundation for the History of the North American Resume?
Resume Not Required is wondering who has read this & what modern families and businesses of today have had to sacrifice in order to help support your perspective vision for the future generations who are following right behind us?
If you have a few minutes to spare, please feel free to share 1 thing we can do to support a “cause” you believe in that needs attention.
We will do our best to help you any way we can & or agree to refer someone else who professionally shares a similar affinity for what you are trying to accomplish.
Contact us @ talexander@resumenotrequired.com
What Could Have been Avoided by Responding to a Sincere Request for Partnership from an RNR Client
Everything happens for a reason.
One of our clients received a job offer the same week he got a message via LinkedIn (below) from someone he had tried to contact a few months ago (with the email at the bottom). Turns out the CEO is not CEO anymore and is now looking for a job.
The irony in this business never ceases to amaze me.
This executive could be in an entirely different situation if he had taken a few moments to respond to a sincere email. Lesson for business owners: don’t ever ignore someone just because you don’t know who they are. You just might be missing out on meeting the person who could solve your biggest headache, and in this case, save your job.
————————————————
From: RNR Client
Date: Tue, Oct 18, 2011
To: CEO, healthcare technology company
Good morning, Mr. CEO,
XXXXXX originally came to my attention last April when I was researching ways to keep my father at home – as opposed to in an assisted care facility – following a stroke; sadly, he passed away early this summer. I’m writing to you because this experience helped instill a sincere determination to leverage my sales and fundraising expertise to help ease the burden for others in similar situations.
After a very successful career as XXXXXXX for XXXXXXXXX, and currently as a small business owner, I’ve made a conscious decision to seek out a nascent private sector company with a great deal of long-term growth potential; frankly, XXXXXX is at the top of my list. I am intrigued by the company’s prospects for future growth and am keen to learn more about the organization and your plans for its future.
With experience implementing strategies that have resulted in significant growth and organizational revenue increases, I would relish an opportunity to provide similar value in a company focused on improving the quality of life for patients. I would very much like to speak with you to explore how my sales and operations management experience might be leveraged to help bolster the growth and impact of your efforts. I can be reached at XXXXXX or by phone, at XXXXXX.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
RNR Client
Why You Aren’t Getting a Callback on Your Job Application
A colleague of mine who owns a medium-sized federal contracting business recently posted an advertisement on some online job boards for a business developer. The ad specifically requested that applicants not send their resume and instead answer a couple specific questions about their interest in the company and its mission. Just a single applicant followed these directions.
What his HR department received were dozens of resumes, the majority of which weren’t even accompanied by a note of interest. The cover letters that did come in failed to inspire any compelling reason why they should be called in for an interview. They were generic, insincere and self-congratulatory.
The ‘resume black hole’ frequently derided by job seekers is undeniable. But if you aren’t going to take the time – and yes, it does take time to find the right job (sorry lazy people) – to investigate a product, service or cause that you really care about and could get behind in some functional role, then how can you possibly expect an employer to call you back, let alone hire you? Submitting the same drivel to a hundred companies and complaining about your lack of interviews is like planting a hundred rotten seeds and then acting surprised when none of them actually sprout ~
What’s the Difference between the American Idol Judges and a Human Resources Department?
“Ummm yeah … we really like you but you’re just not what we are looking for.”
Watching from home it’s easy to pass judgment on who deserves to get through to the next round and wonder how some of these people can possibly believe that they should even be in the room.
But this is why human resources was invented: to weed out the folks that don’t belong within the company. You have to be honest with yourself about “why” you really want to work for a particular company. Noticing a job opening just isn’t enough.
Don’t get your feelings hurt if you do not receive a call back because there are thousands of people just like you that are approaching them on a daily basis. They get worn out, just like Steven Tyler gets worn out hearing Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ in the auditions all day long: “We’re just so tired of hearing it … Every three songs it’s that same song.”
That being said: if you really believe you have something to bring to the table go ahead and skip standing in line and go straight to the executive upstairs who is paying Steven, Jennifer & Randy’s salary.
If you really do have what it takes – the right voice or proven ROI – why not go straight to the top?
This is why more and more people are hiring agents in today’s job market.
Wall Street Journal: No More Résumés, Say Some Firms
- A résumé doesn’t provide much depth about a candidate, says Christina Cacioppo, an associate at Union Square Ventures
- John Fischer, founder and owner of StickerGiant.com, a Hygiene, CO company that makes bumper and marketing stickers, says a résumé isn’t the best way to determine whether a potential employee will be a good social fit for the company.
- Instead of asking for résumés, the firm posted a series of challenges on its website aimed at gauging candidates’ thought processes … “If we had just looked at their résumés at the moment we wouldn’t have hired them,” says Greg Silva, IGN’s vice president of people and places.
Excerpted from No More Résumés, Say Some Firms, Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2012
Would you hire an older worker?
“When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good, you will not, hm?“
A recent article in the Washington Post article noted that more people aged 55 and older are employed than ever before. In fact, the number of older Americans who are working has actually risen by 12% since the beginning of the recession. Interestingly, the article makes no mention of ageism, or discrimination against older workers because of their age.
Yet as a business owner who has been in the employment industry for over 15 years – interviewing thousands of people in various industries and functional roles – I must say that for the majority of job seekers age 45-65 ageism in the workplace just might be deserved. Like many of their younger counterparts who feel entitled to a good job and salary because they’ve spent a lot of money on their education, most of older workers I meet feel entitled to higher pay simply because they have been working longer.
Quote from Hiring Manger- “Yes, I would love to hire somebody who is not counting down the minutes until they get off or are able to retire, I have enough of those on my staff already!”
@ the end of the day, young or old, we must keep score by results -
Is there going to be a hiring freeze this year?
“I am only looking for Penguins with Emperor experience”
“But we all are Emperors sir and due to the current economic climate, we all need this JOB!!!”
Back to the Future: Women & Technology
A special thanks to all Women in Technology – like IBM’s new CEO Virginia Rometty, a prime example of a professional who has earned it!
Technology has come a long way since 1969. Attitudes towards women have advanced as well. Yet the way people find and hire for jobs is still the same as it was at the end of the Second World War – using a resume, essentially a personal brochure.
Quote from a local hiring manager –
“There are 50,000 people in this metropolitan area that have your same certifications and experience. Why should I hire you?”
Resume not Required is not suggesting that you hide from your past but we do challenge you to choose wisely where you will take your functional experience. Try giving someone a reason other than the job posting you were alerted about on Career Builder. The true innovators of the world never not stop thinking after the last bullet point on their resume, and you can be sure they aren’t sitting around hoping someone takes notice of their personal brochure ~
Thanks again to the women who are brave enough to challenge the perception of the value they bring to the table.
