Want a Successful Executive Job Search? Run It Like a Small Business

Did you ever think about how much alike successful executive job search and successful small business management are?

If you’ve been in a job search for a while, and not much is happening, you’d be wise to re-jig your strategy, and start thinking of running your job search like it’s a business.

That’s what wise job seekers do.

They know that, when you’re job hunting, you’re essentially a solopreneur . . . a company of one.

Consider what Tom Peters, a business management guru credited with inventing personal branding 20 years ago, said in his article “The Brand Called You“:

“You’re branded, branded, branded, branded.

It’s time for me — and you — to take a lesson from the big brands, a lesson that’s true for anyone who’s interested in what it takes to stand out and prosper in the new world of work.

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding. We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.”

His advice perfectly applies to job search and career management.

Think of your job search as a business. The more you do, the faster you’ll land a job you deserve.

I’ve been a solopreneur for more than 20 years, and I often write about the similarities between executive job search and running my business.

The things I do to promote and grow my business are the same kinds of things job seekers need to do to accelerate their search.

9 Steps To a Successful Executive Job Search by Being the CEO of Brand You

In the first seven steps, you’ll first see business-building strategies and then the corresponding job search strategies. The final two items are the same for both successful executive job search and business:

1. Know your products and/or services intimately.
2. Understand your target audience.
3. Know why your target audience needs your products and/or services.
4. Create marketing communications about your products and/or services that promote what they will do for your target audience.
5. Market your products and/or services across multiple channels.
6. Network your way towards decision makers within your target audience.
7. Prepare to communicate the good-fit qualities of your products and/or services face-to-face with your target audience.
8. Track and measure the results of your efforts.
9. Cultivate a “personal board of directors” to support you.

1. Know your products and/or services intimately.

Define Your Personal Brand

Of course, the product and/or service you’re selling is you . . . The things you will do for your target employers . . . Your potential value to them.

How do you go about thinking of yourself as a product (sort of)?

After all, you’re so much more than that. You’re a multi-faceted living, breathing being, with so much to offer the right employers.

But that’s the beauty part of authentic personal branding. It helps you generate chemistry, and keeps your written and verbal communications interesting and lively.

Because branding is built around targeting and research – Steps 2 and 3 below – defining and understanding your personal brand will get you to a place where you can succinctly communicate your unique value to the companies you want to work for.

You’ll see how it all comes together by completing my 10-Step Personal Branding Worksheet.

2. Understand your target audience.

Target Specific Employers You Want To Work For

In an interview with small business marketing expert Andre Palko about personal branding and small business, I answered his question “What was your biggest mistake in business?”

In job search, this translates to narrowing the companies you will target, as much as possible. When you focus on a select few, you can better zero in on their needs and what makes you a good fit for them.

See this post for more information, 7 Tips to Build Your Executive Job Search Target Companies List.

3. Know why your target audience needs your products and/or services.

Research Your Target Employers for Market Intelligence & Company/Industry Insight

As noted above, you need to identify their pain points and how you will help them problem-solve those issues.

In his blog post, How to Get More Customers by Reading Their Minds, Andre advises:

“It’s important to know what customers and prospects are thinking. In short, when we understand their worries and know what they’re looking for, it’s easy to talk to them and to connect emotionally.

We need that emotional connection before we can ever make a sale. Mind-reading is a way to make all your sales and marketing efforts connect.”

Researching is also necessary for your due diligence. You don’t want to zero in on an employer and get into interviewing rounds, only to find out that this company is not a mutual good fit.

See this post for more advice, Best Ways and Places to Research Your Target Employers.

4. Create marketing communications about your products and/or services that promote what they will do for your target audience.

Write Compelling Content for Your Resume, Biography and other Career Documents

In the first 3 steps, you were gathering information and digging deep into what makes you a good fit for your target employers.

Now it’s time to sit down and begin writing your call to action.

When preparing for executive job search, your mission is to create content for various purposes, and build an executive brand communications plan that reinforces your unique promise of value to your target employers, across diverse channels online and off-line.

Beyond the first 3 steps – personal branding, targeting and research – here are the other things you’ll need to pull together for successful executive job search:

Get feedback from others

Talk to people at work and in your personal life about the value you offer – the true measure of your brand is the perception of you held by the external world. Annual performance reviews are a great resource.

Build out your career history

For each job, detail your scope of responsibilities and key areas of expertise (using the relevant keywords you’ve uncovered) that align with target employers’ current needs.

Complete the Challenge-Actions-Results (C-A-Rs) exercise

Detail your top contributions to past employers (with metrics whenever possible) that will resonate with target employers.

For details on writing the content see my post, How to Build Personal Brand Content for Executive Job Search.

5. Market your product/services across multiple channels.

Communicate Your Unique Value via Social Media and In-Person

Executive recruiters and hiring decision makers routinely search for social proof (or online evidence) to corroborate the claims candidates make about themselves in their personal marketing materials (resume, biography, cover letters, etc.)

These people will assess your candidacy and evaluate your personal brand based on what they find about you online.

They want to find as much information about you, and the value you offer, as they can . . . before funneling you into the interviewing/hiring process.

Build a personal website or other home base online

Set up a home base online where people can find all the needed information about you. A personal website is best, but LinkedIn can be a great substitute.

Whether or not you have a website, devote a good chunk of your job search time to LinkedIn. If you have time for only one social media outlet, it should be LinkedIn. Go well beyond just setting up a good LinkedIn profile and waiting for people to come. Get busy with all LinkedIn has to offer.

Use video, just like businesses do

Incorporate video into your marketing communications. Entrepreneurs and business owners have been using video for many years. They know what a good job videos do for marketing and promotion.

I don’t mean video resumes. They present several problems. Videos that do NOT feature you on camera usually work better. Videos with animation and other visuals will powerfully showcase your personal brand and the unique value you offer your target employers.

This kind of video is not job-searchy like video resumes. They’re not likely to “out” the fact that you’re job hunting . . . a necessity for most job seekers. Where do you find videos like this? Check out our CareerBrandVideos™ – affordable, customized videos for job search and career.

Another important factor – Being active on social media demonstrates that you’re up-to-date with the digital age and the new world of work.

And don’t forget to market your brand in your email signature.

But don’t just rely on online communications. Talk to people you know about how you’re targeting your job search, and encourage them to tell others. You never know who may know someone in a position to help you with your career goals.

More in my post, How a Robust Online Presence Helps You Land The Best Executive Jobs.

6. Network your way towards decision makers within your target audience.

Network Purposefully To Get To the “Hidden” Job Market

Don’t waste much, or any, time responding to job postings. Networking gets the job, not mindlessly hitting the “Send” button on job boards.

An estimated 80-90% of jobs, especially top-level executive jobs, are never listed anywhere.

Besides, when you respond to online job postings, your resume is likely to be sucked into (and lost in) the black hole that is Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS).

The perfect job for you may never be posted anywhere! It may only exist in the hidden job market.

What is this mystical world of the hidden job market?

• Jobs created to accommodate specific candidates, once they connected with and had dialog with companies’ hiring decision makers.
• Existing positions in which an incumbent is replaced when someone better comes along.
• An open slot, waiting to be filled, that isn’t advertised outside the company. Only internal people know about it.
• Jobs that, for whatever reason, are not advertised or visible, and can only be uncovered and accessed through networking.

Again, rely on your initial targeting and research, in which you identified the hiring decision makers (or their circles) at your target companies. Network your way towards them.

More in my post, How to Network Into the Goldmine of Hidden Executive Jobs.

7. Prepare to communicate the good-fit qualities of your products and/or services face-to-face with your target audience.

Master the Executive Job Interview Process

You’re going to land interviews . . . if you’ve followed the 6 steps above.

Don’t blow it because you’re not prepared to speak intelligently about what makes you the best hiring choice.

Remember that many interviewers are not particularly good at it. Help them along – and boost your desirability factor – by being ready to insert key points about yourself into the conversation.

Here’s what you need to do before, during and after interviews:

Before Interviews

Get ready to answer the hard questions – like the dreaded “Tell me about yourself” query – and brand the interview.

Rely on your branding, targeting and research work to arm yourself with the questions YOU should ask, and information about the value you offer that you want to tell them.

During Interviews

Be confident and psyched. Let your enthusiasm rule the interview.

Be mindful of your body language.

Don’t make any of the typical mistakes, like checking your iPhone or forgetting to turn off your ringer.

Don’t wait to be asked for specific examples of contributions you’ve made to past employers. Work them into the discussion.

After Interviews

Follow up every interview with thank you notes to each person you spoke with.

Lots more details in my post, How to Land, Brand and Ace Executive Job Interviews.

8. Track and Measure Your Results

Social Media for Job Search expert Hannah Morgan advises monitoring your success, by measuring these activities:

• How many people you reached out to this week
• How many new leads or contacts you got
• The number of jobs you applied to
• How many interviews you had
• How many hours it took you to do all this

Make adjustments to your job search strategy, based on which activities were the most successful.

9. Get a Personal Board of Directors

Career coach Lisa Barrington noted in a Forbes article that, just like companies large and small have a board of directors to support and guide them, so should job seekeers and career-minded people. She suggests that you include in your personal board of directors someone:

• In your field (e.g., in your profession or industry)
• Who is in or has been in your circumstance (e.g., single parent, transitioning careers later in life)
• Who is one of your greatest cheerleaders
• Ready to critique you (your decisions/actions)
• Who is a leader in the area in which you aspire to grow or succeed (e.g., professional, spiritual, personal)
• From another generation (one person from a generation older and one person from a generation younger)
• Who can introduce you to others (e.g., in your profession or community)