While January is a big month for delivering offers, you are late to the party if that is when you start thinking about your job search strategy. In fact, the “always be ready” model has become the new normal. Have you noticed that the average executive tenure is only 2-4 years? That is due to the change in the frequency of disruption. Whether it is a company pivot, new PE investors or M&A activity, the C-suite and VPs are the first to find themselves displaced while transactional staff may stand a chance at getting ‘repurposed.’
Responsible career management for a highly compensated professional must involve consistently checking your market value and evaluating your return in the same way you would evaluate your investment portfolios. You cannot afford not to or you risk being obsolete and unemployed.
Like 65% or more of the executives I work with, you may find yourself job searching for the first time in a long time and are shocked to realize that “click submit” is not a job search strategy for a professional with 20+ years of experience. It’s now about mastering the “pull” vs. the “push.”
Push vs. Pull Job Search
The truth is stakeholders want the high-hanging fruit. “High-hanging fruit” is a phrase used to describe the sought after, employed talent that is 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 the recruiter or company stakeholder finds you. Pull, don’t push!
High-hanging fruit is your competition, so your competition is Everyone.
Even in a good economy, almost everyone is passively looking, so your competition is steep, sometimes the supply and demand is not in your favor, making it harder. When competition is steep, getting in the door is more difficult.
While applying to jobs may make you feel productive, surveys show that only about 15% of executives find their job through a job posting.
Of executives earning over $250k, 85% got in the door for their most recent role through their network.
Why Referrals Get the Job
Think of it this way, let’s say you are going to remodel your kitchen, which of the following would you do first?
A. Post on a plethora of service websites what you need with all the detailed kitchen measurements and materials you wish to use.
B. Research all the service provider websites and read the reviews, specializations, locations, and qualifications.
C. Shoot an email to a friend who just did her kitchen that she was extremely happy with and ask her who she used.
The keyword is FIRST. You might end up doing A and B if C did not work out or even just to make sure your friend’s suggestion was, after all, the best choice.
Now you can see why December is the career action month. When hiring is budgeted and becomes more defined in January, you must already be top of mind. January will be busy for everyone. It will be busy for you at your current job, busy for hiring managers and recruiters. In January, you can be more passive about your job search and let your dream job call you out of the blue — if you did everything right in December.
5 Things You Need to do in December to Help Your Career in the Coming Year
- Optimize your LinkedIn profile. Optimize for the job you want and the one you have.
- Connect with people on LinkedIn. Think past bosses and subordinates, supply chain contacts, recruiters, and anyone you meet out and about.
- Connect with people offline. Many of our members are saying they have been able to get conversations with people easier over the holidays. Have fun, meet people, reconnect with people. Learn how your value gets weaved into conversations without even talking about what you need.
- Update your resume. Having a resume that speaks to your value is even more important at the executive level because opportunities are fewer and further in-between, and you cannot afford to not be prepared.
- Help others. Network is about relationships and relationships are a 2-way street. Take a call in which you may not see a benefit for yourself in taking or chat with a college kid looking for advice. Do this with no “angle.” When things do work out for you in the future, there is a good chance it will have been because of having done something nice for someone with no expectation of getting something in return. That’s networking at its finest!
The holidays offer the opportunity to get involved with causes you care about. You will meet others with similar passions. Those with similar passions will go above and beyond the call of social duty to network on your behalf. You never know who you will meet.
If you’d like some help with articulating your work experience into one clear value story that you can share in a way that makes sense for hiring companies, our team of advisors, coaches and recruiters is unparalleled in the executive search industry. They will show you how to weave your unique value story together in all the right places – including your resume, LinkedIn profile, networking efforts, and interview – to connect with target companies in an irresistible way.
