Your Executive Career Transition Campaign

By Lynda Reeves, MCRS
Senior Career Consultant & Strategist, Graham Management Group

What is the platform – your raison d’être – that you bring before key contacts and potential hiring executives or recruiters? If all you have to distribute is a template resume, you are missing some wonderful opportunities. With a comprehensive strategy that includes your detailed action plan, you can launch an executive career transition campaign that will make a wide range of possibilities more accessible. The following sections highlight some areas to focus on and get you going in the right direction.

Your Campaign Theme:

• Know what makes you special – Before you start targeting opportunities, take the time to recap your talents, skills, and accomplishments over the years. Sift through these examples to determine what you can offer that your potential competitors may not.
• Synthesize a captivating Value Proposition – This is the key component of your career brand and the cornerstone of your platform. Your Value Proposition needs to be a compelling piece that clearly says what makes you special. You need to be able to articulate it well to prove that you really know that what you have to offer is what your target audience needs right now.
• Give yourself a title – The title you have may be the same as the job title of your current or last position; or, it may also be something a bit different. For instance, you may be a Senior Accountant at the moment but work in a firm where you actually are performing all the work of a Controller. It is perfectly appropriate to say that you are a Senior Finance Professional. A good and fitting title can be the introduction to your value proposition.
• Practice saying your Value Proposition aloud – Write a number of iterations for your Value Proposition to use for introductions. Then, get comfortable with a variety of presentations that you can use on the phone, for casual networking, for formal contacts, and in interviews.
• Create a tagline, slogan, or motto – Review your Value Proposition and the different iterations you made when creating it. In there, you will likely find the series of words or phrases that truly underscore your professional platform. A powerful tagline is one that features your speciality, does not repeat your title, and easily fits on one line of a 3” business card.

Your Campaign Plan

• Determine who your key targets are – Devise your contact strategy and create a custom introduction, based on your Value Proposition, for each individual you identify. Explore and research companies and industries where your talents and experience may be a good fit, but where there are no current posted positions. Dig deeply to uncover their needs and current goals.
• Establish an action list – Describe everything that you plan to do. Then, assign dates to ensure that you attend to something every day to advance your plan. Without action, there really is no plan.
• Understand the value of the hidden job market – A distinct majority of executive roles are those which are never posted. So, do not set aside too much time for visiting job boards and pursuing posted jobs. Those have a great deal of competition that can make finding your resume akin to that ‘needle in a haystack’ concept.
• Decide what should be in your portfolio – Beyond your resume and business card, there is great value in tools like a “key initiatives” document that presents your achievements in “bite-sized” case studies, a narrative biography or executive profile, and a marketing presentation that you can use for targeted networking or a marketing campaign.
• Ensure your plan includes dates for follow-up, follow-up, follow-up – Persistence really does pay, but offer new information each time you touch base. If you have the right documents, you’ll be able to easily take this approach to ensure that each contact has purpose. This way, you will not be perceived as annoying or needy.
• Add new items as your plan unfolds – Do regular research and ensure you Google your prime targets regularly. Something as simple as a notation about a new corporate undertaking can give you another valid reason to reconnect.
• Remember those thank-you letters! – By email or in hard copy, ensure you let your contacts know how much you appreciate their time, interest, and/or assistance.
  

Your Campaign Portfolio

• Know the value of the different components – For instance, a brief PowerPoint attached to an email offers a quicker review of you than reading a complete resume. It can also indicate respect for the interviewer’s time.
• Select the pieces – The more you have, the better you are positioned to provide additional material, either proactively or on request.
• Create custom letters of introduction – Carefully craft and individually address versions specific to job posting responses, networking situations, and executive recruitment firms.
• Ensure your title and tagline are in place – All documents, your presentation, and your business card should include your name, title, and tagline. The more your readers see who you are and what you do in a memorable way, the more likely they are to put the pieces together when you meet.
• Remember your business card – It’s far easier for you to carry small cards around than to take your portfolio everywhere you go. Ensure you always have your business cards in easy reach wherever you are. Your card, with your tagline clearly featured, will be a valued reinforcement each time you hand it out.
  

Your Online Presence

• Get LinkedIn! – Latest surveys indicate that most recruiters look at LinkedIn for potential candidates. So, while you still need a polished resume and a portfolio that you can present in hardcopy as well as by email, it’s crucial that you have a compelling LinkedIn summary.
• Google those you admire or want to know – Look at how they present themselves and where. If they are on Facebook’s Branchout, then be sure you ‘branch out’ too.
• Give value to your online presence – Join groups, offer your professional opinion, provide assistance, or simply recommend others that you know and respect. The more you are involved, the better your chances are for being discovered in the World Wide Web.
  

Your executive career transition campaign is very similar to that which professionals in everything from business marketing to book launching use to promote their offering and become well known. The more tools you create and have ready, the better prepared you will be for every opportunity that may arise.

Lynda Reeves is an award-winning, master certified resume strategist and career consultant. As senior consultant for Graham Management Group, Lynda assists executives, managers, and six-figure professionals; leveraging extensive experience spanning resume writing, human resource consulting, coaching, and training. You can contact Lynda directly, and find further information and articles at www.GrahamManagement.com.

Copyright © S Graham Management Solutions Inc. All rights reserved. You may reprint this article with permission only if you provide full credit to the author and company by including the paragraph above.