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Sharpen Your Focus
Your search can extend into infinity if you fail to focus. Remember to communicate only your executive credentials and qualifications relevant to each position.
Here, I’ve offered five key reasons why focus should be your #1 priority in a leadership job hunt:
1. Communicating your personal brand is the best way to get employers to take notice.
Personal branding for leadership resumes is rapidly emerging as the point of differentiation. Along with separating you from other candidates, it can also make it easier for you to access the upper echelon of your target companies.
Conversely, if you fail to brand your unique qualities, you may be approached for jobs that are beneath your abilities, or that are a sideways fit for your core competencies.
The takeaway here is that you need to evaluate not just what you can do for a company, but how you can do it. Answer the following questions carefully to mine for this information:
• What energizes you about work?
• What reputation have you attained? What are you known for?
• What kinds of work fit your natural talent?
• What challenges and settings are a best fit for your experience?
• What do others say about your contributions?
2. No one has time to connect the dots; do it for them!
The hiring audience is just as busy as you are. Considering that recruiters often scan resumes quickly on electronic devices, brevity is the key for conveying a strong brand.
A good example is how many leadership professionals use a concise, two-page resume and supplement it with documents like an executive biography, key initiatives report, or leadership addendum. The important information is upfront and the rest as optional.
The bottom line? Stick to a concise (think intense) presentation for your skills. Consider adding a suite of supporting documents to add details that emphasize your value proposition.
3. Being all things to all people isn’t good enough anymore.
If you possess a diverse skill set, that’s wonderful, but what do you want to do with it?
While a colorful background can serve as a conversation point, hiring authorities need to see how your talent supports a particular role in their organization.
To deliver a focused presentation, create one resume for each job type. First, identify each career goal, then write your resume centered on it.
Add supporting detail that describes the relevance of your other experience to that same goal. Then minimize unrelated information to let the job type emerge as a focal point. Repeat these steps for each job type or goal.
Following these steps may mean that you need to use more than one resume; however, it will sharpen your focus.
4. Automated systems have made the general resume obsolete.
A general resume a job search killer. It makes your qualifications hard to digest, and typically lacks sufficient keyword content to successfully pass scanning applications.
Since many companies select only resumes with the appropriate keyword count, focus on one job type becomes even more critical. Add as much keyword and specific job type information as possible in order to address this issue head-on.
If you’re stumped for ideas, use job posting descriptions to add areas of skill that represent your experience.
5. Adding excess information only confuses employers.
If you remember one thing, make it this: the more irrelevant information presented, the more likely your resume will NOT make the cut.
For this reason, consider very carefully the relevance of what you present on your resume. Is it tied to the position requirements? Does it support your overall value proposition?
If not, ruthlessly edit the extraneous data to produce a more concise message.
In summary, adding focus to your job search will allow hiring managers to clearly see your value. Doing so will mean that employers can see the fit based on your personal chemistry and unique contributions - which can lead to a higher-level, more lucrative leadership opportunity.
