What Many Executive Job Seekers Are Doing Wrong

Landing a great-fit executive job today – that is, one that mutually benefits both you, the job seeker, and the employer – does not work the way it did even a few years ago.

Many of the executive job seekers I encounter haven’t been in the job market since everything changed. They either expect all the old ways to still work, or misuse the new job-hunting best practices.

They’re often misguided about how to proceed, not knowing what specific steps they need to take to meet their career goals.

And if they do understand that finding a job is a full time job, they don’t realize that job search these days catapults them into entrepreneurship, essentially running their own company of one.

This requires a marketing strategy and an over-arching action plan to manage their time, relationships and finances . . . all aided by a supportive network.

Understand how today’s executive job search works

Before diving into job-hunting, understand and embrace the various components of successful job search:

Targeting
Industry and company research
Personal branding
Personal marketing content creation (resume, bio, LinkedIn profile, etc.)
Online presence-building
Networking (social networking and one-on-one in-person networking)
Interview preparation
Salary/benefits negotiation with job offers.

Instead, too many job seekers plow ahead, guided by outdated, sometimes toxic notions that can sabotage their chances and prolong their search.

5 Misguided (and Toxic) Beliefs That Will Derail Your Executive Job Search

Here are 5 of the worst toxic executive job search beliefs, with links to full articles on each one:

1. “First things first. I’ve got to get my resume together.”

You can’t write your resume or LinkedIn profile until you know who you’re targeting so your content will resonate with them, and position you as a good hiring choice.

2. “I don’t need personal branding. I’m not a brand. I’m a person!”

Why personal branding is no longer optional in executive job search.

3. “I don’t have time for social networks and I don’t like the idea of putting myself ‘out there’ online. So I won’t.”

If you’re not visible online, you may never be found by the very people you need to be smack dab in front of.

4. “My branded resume and LinkedIn profile are ready. Time to hit the job boards hard.”

Job boards typically yield a dismal estimated 5% success rate, especially for c-suite and senior-level executives.

5. “I’m terrible at networking. I hate asking people for favors. I’ll skip that part.”

Without networking, you can’t get to the goldmine of “hidden jobs” at your target companies.

Bottom line:

Sure, you may land a great-fit executive job even if you hold fast to these toxic beliefs. You may even hit the jackpot early in your search.

It happens.

But you may not be so lucky. You may prolong the time it takes to get yourself into a good-fit job by being resistant to, or unaware of, the best, new job search strategies.