There is so much competition in the market place at the moment, with many former senior level executives vying for jobs far beneath their skills and qualifications it’s become a virtual (no pun intended even though we are an online recruitment company), feeding frenzy! 

So how do you warn senior level execs who are being out-placed and replaced on a daily basis of the potential hazards of the job market mine field currently inhabiting our world?

Well, the first thing you tell them is not to lie about their qualifications and skills or “dummy down” their resumes in hopes of getting a look-see from some eager and hopeful recruiter looking to make a placement. This market is tough, nothing new there.  In fact, most job markets even when there are an abundance of jobs available, offer its own unique challenges from which we must navigate. When jobs are a plenty, the executive is courted like a debutante at a cotillion ball.  Recruiters, employers, hiring managers alike pull out all the stops and throw in more perks to entice, seduce and eventually overcome their prey-The Candidate. When jobs are scare however, there is no room for pleasantries and it’s a game of survival of the fittest.  The once coveted executive must now become savvy, slick and all so focused on how and when they will be enticed, seduced and ultimately overtaken by a job offer!

So what’s the best approach to take in re-entering the job market, vying for not so senior jobs, when your resume reads like a “Who’s Who” in Executive Leadership and you were once listed on the “Top 50 Most Influential People to Watch?”

Well, if you are lucky enough to take some time off and “float” a little that’s great.  But most people, particularly the highly successful and creative executives need and really want to get back into the job market as soon as their feet hits the pavement with severance agreement, non-compete and pink slip in hand (no one gives those out anymore by the way). The best approach for the senior exec is to tailor a “resume” that reads like a professional bio and focus on overall accomplishments and leadership skills that have made them a success to date.  

An executive resume plain and simple can either scare the hell out of a recruiter or get dumped in a pile somewhere under a two-day old cup of coffee or in an online folder marked “Executive” on a recruiter’s desktop.  Resumes are nice, and “the standard” but we are moving towards a new age of technology and communication that encourages self-promotion, loquaciousness and brand savvy.  One-page bios highlighting individual and team accomplishments, an online ad, a video promotion, are some new ways one needs to think about how best to flaunt and stand out.  Creating a blog site, tweeting, and other social media outlets offers an executive a chance to “boast” about who they are in a bold new way.

Communication and recruitment advertising is not just for job posting boards or companies seeking to promote opportunities,  but can, and I foresee will be used for individuals to promote and brand themselves as well.  With virtual walls crumbling as fast as the Berlin Wall, we need to seek out the new and change the way we look at self-promotion and abuse the web and all forms of media to advertise and to successfully promote ourselves.

So it’s not so much a lie but more like a “spin” on how senior execs can take advantage of what the college kids seem to have down, and sell yourself like you are your own business-oh and it’s always best not to wait until you need to a job  to start the promotion but to get out there while you still have a job.

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