Executive Resumes, Personal Branding & Executive Job Search

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Do you know if your activity online is being monitored by your company? Have you been informed about privacy policies?

Thanks to Jana Rooheart of RecruitingBlogs.com we have these stats:

• 43% of USA employers track emails of their employees
• 45% use key logging
• 66% monitor Internet activities of their employees.

Rooheart informs us that, "Special software for employee monitoring (e.g., keylogger) is installed on workers’ desktops, laptops or company cell phones."

Employers may be monitoring for any or all of the following reasons:

• Checking up on employees to protect against security leaks of internal, proprietary, and/or private information or data.
• Monitoring time an employee spends "wasting time" on social networks or surfing the web. The employer then has a window into issues of productivity as well as employee effort.
• Acting as content decency police to flag and possibly discipline use of inappropriate language or the viewing of innapropriate material.
• And, in the area that interests us most here, checking to see if you are looking for another job.

As a coach and career consultant dedicated to helping clients get great new jobs, this last point is of the most interest to us.

If an employer suspects you may be looking to change jobs, s/he may react in any number of ways: do nothing, speak to you about how s/he can make your work more satisfying, reprimand you for use of company devices for private use, sideline you from key projects, or even fire you.

If you are looking, even casually, for another job, be sure to confine your related activities to a home computer or personal cell phone. I know it can be seriously inconvenient, but using any device that is on your employer's network can put a real monkey wrench into the works.

OK, in my previous blog post I noted that employee referrals are the #1 source of hire in corporate America. This statistic comes out of CareerXroads Source of Hire Study for 2014. That means leveraging employee referrals is better than depending on recruiters to find your a job, applying to jobs on big job boards, or using specialty services like Execunet or Netshare.

Everyone knows that “networking” has always been the best way to get hired. “Employee referrals” is just a subcategory of “networking.” The BEST subcategory. It involves very deliberately networking with select employees who work for the company posting the job you are targeting.

If you know the contact, you can naturally get in touch with them and open up a conversation. But what if you don’t know them? Does that mean you have to give up on getting an employee referral? Not necessarily. If they are a connection on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter you may well be able to tap into them as a resource.

Why would a networking contact on LinkedIn (LI) or social media be interested in referring you if they don't know you? Many companies offer monetary rewards to employees who refer a candidate who ultimately gets hired. The reason employers are willing to pay for referrals is that hiring this way results in high-quality hires who are more likely to do well in the company culture. Using company employees as sources also is more cost-effective.

So how exactly do you go about introducing yourself to someone who is unknown to you or who is a relative stranger on one of your social media sites? You probably don’t want to just email them with a request like, “Hi! I’m a VP of Sales for the Americas at one of your competitors, can you refer me for the job of Global VP of Sales your company just posted?” It’s a little too abrupt and doesn’t give the employee much information to help build her confidence in you as a candidate.

Try an engaging, respectful approach like this: “Hi, I see that we are third-degree connections on LinkedIn. In fact we both know [Bill Jones]. He’s a great guy – we worked together back at [Raytheon]. I wanted to introduce myself to you because I’m interested in applying for the open job [Lockheed Martin] just posted. And I wonder if you could take a look at my resume and tell me if you think my background looks interesting for the job. I’d welcome any advice you may have, either by email or in a brief 5-minute phone call.”

If you get a positive response from this employee, thank them. If you feel the general reaction was positive, you might then ask, “ Do you feel that you have a good enough sense of my background to refer me to the CEO (or whoever would be the hiring manager for the job)? If the answer is in the affirmative, then express your appreciation and email your resume, having incorporated any valuable suggestions. Remember, as always, to tailor the resume to the job and industry, including keywords.

Once the resume hand-off is achieved, make sure to write a thank-you email and extend an offer to help the employee in any future situation where they might want a referral. These last steps are very important! They align with the basic rule of all good networking: Givers Gain.

Why use this time-intensive, relationship-building route when just firing off a resume to a posted job ad is so quick and easy?

Because candidates who come in via employee referrals have a one in 10 chance of ultimately getting hired. With job boards it can be more like one in 100 or one in 1000. Which odds do you prefer?

If, when you approach a new contact with this method you don’t get a response, try again with another employee. Be persistent and take advantage of the #1 Source of HIre in corporate America. Get a touchdown! 🏈

Jean Cummings

If you answer this one question correctly and act on its implications, you are well on your way to a great job! Here it is:

1. What is the #1 source of hire for coporate America?

a) Job boards

b) Employee Referrals

c) Executive Recruiters

d) Career Site

 The right answer is b! This has profound implications for your job search. It means that if you are spending most of your time on job boards, you are not searching efficiently. It also means that if you ignore this channel, you are giving up on your biggest advantage.

Here are some of my recommendations:

• Track your time to see if the largest percentage of time you spend on job search is spent on tapping into employee referral networks at the companies you are interested in targeting. If it is not, do an in-course correction.
• If you see a job posted on a job board you want to apply to, go ahead through the specified channels and submit your ATS-friendly (Applicant Tracking System-friendly) resume and cover letter. BUT, at the same time, tap into your networks to find someone within the company to connect with - the ultimate goal being an employee referral.
• Ask the employee if they feel they know enough about you to refer you - and make sure they have your excellent branded executive resume. If they say they do, then request that they hand deliver your resume with their referral to the manager who would be directing you in the job. (HR will already have your resume from their system.)
• If you don't know of a job opening but are interested in working for a specific company, go through the process above anyway. This is a fabulous way to job search! If the senior manager is even thinking about hiring, you have a huge advantage. Getting in before a job hits the job boards gives you tremendously better odds.

I will be writing more on where to find employee referrals and what to say in my next blog post. Stay tuned!

This may seem like a blog post title that seriously overreaches. But, there is a sense in which there is one simple, essential ingredient to job search success. This is it:

Visualize your goal.

It's not enough just to have a goal, although that appears to be critical for success in job search as in just about everything else. It's also important to paint a picture in your mind of what your goal would look like, feel like, sound like, etc. Brain science suggests that the brain is stimulated in the same regions whether we are only visualizing or actually experiencing a state of affairs.

Srinivasan S. Pillay, M.D. is a master executive coach to Fortune 500 leaders who examines new findings in brain science and makes suggestions for business behavior in his book: Your Brain and Business: The Neuroscience of Great Leaders.

If you want to explore his ideas in depth, Dr. Pillay discusses a range of compelling ideas to emerge out of brain research that have the potential to enhance leadership success.

But for those of us who aren't F500 executives, goal visualization holds great promise as well. The US Olympic Committee has increased the number of psychologists on staff 600% over the past 20 years in recognition of the importance of training athletes mentally to achieve their goal. Read more at Business Insider.

For years I've been coaching clients on how to interview to get the job. One key ingredient in my coaching is to encourage clients to visualize before the interview starts that they are already in the job and functioning with authority as part of a productive team. In visualizing these states of affairs, they are feeling confident, "in their element," collegial, knowledgeable, valued and have a sense of belonging and of liking their colleagues. The impact of this kind of visualization on a client's body language, energy, attitude towards the interviewers, and general affect can be profound.

People promoting visualization as a success tool suggest that by visualizing the goal the person is actually preparing the brain to understand and proceed on the steps that need to be taken to reach the goal.

In job search, the individual can visualize the ultimate goal - being an employee at their company of choice - and also visualize performing the steps required to meet that goal: connecting with people from the company or recruiters on LinkedIn, leaving a message for a hiring authority, meeting with key networking contacts, writing two letters a day to specific hiring authorities at specfic companies, etc.

The time required to do this kind of visualization daily is not more than a minute. See if it works for you in helping you get the job you want!

Jean Cummings

Here's where I see resumes and job search going:

ONLINE

O: Over 90% of recruiters use LinkedIn to source and vet candidates | Over 80% use social media sites like Facebook or Twitter to rule applicants OUT

N: Neglect building your online footprint at your peril | Unless you have a robust online footprint, you will be disadvantaged in the job search over candidates who do

L: Love your job and want to keep it? Stay abreast of the trends in your industry, keep learning to keep up, and watch the career moves and ongoing training of your peers online

I: Innovate on the job so you can write about it in your LIP (LinkedIn profile), on your website, in tweets, on Facebook, or display it on Youtube and Pinterest | Bring something distinctive to the table

N: Never give up the job search - there is always something you haven't tried in the world of online job search | There's also a world of potential contacts and ways to connect with hiring managers and employees online

E: Engage with people in your function or industry space online by responding to their online activity and getting the word about on your professional interestss

Want to get started? Go beyond your executive resume and build your LIP to 100% complete and go to about.me and build your profile there. After that, you can be endlessly creative in building your brand through words, pictures, slides, videos, and infographics.

Want to also try something new? Explore SwitchApp.com by Apple - very cool. And keep an eye on LinkedIn's new acquisition: Bright. Wisewords. RaiseYourFlag. CareerSushi. Good luck!

Job seekers send emails to hiring authorities and recruiters for a number of reasons:

1. To ask for a job interview
2. To ask for an informational interview
3. To ask for a meeting
4. To send a thank-you email after an interview
5. To inquire about the status of an application
6. To follow up on a letter they mailed

In each case, they want their email to be opened! A catchy and/or appealing subject line can make a difference. But so can the day of the week and the time of day. Marketers are very attentive to statistics about open and click through rates at different times of the week. I came across some data pertaining to email marketing that can shed some light on when job seekers might best send their emails.

Becaus ~24% of emails get opened within the hour of receipt, it only makes sense to pick your times strategically. Buffer.com has reviewed a number of studies on open and click through rates for email marketing. Here are some of Hubspot's findings Buffer reports on:

• 10pm–6am: This is the dead zone, when hardly any emails get opened.

• 6am–10am: Consumer-based marketing emails are best sent early in the morning.

• 10am-noon: Most people are working, and probably won’t open your email.

• Noon–2pm: News and magazine updates are popular during lunch breaks.

• 2–3pm: After lunch lots of people buckle down and ignore their inbox.

• 3–5pm: Property and financial-related offers are best sent in the early afternoon.

• 5–7pm: Holiday promotions & B2B promotions get opened mostly in the early evening.

• 7–10pm: Consumer promotions are popular again after dinner.

Picking which of these match most closely the type of email you might be sending would suggest that:

• 10pm–6am, 10am-noon, 2–3pm, 3–5pm, and 5–7pm are the times to avoid.    
    
•  6am–10am, Noon–2pm, and 7–10pm would be better times to send your email.

Other studies suggest that Thursday is the best day and Monday morning early is also a good time.

Other relevant findings are:

"For more general emails, open rates, click-through rates and abuse reports were all found to be highest during early mornings and on weekends." MailChimp, however, finds that weekends have low email open rates.

Buffer states that there is contradictory information in the studies, so I recommend you follow the above guidelines generally and keep your ears open for new data as it becomes available.

So, time your emails, but don't hesitate to send another after a week or two if the first one didn't get a response and you want one. Good luck