Middle East - Stanton Chase International
Middle East - Stanton Chase International
Middle East - Stanton Chase International
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MAY 2010<br />
p7<br />
E<br />
xecutives, once at that exclusive and<br />
illustrious level, no longer have the luxury<br />
of applying for a job through the regular<br />
means which were available to them during the<br />
earlier part of their careers: an ad in the paper,<br />
or on an online job board, or just randomly<br />
approaching target employers by mailing a<br />
CV. At Senior and executive levels, individuals<br />
seeking a change need to reconsider the usual<br />
push strategy and employ a more drawn out, pull<br />
strategy and this requires is a switch in mindset<br />
that they have to get acquainted with.<br />
There is of course another more obvious reason<br />
for this change in strategy. CXO opportunities are<br />
simply not advertised or declared vacant. Roles<br />
at the C-Suite are highly sensitive, and are 99%<br />
of the times treated in complete confidentiality<br />
until a candidate is identified and the vacancy<br />
is filled. Even the transition is handled with a<br />
lot of delicate and carefully planned steps and<br />
announcements.<br />
So how does a leader at senior or executive level<br />
go about finding his next role. The answer is<br />
pretty simple. What are the 3 N’s of Successful<br />
Executive Job-Searching? Networking,<br />
Networking, Networking! Here are four essential<br />
steps that are designed to help executives like<br />
you get the next position or manage a career<br />
change.<br />
Uncover your Brand!<br />
“I begin with saying uncover”, because I guarantee<br />
that you already have a brand, whether you are<br />
aware of it or not. It may or may not be the brand<br />
that you are aiming for, or the brand that you like,<br />
or it may not even be so greatly publicized, but<br />
rest assured that you have a brand. You need<br />
to start by understanding that without a personal<br />
brand strategy, it will be difficult to get on the<br />
STANTON CHASE INTERNATIONAL<br />
Job Search Strategies for<br />
Executive Level Leaders<br />
radar for the ever elusive, $1 Million plus income.<br />
Not that it’s a guaranteed result, that if you build<br />
your brand, you will automatically earn $1Million<br />
dollars a year. Like all brands and products it’s a<br />
continuous set of criteria and steps that you take<br />
to travel up that income scale, while fighting for<br />
that same income with other executives who are<br />
also working on theirs.<br />
So start with one fact. You are a brand. Now you<br />
need to act upon that fact if you have not started<br />
to, and if you truly want to have a successful<br />
life. A successful personal branding program<br />
is based on its ability to create in the mind of<br />
your prospective customers or employers that<br />
there is no product (in this case, you, a person)<br />
in the market quite like you! Of course your<br />
brand needs to deliver on your promise. A good<br />
branding program will be made up of a number<br />
of elements that will help you audit, understand,<br />
uncover and develop your personal brand to<br />
meet your career objectives.<br />
Get Connected!<br />
Of course, in today’s world, there is no hiding<br />
your personal brand. Did you Google your<br />
name lately? If you have a name like mine, it’s<br />
difficult to miss. I can tell you for a fact that there<br />
is no other person in the world called Wassim<br />
Karkabi. It is not the case for Suresh Kumar, or<br />
John Smith. But don’t confuse your brand with<br />
your name, they are connected, but they are two<br />
different things.<br />
If you are not already taking advantage of the<br />
burgeoning world of Social Networks, Business<br />
Networks, Blogs and other such tools, also<br />
collectively referred to as Social Media, you<br />
should take a serious look at how you need<br />
to implement that. President Obama, Sheikh<br />
Mohammad bin Rashed Al Maktoum, Al Gore<br />
Wassim Karkabi<br />
Exclusive<br />
Newswire<br />
etc… are all on LinkedIn, Facebook and a<br />
number of other social media. Think of it this<br />
way. Before the availability of Mass Media<br />
such as Radio, TV, and print, we did not have<br />
the ability to mass market. Now the availability<br />
and combination of Online Social Media and<br />
search engines such as Google, have given<br />
the individual the ability to promote his personal<br />
brand, on a shoestring budget.<br />
Be aware, that there is the right way of going<br />
about this and the wrong way of doing the same.<br />
The wrong way may be as damaging to your<br />
career and brand, as the right way can explode<br />
your career to new heights.<br />
Embrace Relationship Networking<br />
Networking today has also taken on a new and<br />
different life. It has become this vague concept<br />
that applies to everything from blogging to<br />
sending a message on twitter or growing your<br />
connections on LinkedIn. What I want you to<br />
wrap your head around is targeted, relationship<br />
networking. Identifying your market niche and<br />
network within it, get connected to people, add<br />
value to their lives, individually, and build a<br />
sustainable relationship with them.<br />
Unless you are a recruiter, there is really no<br />
point in being connected to 15,000 first-level<br />
connections on LinkedIn. It makes more sense<br />
to be connected with a handful of CXO’s in your<br />
industry of preference and the equally relevant<br />
executive search consultants. Those are the<br />
people that will reciprocate the value that you are<br />
adding to them, when the time comes. Think<br />
of those online social media as Recommender<br />
Communities. Build & grow your own networks<br />
within relevant recommender communities. I<br />
cannot stress enough how important it is for<br />
senior & executive level people to get on LinkedIn.<br />
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