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Executive Job Search Strategy for Experienced Professionals
I have spent decades hiring and recruiting people, and one of the things that has always interested me is how differently a career can look depending on which side of the hiring process someone is sitting on.
“When there is too much competing for attention, it becomes harder to see why I should be talking with this person about this particular position.”
I have spent decades hiring and recruiting people, and one of the things that has always interested me is how differently a career can look depending on which side of the hiring process someone is sitting on.
An executive may look at a 25 or 30-year career and see the companies built, problems solved, people developed, revenue grown and difficult decisions made along the way. An employer doesn't have that history. They may initially have a resume, a LinkedIn profile and a relatively short conversation in which to decide whether this is someone they want to know more about.
That difference matters, particularly for professionals over 50. I have worked with people whose experience was never really the issue. The difficulty was understanding what all of that experience meant for the position they wanted next.
A long career gives someone a lot to talk about, and that can actually make a job search more complicated. There is a natural tendency to include everything because leaving something out can feel like diminishing an accomplishment. From my side of the hiring process, I have often found the opposite to be true. When there is too much competing for attention, it becomes harder to see why I should be talking with this person about this particular position.
Before changing a resume or applying to another group of jobs, I want to understand what an employer is being asked to buy. What does this person do particularly well today? Where has that been demonstrated? What kind of organization is likely to value it? Once those questions have good answers, decisions about the resume, LinkedIn and the rest of the search become much easier.
A Search Should Be Bigger Than Applications
Job postings certainly have a place in an executive search, but I would never make them the entire search. By this point in a career, most people have accumulated relationships with former colleagues, customers, vendors and others who have seen them work. Those relationships can create opportunities that never begin with an online application, provided people understand what kind of introduction would actually be useful.
I discuss that more fully in my guide to executive networking strategy.
I look at recruiters as another avenue rather than the answer to a job search. I have been a recruiter long enough to know that recruiters are working to fill positions for their clients. Developing relationships with the right ones can be valuable, but an executive still needs to own the search. I cover that distinction separately in working with executive recruiters.
What matters to me is that these activities aren't telling different stories. If the resume points toward one kind of role, LinkedIn suggests another and conversations are describing several other possibilities, the person evaluating the candidate has to sort it out. I would rather make the decision to continue the conversation easier.
I Pay Attention to the Response
When a search isn't producing results, I don't immediately assume the answer is more activity. If someone has applied to dozens of appropriate positions without getting interviews, I want to understand why before encouraging another round of applications. If interviews are happening but repeatedly stopping at the same stage, that is a different issue. Recruiters consistently calling about positions below someone's level tells me something different again.
Age can be part of this, and I don't believe experienced professionals are helped by pretending age discrimination doesn't exist. I also don't assume it explains every disappointing result after 50. Compensation, positioning, the way experience is presented, concerns about being overqualified or even how someone talks about what they want next can influence a hiring decision. Those are worth examining because some of them can be changed.
After years of evaluating candidates, I have learned not to confuse a difficult job search with a lack of value. I am much more interested in whether the value someone has built over a career is coming through clearly to the people making the hiring decision. For an experienced professional, that is where I believe a good executive job search strategy begins.
Work With Mike
Schedule Your Executive Job Search Strategy Session
If you are an experienced professional navigating a difficult search, I would be glad to take a look at what is happening and offer a perspective from the hiring side.