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BlueSteps Spotlight

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The BlueSteps Blog has a wealth of articles for executives seeking to plan and develop their careers. We are pleased to present another installment of “BlueSteps Spotlight”, a sampling of the great articles from the BlueSteps collection.

From: There is No Such Thing as an Overqualified Candidate

“Sorry you are overqualified for this role, but thank you for the interest.”

Have you or any of your peers heard this before? Well recently the concept of ‘overqualified’ came under debate in the AESC / BlueSteps group on Linkedin, discussing, should you hire an ‘overqualified’ candidate?

While there are many reasons an executive may search for a role that appears beneath their experience level, such as transitioning into a new industry or lack of availability of higher level positions, the answer to the ‘overqualified’ dilemma generally lies in the attitude of both the executive and employer. In every case, real passion must exist for the role on the candidate side and employers must avoid dismissing these candidates as simply ‘risk hires’. Instead, organizations should benefit from these highly experienced executives by nurturing growth and laying foundations for role expansion.

Done correctly and the benefits to the hiring organization can be huge. See below for how the organization is likely to benefit, and why the term overqualified is overused.

‘Overqualified’ as a hiring risk should be viewed as the exception, not the rule. Overqualified simply means more experience, better qualifications and a broader vision.
Highly qualified candidates drive change and improvement – if you are not looking for this and do not allow ‘overqualified’ executives to reach their full potential, expect them to seek new opportunities as the market returns to normal.

‘Overqualified executives have already completed similar tasks, saving the organization a lot of time and avoiding mistakes. To put it simply, overqualified = less training costs.
A specific role in each organization should not be seen as a static list of duties when success is the ability to manage change and discover new opportunities. Positions always change and expand, and experienced professionals are the most apt to develop these opportunities.

Highly qualified executives provide mentorship to other employees, drive innovation and offer informal on-the-job training.

Despite these positives, fears of hiring executives who are qualified beyond the job spec sheet are still strong in the job market. Some believe overqualified executives will leave when a better offer is made, and the ability to retain these talented individuals will only be decided if the organization can compensate sufficiently.

Overqualified also becomes a mask for other fears. Executives in the discussion highlighted that ‘Overqualified’ is often a mask for age discrimination and that too many executives are intimidated by a higher qualified hire.

With more positives outweighing the negatives driven by fear, the consensus of the discussion was that there is no such thing as an overqualified candidate, experience or qualifications on paper do not translate into excellence and using the vague label is misleading. Instead, organizations must be flexible with positions in order to attract and retain the very best, and candidates must be prepared to develop horizontally as well as vertically.

Finally, hiring managers should treat all candidates who have completed the application process equally, assuming that they are serious about the role and have considered the level of the position. Follow this attitude with an honest discussion with the candidate about any concerns. Any other approach will lead to dismissing candidates with the most experience and highest qualifications.

BlueSteps is the exclusive service of the AESC that puts senior executives on the radar screen of over 6,000 executive search professionals in over 70 countries. Be visible, and be considered for up to 50,000 opportunities handled by AESC search firms every year. Find Out More.

IvyExec.com Achieves Milestone, Surpasses 200K Unique Visitors

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NEW YORK, New York (April 28, 2011)
– Ivy Exec reports that web traffic to its website IvyExec.com, exceeded 200,000 unique visitors for the month of March. This milestone caps 48 months of continuous growth for the 4-year-old internet company.

Additionally, Ivy Exec noted that its membership of global leaders in finance, marketing, strategy and management now exceeds 84,000 hand-screened professionals.

But increasing the Ivy Exec database isn’t the top priority, says CEO and Founder Elena Bajic. “While growth is important, at Ivy Exec, we are focused more on quality of our members than the quantity. The selective nature of our network and the unmatched quality of our members is what sets us apart. Employers know that when they work with us, every pre-screened candidate is going to be outstanding.”

Through strategic outreach, which targets top executives with stellar educational backgrounds, IvyExec.com has expanded its membership 25% since the start of 2011. This continued growth demonstrates Ivy Exec’s strong position in servicing the top-tier executive’s career advancement needs.

Ivy Exec is a highly selective network and recruitment company for global leaders in in finance, marketing, strategy and management. As a result of Ivy Exec’s unique screening process, 86% of its members hold an MBA from a top 20 business school and 15% hold PhD’s. To find out more, please visit www.IvyExec.com

Webinar – Networking During Tough Times

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A large percentage of new opportunities are obtained through networking. Most of us have subtle barriers that get in the way of building these relationships and leveraging them for our success. What are these barriers for you? How do you get over them and tap into the “hidden job market?”

Pat Drew of Pat Drew & Company LLC is an executive coach and management consultant focusing on top-level coaching, managing change/organizational resilience and preparing executives for abrupt career transition in tumultuous times. She coaches executives on how to prosper when organizations are undergoing radical change. She has coached leaders in the media industry, financial services, technology, healthcare and others on building stronger relationships, greater team effectiveness, clearer strategic alliance and improved life balance. Pat is based in New York.

Brad’s Thoughts on Networking

Posted in Executive Jobs and Executive Job Search, Networking | Leave a comment

I once wrote that I didn’t like the term “networking”. I thought the practice was self-serving and deceitful. That is until I learned how to network. I learned to reach out to people that I wanted to know, explain why I was contacting them and making them feel good by helping me. People like to help.
I’m convinced there isn’t one way to network. Some people just have a gift; they can walk into a room or pick up a phone and be chatting away in a New York minute. Others, me included, need some time to get going. The only wrong way to network is to make it about you.
While some say that 70% of all jobs are found by networking, I don’t put much faith in that number. All jobs are found by a combination of hard work, strategic thinking and usually some luck. Some are found through networking, some through recruiters and some through job postings.
If I found myself without a network and in a job search here are my thoughts on how I’d start.

Everyone has a network, they just don’t view it that way.
I would start by writing a list of everyone I know, worked with, purchased from, attended conferences with, attended college with, etc. I don’t care if I haven’t spoken with them in 10 or more years. You’ll be surprised how large of a list that is.
Now imagine if each of those people know 3 people that might be able to get me further down the path to employment.

How you approach people is important.
I’d call them up or email them and explain that I’m job hunting and looking to network with people that they know that might be helpful. I’d have some helpful tips to get their mind thinking.
Such as…”I’ve been a Director of IT for a Mid-Sized bank the last 4 years, do you know anyone in the financial services world?” or “I’m exploring project management in the CPG area, do you know anyone at companies like…..?”
Give them a chance to help you by helping them to understand who you are, what you are looking for and what you can offer.

I wouldn’t send them a resume.
You want to control who gets your resume and how it is passed along so hold onto it. Just ask for names and ways to contact the person. It doesn’t matter if the person at P & G isn’t in HR, they probably know someone that is. Then you reach out to them. Tell them that “Susie” recommend you talk with them. Ask them about what they do, why they love the company and after that, tell them the same thing you told your friend and ask who they know, both at their company and other places. Ask them who the competition is so that you can build your own target list.

I’d find the people doing the job I want.
If I want a Sr. Financial Analyst position at a Fortune 100 company, I’d use tools such as LinkedIn to find everyone doing that job and I’d reach out to them in much the same fashion. I’d ask if there are openings in their company or if they have heard of any at the competition. I’d also ask if they know any “great” recruiters that specialize in their area.
More next Tuesday.

Brad Attig has 12 years of talent acquisition experience including 4 years working with high level executives crafting personal job search strategies and 8 years of recruiting for a top boutique retail recruitment firm. Brad’s expertise includes personal branding, social media strategy, and locating top passive talent. Prior, Brad held key merchandising positions with top retailers including Macy’s and Target.

Find Brad on

LinkedIn

10 Ways to Accelerate the Executive Job Search

Posted in Career Planning, Executive Jobs and Executive Job Search, Interviewing | 3 Comments

Those who are active in a job search will come across three important stages: interviews with HR, 2nd & 3rd round interviews with upper management, and the final rounds of interviews and salary negotiation. Depending on where you may run into trouble, there are different solutions. Here are 10 ways you can accelerate that process.

If you aren’t getting interviews:

1 – Are you positioning yourself appropriately? Perhaps you have been going for jobs that are too junior or too senior. Maybe employers don’t clearly understand the scope and scale of your past roles. Check too if your experience as it is described is relevant to the jobs you are pursuing.

2 – Is your marketing complete? Some job seekers overwork their resume but then don’t have an updated online profile. Most recruiters are using social media, especially LinkedIn. If you don’t have an online presence, your executive job search marketing is incomplete.

3 – Are you spending too much time on recruiters and job postings? Recruiters and job postings seem like a shortcut – you just troll the web and apply for what’s there, or you make a few calls to recruiters and let them do the heavy lifting. But, job postings are notoriously out of date, and recruiters work for the employers not for you. Most importantly, most jobs are filled via networking so if you rely on recruiters and job postings, you are missing out on most opportunities.

If you get interviews but don’t get called back:

4 – Do you have 3-4 key message points? You need to cut to the chase in your cover letters, networking pitch and interview responses. People make up their mind quickly so be concise. Get the important information out early and cut out the rest.

5 – Are you specific in the details you share? Remember to show, not tell. Give examples, so prospective employers know the scope and the scale of what you are talking about. When I recruited, a lot of candidates would simply list in vague notions a generic laundry list of attributes – e.g., I learn quickly, I work hard. It was the rare candidate that gave a thorough example of exactly what the objective was, what was delivered, what happened as a result, and what s/he did specifically. The candidates with specific details give the best interviews.

6 – Can you get inspired at will? I recently gave a mock interview to someone who made little eye contact and had overall low energy. This wasn’t what I remembered from an earlier session, and he admitted that he had a rough week. We all have good and bad days, but you can’t just leave it to chance that a good day will occur when you have an interview. So come up with a process for how you can get inspired at will. Champion athletes have very specific routines when they prepare for game day and so do successful job seekers.

If you get called back but can’t close the offer:

7 – Do you let doubts show? In later rounds of interviewing, I have seen candidates start focusing less on the interviews and more about whether they want the job. While, yes, you should be using your meetings to get information you need to make a good decision, there is no decision to be made yet. Don’t second-guess why you are there – you definitely want that offer. You can always say no to the job, but don’t let doubt creep in too soon and give a signal to the prospective employer that you may not be interested.

8 – Have you let things slide? There is a lot of time between submitting a resume, rounds of interviews, and getting a decision. You need to stay front of mind with everyone you met. They are seeing other people and may forget about you. Don’t let things slide as you wait between stages – send key decision-makers a status update about you and reiterate your interest in continuing the discussions.

9 – Do you have quantity, as well as quality? You might do everything right, and the positions loses its funding or it goes to someone internal or a better candidate comes along. You need to have multiple leads to pursue at all time. Your job search will stall if you move from only one lead to another instead of pursuing multiple leads simultaneously. You need quantity in your search.

Finally, on an overall note:

10 – Do you have a process to stay on track long-term? Many jobseekers do a lot their first week, maybe the second but peter out. This is a marathon, not a sprint. The interview process takes time, and you need to continue your search across multiple fronts. So there is a lot to juggle, and you need a process, not just discipline, motivation, or hope that you will stay on track. Make sure you have specific routines for following up with your contacts, for organizing your search information, for preparing for interviews and meetings, and for staying refreshed.

Do you have help where you need it? Now that you know what you have to do, can you do it? If not, what support and resources do you need to get your positioning, marketing, interviewing, organizing, and overall job search working towards your career success?

Caroline Ceniza-Levine helps people find fulfilling jobs and careers, as the co-founder of SixFigureStart®, career coaching by former Fortune 500 recruiters.   As a former executive job search and corporate recruiter for over 10 years, Caroline has hired thousands of people for leading companies in financial services, consulting, media, pharmaceutical/ healthcare, and technology. She is also the co-author (along with Donald Trump, Jack Canfield and others) of the best-selling “How the Fierce Handle Fear: Secrets to Succeeding in Challenging Times” 2010; Two Harbors Press.  

A Message From Ivy Exec’s Brad Attig

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Hi, I’m Brad Attig. I’m Director of Business Development and Talent Acquisition here at Ivy Exec and the team here has lobbied me hard to start writing here on the Ivy Exec blog, so here I am.

If you read this blog, you’ll notice we have another Brad, Bradford Agry, of Career Team Partners who is also featured here. I’ll be writing on Tuesdays and Thursdays so mark your calendar.

By way of introduction, my path to Ivy Exec began a while back. I started like many fresh out of college, in an Executive Training program with Macy’s, then went to Target and Montgomery Wards and ended up at Citibank. I then spent 8 years recruiting in the retail sector before starting my own business where I provided career guidance and developed personal marketing plans for mid and senior level executives. I joined Ivy Exec in January.

You will find my writing style casual, tongue-in-cheek and maybe even entertaining. You will also find that I can be a contrarian when it comes to career advice. In the past 5 years, job search and career management has been turned upside down. Old rules don’t apply and some of the “new” rules haven’t been tested or proven yet. For everyone that says “your resume must be 12pt Times New Roman” I can find someone else that will say “11pt Garamond is the font of choice”

You have this promise from me. My ideas, advice and opinions come from real world experience. I’ve had over 1000 people out on interviews and I think know how candidates and hiring managers think, sometimes, maybe.

I’m going to write about real issues and here is the first one. Ed posted this over at the Ivy Exec LinkedIn group which you should join if you’re not a member.

I’m looking for some advice.
It is said that trying to find a position by searching Monster or some other job board isn’t the route to take, nor should someone put much faith in the headhunters who track you down for a specific position. The way to find that position is to network. My question to all of you is, how can I network to find a position as a very senior-level project manager (Director, VP, Chief Project Officer)?

Ed and others follow along and I’ll tell you how I would do it starting on Thursday.

BlueSteps Spotlight

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The BlueSteps Blog has a wealth of articles for executives seeking to plan and develop their careers. We are pleased to present another installment of “BlueSteps Spotlight”, a sampling of the great articles from the BlueSteps collection.

(From High Salaries In Emerging Markets Are Deserved)

In a recent post regarding the changing dynamics of hiring in emerging markets, I highlighted that salaries in emerging markets have risen dramatically due to a deep talent shortage. However, as a HR professional, Jacque Vilet, commented on LinkedIn, there are many other reasons for high salaries in emerging markets. From legal issues to infrastructure problems, starting or continuing operations in emerging markets can be far more complex than working in developed markets.

Difficulties in business operation are matched with higher cost of living – while certain things in emerging markets such as India, China or Brazil can be cheaper, in my experience the majority are not! In Sao Paulo, the capital of Brazil, food prices are similar to that of New York, and while rent isn’t quite comparable across the board, at the top end prices can match. In addition, personal security is still an issue in many parts of Brazil and result in having to pay for extra safety measures (for the record, I did not have a problem in Sao Paulo in the six months I was there).

Turning to cars and electronics, heavy taxes imposed in Brazil lead to items we take for granted at low prices being twice as expensive (or more). In addition, problems with infrastructure have left Brazil’s roads almost unbearable with traffic, and there are no trains to carry you or goods between cities; Internet services can also be temperamental in the capital due to wireless signal interference and server overload; Tropical storms plague the summer and electricity cuts are a regular occurrence; and labor laws are notoriously hard to navigate, leaving employers with huge staffing costs.

Imagine the effect on business productivity.

However, I do not want to paint Brazil or any other emerging market as ‘undeveloped’. Instead, there are some areas of governance and infrastructure that still need to catch up with the explosive growth.

Fast growth also leads to inflation and rising currency valuations, making exports harder. Yet leaders in emerging markets must (and do) learn to accept all difficulties and find ways to reach comparative profit margins with regions worldwide.

For all the reasons above, talented leaders in the emerging markets are worth every penny.

BlueSteps is the exclusive service of the AESC that puts senior executives on the radar screen of over 6,000 executive search professionals in over 70 countries. Be visible, and be considered for up to 50,000 opportunities handled by AESC search firms every year. Find Out More.