“High-hanging fruit” is a phrase used to describe the sought-after, employed talent that’s too busy to be looking at job postings.
A great way to position yourself as high-hanging fruit and still be proactive is to optimize your LinkedIn profile to make sure recruiters or company stakeholders find you.
The keywords here are “find you.” Successful executive career navigators pull opportunities toward them, they don’t try to push into them!
You want to be found.
Clicking “submit” is no longer a job search strategy, on its own, that executives can rely on. It’s all about the “pull,” being found, being known, being ready when opportunity knocks.
Even in a good economy, almost everyone is passively looking. Executives must always be ready for what might be their next opportunity. The competition is steep at the top 3% of the org chart. When competition is steep, getting in the door is more difficult.
You want to be thought of long before the job is posted.
While applying for jobs may make you feel productive, surveys show that only about 15% of executive positions are filled through job boards. This is because the “opportunity funnel” begins before there is even a job description defined. Most executives-level positions are filled with professionals they discussed the “situation” with before it even becomes a “real job.” With about 85% percent of jobs filled through network, largely second- and third-degree connections, your brand must be communicated far beyond just the people who know you well.
3 things to do right now to position yourself as high-hanging fruit:
- Get professional help optimizing your LinkedIn profile. Optimize for the intersection of the job you want next and for your peak competitiveness – compensation-to-value ratio.
- Connect and interact with people on LinkedIn. Think past stakeholders, subordinates, peers, supply chain contacts, recruiters, leaders at companies you may be interested in, etc.
- Get professional help updating your resume and learning to talk about your value story. Having a resume that speaks to your value, not a list of titles and duties, is critical at the executive level. If you don’t have it, you’re not prepared.
The average tenure for executives is about 2-4 years. Whether it’s a company pivot, new PE investors, or M&A activity, the C-suite is the first to find themselves displaced. As a result, a successful executive career strategy must involve consistently checking your market value and evaluating your return in much the same way you would evaluate your investment portfolios. If you’re not getting contacted for opportunities, you’re not the most desirable “fruit in the tree.” You cannot afford not to evaluate your career strategy to determine if you are using LinkedIn to pull in opportunities and if you are ready to share your value story at any moment. If you’re not doing those things, you risk being overlooked and remaining unemployed much longer.
