When you are a senior executive or a manager, finding a new job might differ from junior employees or fresh grads. While the basics, such as CVs, interview skills, cover letters…etc., are the same, your seniority adds extra pressure and another layer of extensive experience that hiring managers will be looking for.
Your vast experience needs to reflect your constant growth and development, as well as a proven track record of achievements that directly contribute to your employer’s bottom line.
We covered the common challenges as well as solutions for senior job seekers in the first part of this blog. This second blog will discuss some of the most effective ways you can expand your network, find jobs, and actually get hired.
Networking
Networking is an ongoing, organic outreach to your personal and professional network of career, market, and business leaders. It isn’t about sending mass emails to everyone you know and asking for a job. When done correctly, networking can be a powerful job search tool!
Online platforms, such as Bayt.com Specialties, make it very easy for you to connect with like-minded people. These connections will not only expand your key contacts, but these are the people that have the intelligence about their respective fields and can help you get ahead in the game.
Online Job Search
Searching, finding, and applying for jobs using leading job sites and company website is a very effective process. The ability to find 10,000+ jobs in one place, seeing your rank among other applicants, reading specific job descriptions and requirements, as well as the possibility to be found and contacted via employers without even applying make Bayt.com an incredibly useful tool for senior job seekers.
Among those who have specified their career level on their Bayt.com CV, one out of three job seekers have more than 10 years of experience. The Bayt.com job seeker database is diverse in career levels as well as career interests: It includes hundreds of thousands of niche job roles that are as diverse as Oracle and Python Developers, Financial Analysts, Designers, Instrumentation Engineers, Product Managers, and Legal and Compliance Advisors.
With Bayt.com, it is very easy to program the website to send you an email or SMS notification every time a job matching your search criteria is posted, thus saving you even more time and effort in your job search.
Company Targeting
This is the process of finding a company you’re interested in even if it doesn’t have open positions at the moment. Reasons for doing this could range from geographical commitments, to your industry preferences, or your special set of expertise. Successful company targeting is very similar to successful networking. You need to sow seeds with companies that may or may not be looking, proving that you bring a positive wind of change, and that you’re their savior (even if they don’t need saving).
As mentioned in the first installment of this blog, be sure you talk to the right people: the ultimate decision makers. When you do talk to them, focus on tangible results that can be measured in financial terms. This way you can demonstrate why your high salary, if you are hired, is “worth it.”
Thought Leadership
Becoming a thought leader might sound like someone who passively shares articles on Twitter, but it is not that. Again, if done properly, becoming a thought leader affords you the chance to highlight your unique insights, perspectives, opinions, and original content with people within your target industries. This is a strategic effort to attract recruiters and hiring executives to your candidacy.
When you’re a senior employee, you’ve probably accumulated a great deal of information than can help many junior level employees get ahead in their own careers. Use the network you built over the years to speak at company events, seminars, podcasts, and webinars. In addition, create your own original content and share it online, advertise it even. Position yourself as the go-to person in your industry.
This will not only land you a great job, it can even start generating you an income through sponsorship and speaking deals, as well as affiliate marketing possibilities on your platform.
Executive Recruiters
Companies often hire professional recruiters or recruiting services that help them headhunt the desired candidate for the senior position they’re looking to fill. With this method, you need to make sure that the recruiters approaching you (or you’re approaching) are legitimate. Real recruiters won’t charge you money. They charge the hiring company for their services.
Other companies might opt for services like Source2Hire, so make sure your profile on Bayt.com is constantly updated and has all the relevant information that you want employers to see.
In addition to these methods, senior employees need to capitalize on their interpersonal skills, networking, and influence in their industry to find a new job. Senior executives and senior managers change jobs all the time, so it is very doable if you adopt the correct approach.
But remember, knowing your skills, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, added value, network size, and expertise may not be enough. It is how you apply these elements in the workplace that will make a difference for you among other candidates. So, be sure to always tie things back to the company’s goals and their bottom line.
