How do I evaluate stretch assignments to expand my skill set and what is the best way to market my transferable skills?
Smart people make career moves primarily based on where it will position them 1, 3 and 5 years down the line. Over the years we have even seen candidates take pay cuts in order to gain experience in specific areas that will then allow them to land higher level roles once they have that experience under their belt. When evaluating stretch assignments, I would encourage you to think about compensation, quality of life, in terms of travel requirements, location, commute times, etc., and also how you will be a more marketable candidate after your completion. What skill sets or experience will you gain that you do not currently have? At a certain point, having 10 years or 12 years in a Director level role or higher really does not justify a higher salary, but if you have experience taking a company public, or perhaps dealing with union issues, recalls, etc. can definitely make you a more valuable prospect to companies that are going through the same things.
We always encourage candidates to look for their end goal…their dream job if you will, and then look at the mandatory qualifications for those types of roles, and then make career moves in order to gain the experience needed to be a fully qualified candidate for your ultimate job.
The best way to market transferable skills is to keep in mind that everything these days seems to revolve around KEYWORDS. On your resume, make sure you list all of your skills and be as broad as possible. Use terms that someone searching for your particular skill set would use. And use multiple terms to describe the same thing… for instance, if you have a strong background in sales leadership, I would list sales leadership, sales coaching, sales mentoring, sales management, etc. It’d be a good idea to take advantage of the complementary resume review ExecuNet provides for its members and you should consider having a career coach do your LinkedIn profile for you because pasting your resume on your LinkedIn doesn’t cut it any more.
Ask Ann,
Have a question you’d like a recruiter to answer? Write to me at AskAnn@execunet.com
