First Interviewee/Last Interviewee - Who Has the Advantage?

An interesting discussion has been underway among members of the Career Management Alliance's e-list/forum this week. The question surrounds whether, given the chance to choose, one is better off scheduling a job interview at the beginning, middle, or end of the screening process.

One member who is a former recruiter observes that the first and sometimes the second candidate interviewed rarely receives an offer. He suggests to his clients that they want to be at least third or fourth in the interview order to maximize their chances.

It is also a consideration that many times hiring managers will modify the position specifications as the interviewing process progresses. This is because they are better able to crystallize the company's needs based on what is learned through conducting several interviews. This, of course, places the early interviewee at a competitive disadvantage.

Another factor is that the competition is so high in today's job market that it is extremely difficult to get hiring managers to make a decision. The prevailing attitude seems to be that they have the luxury of reviewing numerous candidates until they find the "perfect" match. So eliciting an offer if you interview early in a slate of potential candidates can be tough.

Then again, there is some logic to what another member recalls a professor/mentor telling her: If yours is the best candidacy and fit, and you eclipse everyone else in your interview, the order will not matter.

The overwhelming consensus seems to be that your odds improve if you interview last or near last among your competitors. This dovetails with what I have advised my clients who were wondering if it was worthwhile to submit their executive resume for a position well into the candidate screening process. The company may well have worked its way through a collection of disappointing or "not quite right" candidates, and maybe even re-thought their position requirements based on interviews to date. Then along comes the answer to their prayers--YOU!

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Are Cover Letters Obsolete?

As a member of the Career Thought Leaders Consortium, I have been following and participating in an ongoing discussion of the obsolescence or continuing relevance of cover letters. The overwhelming consensus has been that they are necessary and in no way obsolete, and to pay no attention to career counselors who say they are not worth the bother because HR doesn't read them. Of course, if you are properly pursuing your executive job search, your primary contact is not HR anyway, but that is a topic for another post.

One colleague indicated that she had recently conducted an informal survey of hiring managers regarding this question and received an overwhelming response of ABSOLUTELY YES! Do include a cover letter. Many of these hiring managers indicated that an effective cover letter can make the difference in whether a candidate is called in for an interview, particularly at executive level.

I wonder why anyone would NOT want to include a cover letter! Firstly, it is simply business courtesy to introduce yourself when you make a new business contact, as you are doing when you send your resume in application for a position. Secondly, the cover letter can be used to express things that do not lend themselves well to or may even be inappropriate for inclusion in the resume itself. Thirdly, it gives you an opportunity to reinforce the business case made in the resume. Fourthly, along with some possible tweaking to the executive resume, sending a cover letter allows you to effectively customize your presentation to the particular audience and opportunity.

So, when I am asked by my executive clients whether a cover letter is needed, my answer is always an emphatic "Yes!" The worst that can happen if you include one is that the recipient skims it or even tosses it. The worst that can happen if you do not include one is that your recipient is like me--I would be completely put off by someone who lacked the business courtesy to tell me why they were sending me their resume! One of my pet peeves and something that always gives me an initial poor impression of a potential executive resume client is to receive their resume in an e-mail, with no message and sometimes even without a subject line!

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Executives Plan to Delay Retirement

According to a Society for Human Resource Management report, The U.S. Recession and Its Impact on Employee Retirement, 68% of human resource professionals have observed an increase in employees extending their planned retirement date due to the current economic conditions. This agrees with ExecuNet observations from their research, indicating that executives as of 2008 planned to retire at an average age of 76.9 (if health allows them to work that long, and finances allow for retirement even then). This is in contrast to 2006, when the average targeted age was 65.8.


Combining the above statistics with the fact that executive tenure in each job has been shrinking to as little as 1.5-2 years, an executive at 50 could easily have another 25 years of career left (nearly as much as he or she has accumulated thus far) and multiple remaining job changes.


I write executive resumes every day for clients who come to me at age 50 or 55 with the attitude that this next career move will probably be their last, and many express fears even at age 45 that they are losing their luster as a candidate due to age. The mindset that you are over the hill as far as your appeal in the job market at age 50 to 55 obviously needs to change. Continue to polish your skills and increase your knowledge, and shine up that executive resume for an extended stay in the world of work--and possibly several more challenging job experiences at different companies!

CEOs: VC-backed Tech Firm Sector on Road to Recovery

Business Week's CEO Guide to the Tech-Job Outlook raises hopes for an industry turnaround by 2010, with senior executives reporting that hiring at small, VC-funded firms is increasing.

According to the article, these are the 10 best and 10 worst cities for salaries in the Tech Sector (averaged across at least 15 reports from each company surveyed).

BEST CITIES: (1 being the highest average salary)
1 San Jose
2 San Francisco
3 Seattle
4 San Diego
5 New York City
6 Washington, DC
7 Boston
8 Raleigh
9 Los Angeles
10 Austin

WORST CITIES: (1 being the lowest average salary)
1 Kansas City
2 Cleveland
3 Pittsburgh
4 Madison (WI)
5 Orlando
6 St. Louis
7 Columbus
8 Cincinnati
9 Minneapolis
10 Philadelphia

This has been the worst tech sector recession since the dot.com bubble burst. Among the first fields to begin job recovery are cloud computing, computer security, business analytics, and IT services for government and health care. CEOs indicate that they are gradually and carefully lifting hiring freezes in an effort to bring in the best-of-the-best employees before the economy recovers and the competition for talent heats up.

A piece of good news is that after elimination of more than 118,000 tech jobs in the first half of 2009 (the highest number in 7 years), "two-thirds of senior technology executives recently surveyed by audit, tax, and advisory firm KPMG said they thought their industry would fully recover from the current economic crisis ahead of the overall U.S. economy."

After a long and dismal dry spell, this may be the time for technology executives to polish up their executive resumes and begin testing the waters.

Read the full article at: http://tinyurl.com/lsm5kr. You can also view a slide show with details about Glassdoor's salary survey of more than 28,000 companies.

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Executive Job Market Trends

Most executive search firms report that they have experienced a double-digit decline in search assignments during the first half of 2009 in comparison to the same period for 2008. According to a recent ExecuNet poll cited in their RecruitSmart Today newsletter, more than 33% say that they received 50% fewer assignments during the first 2 quarters, with the average dip being 27.4%.

On the other hand, demand appears to be increasing for CEOs, executives, and board of directors members with one important qualification: They can skillfully balance risk management while meeting revenue targets. If you can integrate the latest techniques and standards in risk management and deliver sales and growth at the same time, your talent is sought at a high premium. The need for executives and directors with financial acumen is also high. Recruitment of directors is expected to accelerate as the end of 2009 approaches, so that new board members are in place for annual meetings as 2010 opens.

Ironically, with the possibility of government and court intervention in executive employment contracts, the performance-based compensation contracts that are most common to those executives responsible for P&L or revenue generation are most in the crosshairs. Search firm Michael D. Zinn & Associates recently polled executives and found, not surprisingly, that twice as many who held responsibility in these areas were opposed to government involvement, and thus reluctant to change employers based on the concern their compensation agreements could be changed after the fact.

What does this mean for you when writing your executive resume or interviewing for a position? Be sure to emphasize any expertise and experience you have in risk management, driving sales and revenue growth, and financial control.





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Where the Executive Jobs Are

A recent ExecuNet poll of executive recruiters and search consultants reveals that they believe healthcare and green technology will be the industry sectors with the highest growth in executive and management jobs over the next six months. Other fields that are expected to afford significant opportunities are the life sciences, energy, and environmental. Hiring in retail, distribution, media, advertising, publishing, and entertainment is expected to be slow.

For more details, see ExecuNet's RecruitSmart newsletter.

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Still Not on the Social Media Bandwagon? Could Be a Big Mistake!

Up to now, I've frankly been exerting a somewhat half-hearted effort to use LinkedIn, and only just in the past week started to explore the potential of Facebook and Twitter. I intend to change that, and after what I've heard today, would encourage executives, professionals, and managers who want to proactively manage their careers to do the same.

For some highlights from a seminar I attended today exploring how you can leverage social media effectively in managing your career, see my post over at CareerHub.

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Video Resumes Not a Great Idea - Part Deux

As a followup to my recent post on video resumes, some information I just received today confirmed my growing conviction that they are an idea whose time has not yet come, and maybe never will.

A colleague and Certification Chair at the National Resume Writers Association Cliff Framer noted in his article in today's newsletter entitled "Video Resumes. Yea or Nay?" that when this question was recently asked on LinkedIn, the response was unanimous. Recruiters and HR respondents without exception replied with answers that could be summarized as "no way in Web 2.0 h**ell!" Issues noted included some of those I noted in my previous blog post, including slowness of viewing time, vulnerability to discrimination or the appearance thereof, and storage difficulties.

Then Cliff made another observation that I consider astute: Perhaps the biggest problem with this idea is that video resumes force the reader into a passive role, forcing information down the viewer's throat rather than allowing them to do what recruiters typically do--scan the resume quickly to find needed information and read between the lines. All the flashy thingies and interactive features that technies can come up with in a video or multimedia resume will never replace articulate and succinct expression of your value as a job candidate in a printable executive resume.

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Network, Network, Network to Uncover Job Opportunities!!

Nearly 40% of all positions filled within a company result from internal transfers or promotions, according to the latest Source of Hire Study from CareerXRoads. The study (8th in a series) also affirms once again that for the remaining hires originating from external sources, referrals from current and previous employees, customers, and vendors are the number one external source, accounting for 27.3%. Notably, job boards (excluding company sites) produce just 12.3% of external hires and seem to have reached their peak. The big boards such as Monster and Career Builder also seem to be losing ground to niche boards.

These facts make cultivating “insider” connections one of your best sources for job leads. With the implied endorsement from a trusted source that you have when referred to a company, you gain a great advantage over your competition. Not only are you most likely going to get an interview ahead of the pack, you are also an attractive candidate due to the fact payment to a recruiter may be partially or totally removed from the equation, substantially reducing the employer’s cost of hiring.

In a tough job market, proactively building your network is arguably your best strategy to identify and pursue a new job before hundreds or even thousands of others have beat you to the door.

Recent Executive Job Trends by Industry and Position

Indeed.com has some really useful and informative features, not the least of which is their tool that tracks job trends by industry. Here are some recent stats from their site:

Industry -- Job Postings (Annual Change)
Accounting -- 123,813 (-34%)
Construction -- 59,571 (-35%)
Education -- 55,300 (+ 22%)
Financial Services and Banking -- 122,187 (-30%)
Healthcare -- 599,186 ( +4%)
Hospitality -- 56,128 (-25%)
Information Technology -- 405,057 (-29%)
Manufacturing -- 67,470 (-31%)
Media and Newspaper -- 19,044 (-38%)
Real Estate -- 19,590 (-52%)
Retail -- 310,241 (-26%)
Transportation -- 52,231 (-34%)

As far as employment prospects for executives by field of expertise are concerned, a recent ExecuNet Recruiter Confidence poll shows that the following are fields where recruiters see the greatest possibility for growth in executive hiring over the next six months:

Business Development -- 17.3%
Sales -- 15.0%
Engineering -- 10.4%
Operations Management (incl. supply chain, logistics, quality) -- 8.7%
Marketing -- 8.7%
Consulting -- 8.2%
Finance -- 7.9%
Research and Development -- 7.7%

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ZOOM Your Way to Visibility with Recruiters

In addition to active participation on business/social networking sites such as LinkedIn as part of their online identity strategy, savvy executives will wish to ensure that the informal "resume" compiled for them on the ZoomInfo site represents them well. Employers are increasingly sourcing candidates through this online information resource that compiles data on millions of individuals and companies. For more information on this, see my CareerHub blog post: "Can You Zoom Your Way to a New Job?"

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Are Video Resumes the Next Must-Have for Executives?

There has been a lot of talk recently in newsletters I follow and among my colleagues in various career professional associations regarding the pros and cons of video resumes. It also seems that at least every few weeks I receive an advertisement from some firm that offers video resume development services, touting them as the next must-have for employment candidates. But what is the reality?

In answer to a subscriber question, Nick Corcodilos of Ask the Headhunter recently responded regarding whether he thinks video resumes are a good idea. In addition to giving several sound reasons why they may not be, he also observes that those who are promoting them, including the media, are generally doing it because they see the phenomenon as something that could potentially yield them substantial revenues. They are not publishing genuine news articles, but most often what could be called “advertorials.”

Nick’s conclusion? “Should you submit a video resume? I promised you two reasons why not. Managers hate reading resumes. Do you think they're going to settle in for the afternoon to watch you and 200 other 'with it' applicants on video? And what about the human resources department? Video resumes create a trail of potential discrimination based on how you look. If you’re going job hunting, don’t put yourself on camera.”

Despite all the hype in the media, there is little convincing evidence that video resumes work. MSNBC.com observed, “Experts point out that video resumes rarely play a big role in the hiring process. Some hiring managers don't even care to watch them." And we all remember the story of Aleksey Vayner, whose video resume made him a laughingstock on Wall Street and YouTube. A year after his video resume made its big splash, he was still searching for a job.

Vault.com conducted an online survey last year of 300 employer members, which indicated that 58% of respondents would view a video resume from mere curiosity, while 31 percent thought it would be valuable in considering job applicants. The legal ramifications made 15% nervous, with the biggest concern of legal departments being the potential for discrimination (or the appearance of discrimination).

Recognizing this issue, the EEOC developed and launched E-RACE (Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment), in February 2007. Advice for employers includes taking into account that not all of us perform well on camera, and that this does not necessarily correspond to job performance. It was also recommended to install filters prior to viewing—enumerating objective criteria associated with the job opening to be evaluated. Thirdly, the video resume should be viewed only after careful evaluation of all other documents received in connection with the application.

A recent Career Management Alliance E-Bridge points out that less than 25% of employers are willing to accept video resumes, according to a July survey by staffing services firm Robert Half International. A whopping 58 percent assert that they definitely do not want them. The remaining 18 percent are unsure what they would do with a video submission.

Complaints about video resumes include:

> They take too much time to view, while a standard resume requires only seconds to scan.

> There is a great risk of problems regarding legal compliance in the area of employment discrimination, due to seeing the appearance of a candidate before even thoroughly reviewing their qualifications.

> The record-keeping required could be extremely burdensome. Since all information considered in the hiring process can be asked for by the EEOC, recruiters and companies would have to archive all of the video resumes they received, consuming a tremendous amount of electronic data storage space.

Overall, the consensus seems to be that there is lukewarm response to video resumes, and that they are long, long way from either substituting for a traditional resume or becoming a must-have accessory.

That being said, there are situations where it may be appropriate to create a video profile, not as a rehash of what appears in your print/electronic document resume but as an adjunct to it that absolutely shines with personality, trumpets your brand, and puts forth a clear value proposition – a business case – for why your audience needs to get in touch with you personally.

It would also appear that it may be a good idea to get used to the idea of being on camera when you are looking for a job. The use of video in recruiting is becoming popular among HR professionals and recruiters. Video-on-demand interviewing requires the candidate to record answers to interview questions and e-mail the resulting file to those making the hiring decisions to be viewed at their convenience. There is great appeal for this method, as it saves on travel expenses and time, and expands the potential candidate pool to essentially anywhere in the world that a video can be recorded.

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Don't Be a Victim of the Executive Marketing Rackets

Around once a year I have seen enough additional examples of executive marketing firm rip-offs that I find myself compelled to write another article on the subject.

Over more than 30 years in the career services profession, I have spoken with numerous executives and senior managers who have fallen prey to unscrupulous career marketing firms making outlandish promises about how, for a substantial fee, they will provide them with access to the hidden job market and unadvertised job listings. They promise to do this by using their exclusive network of contacts in hiring companies or by blanketing the corporate world with their resume in a completely untargeted fashion. I have spoken with executives who paid large sums--often $10,000 to even $25,000 or more--and received essentially nothing, except in most cases a very poorly written resume. In just the past several weeks, I have spoken with several very unhappy executives who had been ripped off in this fashion.

These scam artists are constantly reinventing themselves when the consumer outrage mounts, the authorities begin to take notice, and legal action begins. They will often reappear down the street or in a new city city under a different name, many times with the same owners. In fact, one way to quickly eliminate such a firm from consideration is to Google the owners' names and look at all the bad press they have left in their wake. Some names that have generated considerable notoriety in this regard are Bernard Haldane, McKenzie Scott, and WSA Corporation.

You may ask: How can I distinguish a legitimate career services/career marketing firm from a racketeer? After all, most resume writing firms (including mine) offer additional job search services to help their clients maximize the effectiveness of the self-marketing documents they have created. Here are a few characteristics of a legitimate firm:

* Fees charged are reasonable compensation for actual services rendered.

* The firm is willing to provide legitimate, verifiable references from its clients.

* If they "place" candidates (function as recruiters), they will also provide names and contact information for companies where they have done so.

* You as the job seeker remain the owner and architect of your job search; no claims are made that the firm will find you a job. If they do make such a claim, there is a money-back guarantee effective within a specified period of time that does not require you to meet virtually impossible requirements to qualify for it.

* No representations are made of exclusive access to executive opportunities or hiring decision makers; rather advice about effective strategies and tactical assistance are offered to help you identify and access those opportunities and decision makers.

The characteristics of the executive career marketing racketeer will of course be the exact opposite of the above.

I also wanted to mention a a new breed of career services firm that has emerged in the last several years that call themselves "executive agents" or "career agents." Where a headhunter works on the demand side for talent (filling companies' orders), the career or executive agent works on the supply side, representing the candidate. These agents attempt to determine the marketable value of the executive, to define a campaign strategy, and to position the executive to the market. Once they have "packaged" the client, the presentations to companies and headhunters begin. These firms are few in number, and typically represent only high-profile CEOs, senior executives on the CEO fast track, turnaround experts, high-power attorneys and consultants, and cutting-edge technology experts.

Executive agency could develop into a viable model, but the field is so new and there are no standards, track record, established ethics, etc., to point to. Just as would be the case with a movie star, athlete, or recording artist, you will be 100% dependent on the skills and ethics of your agent. You will have relinquished responsibility for your own career management, generally an inadvisable thing to do, in my opinion. Fees are usually substantial, and often involve a percentage of salary and bonuses--on an ongoing basis. So if you are considering hiring an executive agent, thorough due diligence would be imperative.

What actually prompted me to write this today was an article by Nick Corcodilos, entitled "How Much Would You Pay for a Job?" As with all of his columns that expose the executive marketing rackets, he is right on target. Dave Opton of ExecuNet also provides some valuable tips in his article on executive marketing firms featured on CIOUpdate.com. Execcareer.com used to be an excellent resource for sorting out the scams, but the site was long ago taken down under threat of multi-million dollar lawsuits from the same executive career firms who are constantly cited by job seekers as fraudulent and/or unethical. You can still view how the site appeared in previous years through the Wayback Machine, a site that archives everything that appears on the Web. Mark Swarz also has some excellent observations in his article at Workopolis.com.

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24-Hour Job Search Advice: JobRadio.fm

I was alerted to a great new career and job search resource this morning by a recruiter in my network, Chris Russell. Recently launched by veteran podcasters Chris Russell and Peter Clayton, it is an Internet-based radio station devoted exclusively to job search and career-related topics—JobRadio.fm.

They stream live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. After just an hour or so of listening in, I can say I would recommend it for executives and professionals actively seeking a new job and also for anyone looking to keep up to date on what’s going on in the employment market. In just a short period of time, I heard tips about how to leverage the Internet in your executive job search, use networking to find your next job, find greater satisfaction in your career, and more. In addition to being a resource for ideas, the upbeat programming could help to mitigate the inherent loneliness of job search and provide encouragement when your search has you frustrated.

I’ve already gleaned ideas and reference material for several blog posts, which I’ll be putting up in the near future. In the meantime, I encourage you to check it out.

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Tips for Optimizing Your Online Resume

At the National Resume Writers’ Association annual conference in San Diego last week, one of the speakers was Paul Forster, Co-founder and CEO of Indeed.com. For those unfamiliar with Indeed, it is one of the new breed of mega-job search engines that according to their About page “gives job seekers free access to millions of employment opportunities from thousands of websites.” It is ranked by Time magazine as one of the top 10 websites and described by the Wall Street Journal as “Simply a one-stop shop for job seekers.” I can personally highly recommend it, both as a search engine and for its many other valuable features such as job trend analyses and salary information.

Mr. Forster’s presentation entitled “Resume Optimization in the New World of Search” provided some insights into factors you will want to consider in developing your resume for online posting purposes. A key consideration is now “ROSE,” “Resume Optimization for Search Engines,” and it comes into play both in the massive online resume databases of job sites as well as in the internal resume databases of individual companies that use software such as Taleo (an Applicant Tracking System) to manage and search the resumes they keep on file.

Here are a few valuable suggestions I gleaned from Mr. Forster’s presentation:

• Leverage Indeed’s capability to search for equivalent job titles to zero in on variations on your job title. Work these into the text of your resume to make it more likely to pop up in a search.

• Search sites like LinkedIn for relevant keywords related to your relevant job titles and make sure to work those into your resume text as well.

• Mine the job boards, LinkedIn, and other resources to identify synonyms for your key skills and include them.

• Look for variants in how names of companies and terms are spelled or abbreviated (e.g., EBay, E-bay; ETrade, E-Trade; IT, Information Technology; SEO, Search Engine Optimization) and include them (possibly in parentheses) to help ensure someone searching for that company or term will find your resume.

• Consider “stemming” as you craft your resume's content – using varying endings of words. For example, someone searching for a marketer may actually search for the word ‘marketing’ or for accounting may key in ‘accountant’.

• Make your resume Web friendly, avoiding tables and indentions, etc. that will translate poorly online no matter how carefully you manually insert your spaces.

Looking forward, Mr. Forster sees the future of the resume as being in the virtual world, with increasingly rich media. He also sees it as boundary-less--with many links going into and out of the document. Examples might be a link to a book you wrote that is for sale on Amazon, your websites, your LinkedIn profile, articles that mention you, etc. Also on the horizon are “Open Standards” which are currently under discussion but have a good way to go before finalization and widespread adoption. Open standards will one day result in a single resume that will be acceptable everywhere in applying for jobs, eliminating the necessity to fill out widely varying forms on each job board or company’s website.

I have saved for last a "to do" that I strongly concur with and feel is probably the most important piece of advice in his presentation: Once you have posted your resume, REFRESH it periodically, as a recent post/edit date is a critical factor in ranking your resume, superseding all other criteria.

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Virtual versus Real World Job Search: Which is Better?

Recent Weddles research has found that more than 25% of all jobs are now filled over the Internet (and they speculate that far more could be found that way if targeted online search techniques were used).Their recent survey generated more than 17,000 responses that identified these top 5 strategies in order of how the respondent actually found their last job:

- Searching listings on job boards and/or archiving their resume on those sites;
- A tip from a friend (or what most of us call networking in the real world - can occur online or off);
- Reading ads published in a print newspaper;
- A call from a headhunter; and
- Being referred by an employee of the company (also a form of networking).

Notice that 3.5 of these are actually are offline strategies and account for most of the jobs found.

Notice also that at least 3 of these can involve some sort of networking.

Recent research conducted on behalf of Risesmart by Kelton Research shows that the majority of job seekers are spending massive amounts of time in online job search--upwards of 50 hours per month, to be exact. However, all of those hours invested do not necessarily translate into job search success.

In discussing online job search, a recent Weddles newsletter article stated, "You can visit the first job boards that come to mind and that step will certainly give you a check mark in the box labeled "Use Job Boards." It will not, however, ensure you see the best employment opportunities for you. To achieve that outcome, you must do your homework and determine which job boards typically post the greatest number of the kinds of jobs you want at the salary level you can command. Invest your time and effort at those sites, and you are much more likely to reap a real and significant return in job opportunities for which you are qualified."

In other words, activity alone does not mean success; it's the quality of that activity that counts.

On the other side of the recruitment table, executive recruiters are increasingly using online networks (social and professional) to connect with candidates. LinkedIn in particular is actively pursuing affinity relationships with talent management professionals, and the list of sites seeking to develop these relationships is growing rapidly. A recent ExecuNet survey showed that 45.7% of recruiters use online networks to generate referrals to potential candidates and 39.1% to actually engage with those candidates.

My takeaway on this is that job boards and online networking are definitely tools you want in your job search toolkit, but be careful not to let online activities dominate your search strategy to the exclusion of other traditional and proven methods. As the Weddles site points out, "The Internet is a very seductive place. Its vast array of resources and very engaging format can be hard to turn off. But turn it off, you must. As capable as the virtual world is, it is not the one and only answer to employment. It cannot be your one stop shop for finding a job."

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Ways That Recruiters Leverage Online Networks to Source Candidates

A recent ExecuNet newsletter discussed the results of recent research that indicates executive recruiters are making more extensive use every day of both social and professional online networks such as LinkedIn to expand their networks and open new avenues for sourcing candidates. There are a number of groups on LinkedIn that cater to recruiters and human resource professionals, and the list is growing rapidly.

ExecuNet's research provides some interesting insights into how specifically recruiters are using these networks:

45.7% use their online network connections to generate referrals to potential candidates.
39.1% use them to engage potential candidates.
15.2% use them for purposes of business development.

The take home? Nearly half of recruiters are actively using online networks to source candidates. If you are an executive who strives to proactively manage your career, it's definitely time for you to make your presence known in the online community.

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Executives Finding Jobs Faster

ExecuNet recently released research indicating that the average time for an executive job search has been declining steadily since 2004. For executives at director level and above, candidates reported that it is taking approximately 9.5 months on average to obtain a new position, versus the high mark of 12.8 months in 2004.

On a related note, ExecuNet's 2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report found that for the third year in a row the South/Southeast and West Coast regions of the country have produced the most senior management jobs. The Mid-Atlantic region (especially Washington, DC), which had placed third as recently as 2006 now does not even appear in the top 5 regions. Following the South/Southeast and West Coast are the Southwest (including Texas), Midwest, and Northeast/New England.

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Social Networking Sites Are "In" with Those "In the Money"

A recent ExecuNet newsletter cites results from a Luxury Institute Wealth Survey revealing that "60 percent of wealthy Americans with an average income of $287,000/year and net worth of $2.1 million participate in online social networks, compared to just 27 percent a year ago." It was found that on average they had joined about 2.8 networks. Affluent individuals with $300,000 or more in annual income were even more avid participants, belonging to 3.4 social sites. If successful people are this enamored with online networking, it bears our attention.

There are 100 or more social networking sites, some purely for recreation and personal socializing, and others dedicated to professional or business interaction. (For a list of notable sites, visit Wikipedia.)

Computer World did an analysis recently comparing the features and advantages of the two most prominent sites, LinkedIn and Facebook. They formulated 6 business scenarios to solve, and assigned writers to compare results on Facebook and LinkedIn. As might be expected, each site excelled in different areas, and neither was the clear overall winner. Scenarios tested include Looking for a Job Without Your Boss Knowing, Finding Information about a Job You're Interviewing For (LinkedIn was the winner in both of these), Solicit Ideas and Discussion from Team Members (Facebook won this one hands-down), and Keeping Track of Former Associates (yielded a tie).

So which site is best, and should you join more than one? There are so many, but for professional and business purposes, LinkedIn seems to be winning the war for members right now. I encourage my executive clients to maintain a LinkedIn profile as part of their ongoing professional networking as well as for building a digital signature. A web presence is becoming increasingly important in job search, as candidates are commonly googled--often before a recruiter or hiring manager initiates the first contact.

In executive circles, it seems to be almost an assumption now that you maintain a profile on LinkedIn. Adding to its utility for career management and job search is its recent integration into the Simply Hired job search engine, as pointed out by Louise Fletcher in a recent Career Hub blog post. What could possibly be more convenient? You search for a job, and then click on a button to find out who in your LinkedIn network may have an "in" at that company. Although Facebook has recently moved from being strictly a social tool to a business tool as well, it seems to be the preferred platform for social interation with family and friends. Its wider range of services and third party applications concern employers as a likely distraction for their workers.

While online networking is an increasingly important part of an overall career management strategy, one thing to watch for is devoting too much time to joining every "hot" new site with a flashy interface, maintaining your profiles, building your contact lists, and interacting with your networks. As with most things in life, there is a danger of "too much of a good thing." The ExecuNet article highlighted a Global Secure Systems estimate that employers in the UK lose 3 weeks per year of work time on employees' social networking activities during business hours.

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Are You Over the Job Market Hill?

A concern frequently expressed by my executive clients and prospects is regarding the age factor. Many fear that they are going to be subject to age discrimination as early as age 40, and either be let go by a current employer in favor of a younger hire or passed over by potential employers who want fresh, young talent that they can mold in the company’s approach and methods. Just this afternoon, I spoke with a dynamic young executive who was concerned that his age at 45 was going to close the doors to many opportunities.

A recent Herman Trend Alert explores the age issue, with news that I think should provide some encouragement to job seekers who fear they may be “over the hill.”

Approximately one million people reach age 60 each month, and as the baby boomer generation ages, it is estimated that the number of workers in the U.S. between the ages of 55 and 64 will increase by more than 50% by 2010. With life expectancy now at 77 and many enjoying better health during their increased longevity, many more people are staying in the workforce long past the traditional retirement age of 65. This is driven in good part by boomers’ realization of the potentially high health care costs they face as they age and the fact that many have insufficient savings to fund a lengthy retirement.

Both government and industry do appear to be waking up to this reality, with AARP observing that an increasing number of major employers and government agencies are actively seeking to hire candidates 50 years plus. The wealth of experience and skills that older workers can bring to a workplace are seen as increasingly valuable, as well as their maturity of judgment, stability, and turnover rates lower than typical of younger workers.

It would seem that employers' increasing interest in and appreciation of these older workers combined with the smaller pool of talent in the “baby bust” generation cannot help but benefit those workers in their 40s and 50s by altering perceptions of exactly when one makes that trek “over the hill.” According to an AARP-commissioned report from last year cited by Workforce Management, "Replacing an experienced worker of any age can cost 50 percent or more of the individual's annual salary in turnover-related costs, with increased costs for jobs requiring specialized skills, advanced training or extensive experience--qualifications often possessed by 50-plus workers." That’s a powerful financial incentive to keep aging workers on the payroll.

Free Career Networking E-Book

CareerHub, a group careers blog I co-author, has released a series of free eBooks featuring advice from some of the country's top career experts.

The latest is on networking--which is a valuable skill whether you are currently in the job market or happily employed. As one of several co-authors of this eBook, I know that it contains valuable information from the first page to the last.

If you'd like to grab your copy of this or one or more of the other free titles, just click below and download the PDF--no sign-up required.

LINK: http://careerhub.typepad.com/main/2007/04/free_job_search.html

Happy reading!

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Is the Online Networking Craze All It's Cracked Up to Be?

All the buzz in career professional circles these days seems to be around the emergence of online or virtual networking through social and professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and Ryze. I've attended several seminars on the subject, and read new articles almost daily about the phenomenon.

Is online networking something that you as an executive need to be involved in as part of your career management strategy? All the statistics seem to show that career transition and advancement for the executive is most likely going to occur through networking or referral, so taking advantage of the ability to network in cyberspace seems like a "no brainer."

For more on this topic, see my recent post on the CareerHub blog: Virtual Networking: Does It Live Up to the Hype?

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Executive Job Search Length Shrinking

According to ExecuNet, now may be the best time in the last 15 years for executives to launch a search for a new position. Their 1992 survey results showed that on average 13 months were required to land a new job, and the situation seemed to be approximately the same as of 2004. For quite some time it has been the conventional wisdom that an executive could expect to wait at minimum one month for every $10,000 of annual compensation, which of course for the $120K executive meant a long year of searching and for the $300K+ executive painted a pretty discouraging picture.

Executives can take heart, because the trend appears to be on a downswing. According to ExecuNet research, “it now takes under 10 months to find comparable positions” for high earners at director level and above. With a tightening employment market where the candidate seems to have taken the driver’s seat and companies seem to be losing their fascination with young hotshots and waking up to the value of baby boomers, your prospects appear brighter than they have in some time. Now may be the time to start working that network and circulating your executive resume.

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Recruiters Finding Candidates in Unlikely Place

I received some interesting intelligence through the Career Masters Institute in an e-newsletter on Friday. Recruiters are finding good talent in a place that most executives would probably not even think about: Craigs List.

Many of you are likely familiar with Craigs List as an online community site where classified ads for furniture and housing, personal ads, and discussion forums are to be found. There are also jobs listings, but the surprise is that recruiters are using it as a primary resource for candidates. According to a presenter at a Northwest Recruiting Association meeting where the best tools and sourcing strategies were under discussion, the following was revealed at a recent ERE recruiting conference:

"Craigs List - not Monster - is now the best place and most often used place to find good talent."

ERE should be "in the know" about this. Initially conceived as an email discussion list for recruiting professionals over 9 years ago, ERE.net is a popular source of information and networking opportunities for recruiters and HR professionals on the Web.

A fellow CMI member who is seeking a recruiting position validates this, as she has found her listing on Craigs List to draw far more interest than on any other venue, including Monster and Career Builder. Coincidentally, while interviewing one of my clients today who is a general management/operations executive, he mentioned that his company has used Craigs List extensively in its recruiting efforts.

So if you are leveraging the Internet in your employment search, you may want to consider perusing the listings and/or posting your resume on your local Craigs List, as well as those for other geographic locations of particular interest to you.

Craigs List's forums that span 450 cities worldwide draw more than 7 billion page views and 20 million users per month, placing it at #7 ranking, behind only Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft, Google, eBay, and Newscorp. More than one million new job listings are posted per month. If any doubt remains, I encourage you to view this page with statistics comparing Craigs List with Monster and Career Builder:

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/about/job.boards.html

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Job Functions with Best Prospects for Executives in 2007

ExecuNet's projections for job functions that will be in most demand at the executive level for 2007 are out. According to their 15th annual Executive Job Market Intelligence Report, results from 121 employers indicate that demand will be high for executives with strong operations, business development, and finance experience and will most likely outstrip supply.

This is good news for executives with strengths in these areas and is a wake-up call to make sure your executive resume effectively highlights them. Functional expertise in sales, marketing, and general management is also expected to comprise a large share of management hires made in the coming year.

Here are the details regarding job functions that will drive the most growth in executive hiring this year, as cited by ExecuNet:

Operations: 16.4%
Business Development: 13.6%
Finance: 10.5%
Marketing: 9.8%
Sales: 9.4%
General Management: 9.1%
MIS/IT: 7.7%
Engineering Management: 6.3%
Research and Development: 5.9%
Consulting: 5.2%

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Executive Level Turnover Slowing a Bit

An article this month in eWeek indicates that this year shows a slowing of turnover at "C-Level" compared to 2006, based on statistics compiled by a New York-based management research firm called Liberum on February 6. Compared to 12 months ago, overall executive level turnover declined 16% in January of this year, and for CEO's the drop was 20%. Boards of directors experienced less churn as well, at a 14% decrease. However, The report maintains that overall change at the top levels is still high. This is believed to be due to domestic and international companies competing for a limited talent pool, Sarbanes-Oxley impacts, and shareholder activism. Overall, 2,240 C-level moves occurred in the first month of this year.

So, while turnover is down a bit, there certainly seems to be plenty of potential for top executives to make major career moves this year. This is corroborated by continued increases in overall payroll employment of 1.8 million in 2006 (Bureau of Labor Statistics) and the fact that employers are expected to become more competitive in both recruitment and retention this year according to statistics from a survey by Harris Interactive reported by Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.com.

I continue to advise my executive resume clients to keep their documents polished and ready to respond at a moment's notice. You never know when that phone call with once-in-a-lifetime opportunity may come in!

IT Executive Gender Gap Reversal

An article featured on eWeek.com for January 24 reports some interesting findings on salaries in the IT field, particularly with relation to Information Technology executives.

The long-standing gender gap favoring male workers in the IT field, similar to across-the-board differences in the work force, continues. However, it seems that the pendulum is swinging in the other direction among executive-level IT professionals, according to a results of survey conducted by DICE.com, a well-known IT and engineering careers website.

While women IT workers on average earned 9.7% less than men in 2006, female IT executives including CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, vice presidents, and directors earned on average 1.4% more than their male counterparts, at an average salary of $109,912. In particular demand (based on the higher salaries reported) seem to be those with expert knowledge in ERP (enterprise resource planning), Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and CRM (customer relationship management).

The highest salaries for IT professionals from entry level to executive (male or female) were reported in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, and Baltimore/Washington, D.C., with San Diego, Los Angeles, and Seattle also showing strength.

Employers Competing for Executive Talent and Compensation is Rising

Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) is an economic indicator that looks at job expectations, vacancies, compensation of new hires, and competition for recruits. Featured recently on the SHRM.org site and quoted by ExecuNet in its latest executive compensation survey, the latest figures seem to bode well for executives in career transition.

As the supply for talent tightens and demand increases, more and more organizations are using employment contracts, guaranteed bonuses and severance, and stock options to recruit candidates. Forty-five percent of packages offered in 2006 included a guaranteed first-year bonus, versus 27% in 2005. Thirty-nine percent included signing bonuses in 2006, versus 34% in the previous year. Stock options and equity were included in 50% of offers for 2006, in contrast to 42% in 2005.

Clearly companies are finding that they must raise the stakes in order to attract talent in an increasingly hot executive job market in which recruiter activity has increased for ExecuNet's network by more than 20% this past year. During 2006, most executives held expectations of a 15% or more increase in compensation should they change jobs.

Worker Exodus in Progress

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal.com recently published results of a poll indicating that in excess of 75% of employees are currently actively engaged in job search. HR professionals responding to the survey indicated that on average 12% of their work forces had voluntarily resigned during 2006. It appears that employees sense that the employment market is now healthy enough that they need not remain resigned to indefinite employment that is not to their liking.

Reasons cited by employees for wanting to move on included salary/compensation (30%), better opportunity elsewhere (27%), dissatisfaction with the career development potential at their current job (21%). Is it time to polish up your executive resume and test the waters?

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Are Executives Suffering from Job Search Reality Disconnect?

These fascinating statistics were passed on to me through a recent Career Masters Institute member newletter:

WEDDLE's continuously conducts both primary and secondary research on Best Practices in employment excellence and HR leadership. They recently asked the visitors to the WEDDLE's Web site to tell where they expect to find their next job. A total of 1,270 people participated in the survey. Here's how they think they'll be successful in future job search campaigns:

57.6% Responding to an ad posted on an Internet job board
16.8% Networking at business and social events
7.2% Responding to an ad posted on an employer's Web-site
7.6% Sending a resume to an employer by mail
3.9% Receiving a call from a headhunter
1.9% Receiving a call from a staffing firm
1.9% Attending a career fair
1.6% Responding to a newspaper ad
0.7% Joining a social networking site

You can learn more about this survey at the Weddles site.

Since it is accepted wisdom that most executive level jobs are found via some form of networking, this points to a major disconnect in the minds of employment seekers and the real world. Most statistics point to networking as the most lucrative source of job leads! While Web posting of your executive resume and job board/recruiter site searching are worthwhile activities, one would certainly want to use them only to supplement rigorous pursuit of networking (which, by the way, can also be done to great effect via the Web).

Why Do CEO's Get Fired?

Top executives will want to know the reasons why CEO's get fired, and employ best practices for CEO and board survival. A recent Career Masters Institute E-Bridge (internal association newsletter) cited an article that discusses this question and revealed a primary reason: because their relationship with their boss sours. When your relationship with the Board becomes unhealthy, you are in the danger zone. If this describes your situation, the good news is that there are specific steps you can take to help ensure the safety of your position.

I encourage my CEO clients to download Mark Murphy's article that was published recently in Directorship Magazine (magazine catering to Fortune 500 Boards and CEOs). Mr. Murphy is CEO of Leadership IQ and has conducted research and worked with hundreds of CEOs and Boards. In this article, he provides critical survival tips for maintaining a healthy CEO-Board relationship.

Download the article:

http://www.leadershipiq.com/LeadershipIQ-DirectorshipArticle.pdf

Tech Execs: Wondering Where the Next Technology Hub Will Be?

A recent article in eWeek discussed the lively debate going on in the corporate world and in major business, technology, and local government publications regarding where the nation's next major technology hub will emerge. Google and Microsoft have both bought massive properties in the Midwest, but there are a number of cities that show strong potential to be the place where you technology execs may next hang your hat.

Silicon Valley has a long way to go before it fades from prominence, but it has unfortunately become a victim of its own success, driving the cost of living to almost unimaginable levels in the region and the cost base for companies located there through the roof. With the employment market shifting more in favor of the candidate, employee retention and quality of life are becoming primary factors in locating technology enterprises.

So where will the next hub be? No one can say for sure, but eWeek analyzed the information out there to come up with a top ten list:

1. Seattle
2. Atlanta
3. Boston
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Dallas
6. Philadelphia
7. Chicago
8. Orlando
9. Los Angeles
10. Charlotte

Some areas in Florida, Central New Jersey, the Maryland suburbs, and even Las Vegas and Reno show potential. But the bottom line as the article points out is that "In the end, the skills are going to be where the people want to relocate because there's a good quality of life."

New Federal Regulations Affect Your Online Job Hunt

Federal regulations regarding diversity that went into effect this Spring will have an effect on your job search when using a job board or other online channel such as corporate websites. The regulations are designed to standardize tracking of diversity in the candidate pool. They currently apply to federal contractors but later this year will kick in to cover all employers with more than 50 employees.

The trick is in the new definition of "applicant." You must directly express interest in the job while showing that you have ALL of the requirements listed in the job description (using the exact words they use), must not remove yourself from consideration by specifying a particular location (other than the location of the job currently advertised), and must follow the company's instructions for submitting your resume or application to the letter - whether that be via their website, email, etc. (The day is looming when it may actually be necessary to create a new resume for each application.)

The new rules allow a company to search the job boards for recent qualified applicants, which in many cases means they will not look at your resume if it has not been updated in the past 2 or 3 weeks!

The net result of all of this is that employers will want to limit as much as possible the number of resumes gathered so they can maintain a relatively small, random pool of applicants to help ensure the diversity the regulations require. As often is the case, it is likely that all these regulations will do is make more work for everyone, without actually impacting diversity. But in any case, these new regulations are something executive candidates cannot afford to ignore.

Honeymoon Over with Outsourcing?

eWeek recently published a study proclaiming that the outsourcing boom is over, as companies grow more savvy about working with outsourcing providers and look beyond the cost savings to the quality and timeliness of service they are receiving. This applies to both offshore and onshore outsourcing, as there is a growing wave of disappointment in performance and a flood of premature contract terminations.

There also seems to be a definite shift in outsourcing in favor of offshore versus onshore, as offshore providers increasingly pair high level certifications such as CMMI with their lower cost structures. Favorite offshore destinations seem to be Canada, China, and Eastern Europe.

At the same time, outsourcing seems to be morphing from a contracting strategy for distinct IT tasks to a corporate-wide strategy. U.S.-based outsourcing companies would do well to take heed of these facts and adjust strategy to ensure a strong focus on "underpromising and overdelivering."

How Many Employers Acknowledge Resumes They Receive?

Workforce Week Newsletter recently published the results of a survey of employers regarding their practices in responding to resumes they receive. Regarding the question, "What is your company's practice for acknowledging resumes?" these were the responses:

35%: We acknowledge all the resumes that we receive

13%: We acknowledge resumes that we believe come from serious applicants

39%: We can't possibly acknowledge all the resumes we receive--we are inundated with resumes

14%: None of the above

Total respondents: 672

So now you know that all other things being equal, a candidate's chances are far less than 50/50 that they will receive any kind of response at all when they submit a resume to a potential employer. Of course, "all other things being equal" is the operative phrase here. What if you have researched and determined that this opening is a great match for your capabilities and/or that you have expertise and insights that the company badly needs? What if you have developed a powerful executive resume and cover letter that so strongly make your case that they virtually compel your recipient to contact you? Odds are high that you will be one of the lucky few who DO receive that acknowledgment as well as an interview.

Angel Investing Dollars on the Rise

If you have a great business idea or are looking for additional funds for an existing business, you will be glad to hear that the Puget Sound Business Examiner Daily reported on March 29 that the angel investor market grew moderately in 2005. Investments totaled $23.1 billion, an increase of 2.7 percent over 2004, according to a report released by the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

A total of 49,500 entrepreneurial ventures received angel funding in 2005, a 3.1 percent increase from 2004. The number of active investors in 2005 was 227,000 individuals.
Healthcare and medical devices garnered 20 percent of total angel investments in 2005, followed by software at 18 percent and biotech at 12 percent.

Angel investments created an average of four jobs per investment in the United States in 2005.

Wary of Age-ism in the Executive Job Market?

Manyof my executive clients express concern about their longevity in the workplace as is generally apparent at least to a degree in their executive resume. A recent article on Weddles.com discusses how to best work around the issue of age discrimination. It would seem that the trend is favorable for older workers, in that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics observes that the participation of older workers in the workforce is increasing (unemployment among those 55 and older decreased to 3.4% in 2005, from 4.1% in 1985). However, many still find themselves passed over when the final cut is made. This is because, as we all know, statistics can be deceiving. While the strict percentage unemployed went down, the number of candidates looking for work in that age category went up, way up: by nearly 40%!

It's not a lack of jobs that is the source of the problem. There's a virtual war for talent going on out there. So what gives? It would seem that age discrimination is alive and well, despite legislation outlawing it and the fact that many enlightened employers have come to realize the true value of seasoning and experience in employees, especially those at higher level, strategic positions. Yet research shows that age bias often begins as early as 45 years of age!

The article suggests 4 excellent strategies to position yourself as strongly as possible to combat age bias. To paraphrase their suggestions in brief:

1) Keep your skills at the forefront of your profession. Dedicate yourself to state-of-the-art knowledge acquisition as a way of life.

2) Market yourself based on the ROI you can offer the employer, results you can deliver, not "X" number of years of experience. Make sure your executive resume writer forcefully describes the contributions you have made and can make going forward.

3) Position yourself as invaluable by working above and beyond the call of duty... step outside the parameters of your job description.

4) Keep physically fit and look as youthful as you can. Exude vitality, stamina, and a "can-do" attitude.

When you think about it, these should be steps EVERY employment candidate should take, not only those fearing potential age discrimination!

New College Grad in Your Family? Good News...

According to an article in the May 1st Christian Science Monitor, "The lean job market college graduates faced in the first half of the decade is gone, and companies are upping the ante to obtain the best talent." Some of my executive clients in recent years have been rather appalled at the apparent ROI obtained on the many thousands of dollars they had invested in their sons' and daughters' educations. Many were graduating only to find it nearly impossible to find a job using their new degree, and some would end up flipping burgers.

Apparently that situation is now changing. It's now a buyer's market for graduates seeking jobs, with hiring growth in many sectors of the economy and employers expecting to hire 13.8% more new graduates overall this year than last. This is particularly true for graduates who have been savvy enough to gain some experience through internships, with engineering and financial services being especially "hot" categories this year.

Starting salaries are on the rise, too.

NACE reports these majors with the highest average starting salary and these fastest growing occupations:

Majors with highest average starting salary:
Chemical engineering: $55,900
Computer engineering: $54,877
Electrical engineering and communications engineering: $52,899
Mechanical engineering: $50,672
Computer science: $50,046

Fastest growing occupations:
Home health aides: $8.81 per hour
Network systems and data communications analysts: $60,000
Medical assistants: $24,610
Physician assistants: $69,410
Computer applications software engineers: $74,980

Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE)

Of course, none of this means that grads can afford to be lazy in their job search. Make sure your new grad leverages all of the online and traditional job search methods, with particular attention to networking. As Pat Garrott, Associate Director of Purdue University's career center says, "In order to actually get the job, you have to use your network."

A Downside to IT Certification?

eWeek.com published an astounding article today that flies in the face of conventional wisdom that the more certifications an IT professional can accumulate, the greater will be their career prospects and potential salary. The article leads off with this statement, "Long seen as a method to maximize employment opportunities and salaries in the post-dot-com-bust era, a study released today finds that pay for certified IT skills falls short of the pay for non-certified skills."

The statement is backed up by extensive statistics gathered for the Q1 2006 Hot Technical Skills and Certifications Pay Index, released April 25 by Foote Partners, a New Canaan, Conn., IT compensation and workforce management firm. Premium pay grew 300% faster for "non-certified" IT skills than for certified skills over a 6-month period. This suggests a shift in valuation by potential employers of the two types of skills reflected in competitive pay levels.

David Foote, President and Chief Research Officer for the firm stated, "This is the first time skills have trumped certifications since our firm began surveying tech skills pay in 2000." While emerging from the economic recession and precipitous crash of the IT job market, those engaged in job search found success to be all about IT certifications. Employers are now shifting their focus to qualities in potential hires that will help to move their businesses ahead, particularly skills in Applications Development/Programming Languages, Project Management, Training, Webmaster and Security.

One certification that is not specifically mentioned is the "PMP" or Project Management Professional certification, which I would guess is still advantageous in view of the fact that project management skills are highly valued at present. See the complete article for a detailed listing of certifications that have decreased or increased in value, and those that remain "hottest."

Recruiters Optimistic About Executive Employment Market

“After a two month lull that followed the hurricanes and soaring energy prices, confidence in the executive employment market is once again approaching all time highs,” says Mark Anderson, President of ExecuNet. Execunet has seen an increasing demand for executive talent over the past 6 months, so much so that it has made it necessary for 56% of all search firms to make plans for recruitment of additional staff over the next 3 months.

Assignments seem to be literally pouring in, creating a "bullish" market stance for executive recruiters. Expectations are for a near-record level surge in hiring at executive level as we begin 2006. What a great Christmas gift and jump-start to the New Year! It may be time to polish up that executive resume and test the waters.

Dwindling Perks and Benefits to Return?

The November 22 edition of the Herman Trend Alert indicates that a reversal of the recent trend toward elimination of benefits is underway.

With an increasingly competitive employment market developing that requires employers to vie for the best talent, some of those perks have already begun to return. Even unusual benefits such as concierge services and pet care programs have begun a resurgence.

With many executives ready to jump ship as reported by ExecuNet, the threat of rising attrition rates will drive employers to sweeten their compensation and benefits packages in order to retain key executives and avoid the exorbitant costs of replacement. This attrition threat is not to be taken lightly, as according to ExecuNet's recent survey of 147 employed executives, 67% are not satisfied with their jobs and of those 78% plan to change companies in the next 6 months.

Dave Opton, CEO and founder of ExecuNet phased it well: "“Companies have neglected retention for too long and now that the competition for talent is heating up, many are responding with too little, too late. When you consider the costs of recruiting, hiring, and training a new executive, it’s no surprise that the most successful companies never lose sight of the importance of rewarding their top talent with more than just compensation.”

Executive Salaries Moving Up

Just a quick news flash:

After an extended period of decreases and stagnation in executive compensation, salaries appear to be on the rise!

ExecuNet's Director of Recruiting Services Jeff Peduto recently reviewed September's job statistics, and observed that salaries have suddenly taken a major leap forward. He noted specifically that those jobs in the $100K-$150K range are up 53% from the same time last year, and those between $250K and $300K are up a whopping 54% from last year.

In addition, job posts overall are up 27%, with leading categories being Finance (+57%), Marketing (+39%), and Information Technology (66%). Other industries with major increases include Healthcare +55%, High Tech +49%, Financial Services +46% and Manufacturing +13%.

Regionally, New York fared best with a 46% increase, but the Southwest did well at 42%. The MidAtlantic posted a substantial 37% increase.

I don't know about you, but those stats made my day! If you've been hunkered down in a less-than-ideal employment situation for fear there was nothing else out there, maybe it's time for you to polish up that executive resume and test the market?

Executive Recruiter Optimism Grows

Recent surveys of executive recruiter outlook on the executive job market indicate near-record highs in confidence. ExecuNet's August survey reveals a generally bullish attitude regarding ongoing market growth, with 71% being confident or very confident of improvement in the next 6 months. Expectations are for a 17% increase in assignment volume from corporate clients over the next 6 months.

With continuing good news of profit growth and solid economic indicators, businesses have felt the confidence to expand payrolls, leading to plans by 48% of search firms to hire additional professional staff in the near term.

With regard to the industry-specific job picture, recruiters expect the greatest growth in Pharmaceutical/Biotech, Healthcare, Financial Services, High Tech, and Business Services. However, there appears to be solid growth in virtually all market segments, raising the specter of high executive turnover as a concern for employers.

Job Search for the CEO

Once you have reached the top of the heap, the dynamics of employment search do undergo some changes. While you will still want to circulate your resume among a select group of retained recruiters and monitor online resources for opportunities, the opportunities are fewer and parties on both sides of the table are necessarily more selective than for lower level executives. At this level, "Who You Know" becomes not simply an important factor, but a critical one.

An interesting fact about working with headhunters, especially at this level, is that oftentimes they already have a short list of potential candidates that their client has indicated interest in - they already know about these candidates but want the headhunter to handle the transaction. This makes the strategy outlined below even more important, because it will go a long way to making sure you are on the radar screens of both recruiters and the clients they serve.

You certainly cannot contact the CEO of a company that has captured your interest and inform him that you'd like to take his job away! The people you really want to talk to are the Board, but it can be difficult to get contact information for these individuals, who understandably do not want to be bothered with many inquiries. So what do you do?

Your approach must be made in a roundabout way. You will want to zero in on individuals who have influence with and work with or service that Board. This includes bankers, accounting firms, venture capitalists, attorneys, and others. Developing these insider contacts is critical to your strategy.

The time you invest in developing these contacts is well worth it and may pay dividends in unexpected ways. Both the board members themselves and those who work with and serve them have inside knowledge of and access to a variety of companies. They may very well put you in the running for an opportunity of which you were unaware and with a great company you had not even considered.

As always in networking, leverage the contacts you do have to establish communications, and avoid where at all possible "cold call" contacts. You want to be able to say "so and so suggested that I contact you" when you are writing that letter, sending that e-mail, or making that phone call.

Another good resource are venture capitalists, especially for candidates who thrive in start-up, entrepreneurial, or turnaround environments. You can develop contacts with them through the network you are building. A selective direct mail campaign to this audience can also yield results. You'll also want to find out where and when events that attract venture capitalists will be held in your area, and be there to meet and greet.

Are the Natives Growing Restless in the Executive Job Search Jungle?

This week's Herman Group Trend Alert warns employers that a candidate uprising is waiting to happen and that employers' rampant lack of sensitivity in the hiring process is going to come back to haunt them, and soon.

In the late 1990's when a shortage of qualified workers created a seller's market for employment seekers, executives and managers could pretty much pick and choose the right opportunity and incentives were high — often including signing bonuses, great perks and benefits. Since the atmosphere was very much one of courtship, hiring managers and human resource departments would go the extra mile to be courteous and communicative with candidates. Companies with bad reputations for treatment of applicants found them staying away in droves.

Then came the new millennium and a buyer's market, and employers quickly forgot the common courtesies. Many routinely failed to acknowledge receipt of resumes, thank candidates for interviewing with them, or even bother to let them know when a decision has been made to hire someone else.

With recruiters recently complaining about serious difficulties in finding qualified candidates, critical shortages in many skill areas, and employee turnover rising, the tables are clearly turning. In the executive office, concern is high about recruiting and keeping qualified talent. Boorish employers will soon find themselves watching their more courteous competitors snatching away the plum candidates, from entry level through the executive suite. It seems that a little brush-up on Emily Post would be prudent for recruitiers, hiring managers, and others competing for today's candidates.

Could the Tide Be Turning on IT Outsourcing to India?

In a recent ZDNet article, Michael Kannelos points out that India is now facing U.S.-style labor pains. He outlines a number of trends in the IT business in India that indicate the honeymoon may be winding down a bit with U.S. corporations who have been sending thousands of IT jobs - techie to Director-level - to the Indian subcontinent.

India has 250,000 students entering college programs in computer science and electrical engineering annually, and graduates flood the market each year. Infosys, for instance, receives a million applicants annually, of which only 1% or 10,000 are actually hired. However, those who do land positions soon find themselves in tremendous demand with unsolicited and very attractive offers flowing in. Salaries for IT professionals in India are growing at 18 to 20 percent annually.

The fact that workers at Indian companies are plentiful and cheap to employ in comparison to U.S. workers has ironically led to explosive growth and fierce competition for qualified employees, driving the double-digit salary inflation mentioned above. And the trend applies to managers and executives, too. Director-level managers earn between $30,000 and $51,000 per year, and Division Managers can command $76,000. While these salaries are half the going rate in the U.S., the trend is rapidly upward and the gap is closing.

As the gap between U.S. and Indian salaries grows ever smaller, issues of distance, culture differences, communications, time zone logistics, etc. may begin to outweigh historically strong financial incentives for corporations to send jobs to India.

Of course, it can be argued that other countries will simply step in to fill the gap. But this is a phenomenon that executives will want to monitor closely.

Revolving Doors in the Executive Suite

Every source of executive career intelligence that I currently monitor seems to be chanting the same thing: Executive tenure is on a downward slope and job security is a thing of the past, especially for CEOs. With increased demand for accountability coming from shareholders and scrutiny into business minutiae required by recent legislation, "the revolving door at the top of corporations is spinning fast" (Execunet).

Chiefexecutive.net as early as 2003 noted that "The zeitgeist surrounding corporate America is shifting, too. CEOs once feted on the cover of national magazines are fighting criminal charges of fraud. Public opinion has declared open season on corporate chieftains in general.... Meanwhile, inside corporate conference rooms, activist shareholders and independent boards of directors are showing less tolerance than ever for mediocre performance and no tolerance at all for poor results."

Dave Opton at Execunet observes that "Long gone are the days of gold watches and lifetime employment." He states that a recent survey of 233 executive recruiters showed that 18% of executives do not survive their first year in a new job! There are no "honeymoons" anymore, and executives, particularly CEOs, must hit the ground running.

An Execunet survey of nearly 1,500 executives revealed that they are changing companies every 3.6 years. However the outlook of many executives appears disjointed from this reality, as many expect to remain in their next position 5.4 years.

According to Chiefexecutive.net, time to move up the ranks and overall career length with a single corporation are also declining: "In 1980, the average Fortune 100 CEO spent 26 years with one company. Today, the median tenure of Fortune 100 CEOs is 19 years; for the rest of their Fortune 700 counterparts, it’s barely 16 years—just enough time to join a company after getting an MBA and make the inner circle by one’s early 40s."

Yet as bad as it may be for U.S. executives, as a group they seem to be better off than those in other countries. Business law professor J. Gilbert Reese in his blog points out that " A study by Charles E. Lucien, a consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton, on executive tenure showed some surpising results for United States companies. American executives of underperforming companies have longer tenures than executives of underperforming companies in other parts of the developed world." Apparently the greater minority shareholder voting power and litigation rights in the U.S. provides some protection for executives whose companies are underperforming.

Industry Outlook for 2005

BusinessWeek Online's Annual Industry Outlook

"Last year was a great time to be an oil company: Crude briefly shot past $55 a barrel, the highest ever. It was good to be a bank, too -- expansionary monetary policy kept banks' cost of money super-low. For retailers, strong consumer spending made 2004 a year to remember.

In 2005, a lot could change -- for better and for worse. Although overall economic growth will be about the same, the ranks of winners and losers are in for a shakeup."

Laurie's Comments:

Business Week's Industry Outlook for 2005 contains valuable market intelligence and projections that can help executives with informed decision making. Whether you are in Manufacturing, Information Technology, Life Sciences, Services, or Finance, you will likely find information about your specific niche.

Among the headlines:
Oil - no gusher but a steady flow.
More Good Vibes for Heavy Metal.
Aerospace: Preparing for a Descent.
Construction Still Building.
Telecom: The Merger is the Message.
Software: Expect the Giants to Stay Sluggish.
Tightwad IT Buyers Loosen Up.
More Bitter Pills for Big Pharma.
BioTech One Sector with Strong Vital Signs.
Retail: There Goes the Gravy Train.
Banking: Bracing for the Squeeze.

Be sure to view the photo essay.

Beware of Predators in the Online Job Search Jungle

Five Tips for a Safe Online Job-Search
A CEO Refresher article by Teena Rose

"Conducting a job search using the Internet has definitely transformed how jobseekers contact hiring companies... With the Internet's convenience, a breeding ground for scam artists continues to grow each year as well. Identity thefts have increased to an overwhelming 10 million cases per year, and many of them are the result of phishing - not surprisingly, the employment industry is under attack as well. "

Laurie's Comments

This article reminds us that it is indeed a jungle out there. Online resources such as executive-level job boards and recruiter sites are undeniably a valuable tool in today's executive employment search. While it remains true that networking is by far the most productive search method for executives in career transition, you are missing potential opportunities if you do not post your executive resume to job board and executive career transition sites such as CareerJournal, ChiefMonster, ExecuNet, ExecutiveRegistry, Netshare, RiteSite, SixFigureJobs, and TheLadders. It is also advantageous to submit your resume online to the major elite recruiting firm sites such as Korn Ferry, Christian & Timbers, Heidrick & Struggles, A. T. Kearney, Blue Steps, Spencer Stuart, Brilliant People, Top Echelon, etc.

However, with the prevalance of scam artists, identity thieves, and phishing schemes on the Internet, searching online does entail some dangers. For example, with "phishing," you may receive inquiries that look as if they have come from a legitimate recruiter but are actually invitations to become a victim of fraud. You may receive solicitations from "career marketing firms" who will represent themselves as recruiters who have an opportunity for you but need you to pay them for access to their "exclusive" contacts. Be very wary of these, as there are numerous scam companies ready and eager to take your money.

So what can you do? Firstly, do not take any e-mail inquiry at face value, and avoid clicking on links embedded in e-mails. And if you do click on a link in an e-mail, NEVER provide personal information such as social security number or credit card number, no matter how legitimate the web page looks. To visit a website to which you are invited via e-mail, do a quick search on Google for the firm name to identify the correct URL, and copy/paste or type it into the Address line of your browser. Only when you are sure you have reached a legitimate site should you submit any personal information.

When filling out forms on various sites, read and understand their privacy policies. Specify that you do NOT give permission for your information to be sold or given to others without your approval.

Job Growth News Good for April

Economic Policy Institute: Jobs Picture, May 6, 2005:

"Strong, broad-based job growth surpasses expectations... In contrast to the recent spate of disappointing reports on the economy, last month's job market performance was surprisingly upbeat. According to the report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment grew by 274,000, easily beating forecasters' expectations of gains of around 170,000. Furthermore, job gains for February and March were revised up by a combined amount of 93,000. "

Laurie's Comments:

Positive signs outlined in the above report include:

* Widespread job growth across all industries, excepting factories.

* Information Services had its best month since the tech bubble burst back in 2000, with 12,000 new jobs added.

* Construction sector growth continued to outpace other sectors.

* The labor force has grown at an annual rate of 1.1%, compared to 0.4% over the comparable period last year.

Unfortunately, long-term unemployment remains an ongoing problem, with the number of jobseekers looking for work for at least 6 months at above 20% since October of 2002. The article cites a possible reason for this is "that the long-term unemployed are older and more highly educated than in the past, and it takes longer for these more experienced job seekers to find acceptable employment opportunities."

With average monthly payroll growth of 181,000 over the past year that could hardly be called robust, growth has at least been strong enough to sustain economic expansion. Experts conclude that while the recovery has not proceeded at or near the pace desired, it does appear to be solid and continuing. This is good news for executives in career transition and indicates that it may be worthwhile to circulate your executive resume, actively keep up with your network, and monitor all resources for opportunities.

Annual Sources of Hire Survey

Where Corporations Find & Hire Their Employees

"CareerXroads’ (CXR) fourth annual "Sources of Hire" whitepaper attempts to open a window on how some of America’s most competitive corporations fill their positions."

Laurie's Comments:

Want to know where to invest your time and energy in your employment search? This annual survey reveals interesting statistics regarding where companies actually find candidates who are hired. Notice that we are not referring to the locations from which the bulk of the resumes received originate, but rather to how contact was initially made with those who ultimately landed a position with the company.

Important findings of the 2004 study include:

- 38% of all open positions were filled by Internal Transfers and Promotion.

- 61% of all External Hires originated from just two ‘Channels’- Employee Referrals & the Internet. (31.7% Employee Referrals; 29.6% Internet)

- Traditional forms of recruiting are under pressure from the Internet and expanding use of referral networks.

- 3 online job boards (Monster.com, CareerBuilder and HotJobs) accounted for 22.8% of all hires attributed to the Internet, 53.3% were from the company's website, and 16.9% were from niche sites.

These data confirm that networking remains a key component of successful employment search. This fact is corroborated specifically for the executive candidate by an ExecuNet survey of 952 executives conducted at approximately the same time as the above survey. ExecuNet's survey found that "networking is the largest single source of their interviews, with 31 percent of interviews in their job searches attributed to networking."

The data in CareerXRoads' study also confirm that the Internet's role as an employment resource is growing. Clearly, posting your executive resume online and monitoring job postings (particularly corporate websites) are valuable tools in your employment search arsenal.

Note, however, from the ExecuNet survey mentioned above, that "twenty percent of their interviews came from responding to Internet job postings, although only 9 percent of their jobs came from Internet postings." (This bears further analysis.) Note also that for the executive, niche boards and membership sites such as ExecuNet seem to account for a larger proportion of good leads than do the mega job boards.

I will be watching for 2005 study statistics as soon as they are available and will keep my readers informed on emerging trends. Meanwhile, work that network aggressively, post your executive resume judiciously, and mine those job boards and corporate sites!

Executive Employment Market Trends - 2005

ExecuNet's 2005 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report

"Our 13th annual intelligence report captures the latest trends and developments in the senior level job market, and in the practices of candidate search. It gives you the detailed intelligence executives need to make informed career decisions."

Laurie's Comments:

If you are an executive considering making a career move in the near future, you'll find some interesting intelligence in this report. (There is a good chance that you are. A recent ExecuNet survey revealed that of 505 currently employed executives surveyed, an astounding 77% plan to change jobs in the next 6 months!)

Among the numerous statistics and trends covered in the report are:

1) Healthcare and pharmaceutical/medical/biotech are expected to see growing demand for executives, even stronger than the healthy (no pun intended) demand maintained throughout the recession.

2) Financial services, business services, and high-tech are also expected to see growing demand.

3) Medium-sized companies ($51M to $200M in sales) are expected to see the greatest growth in hiring.

4) Business development and sales/marketing positions are expected to lead the way.

5) Frequent job and company changes have become the norm for today's executive: Executives surveyed indicated that they on average change jobs every 2.8 years, companies every 3.6 years, and industries every 5 years.

The information cited above represents the tip of the iceberg of information to be gleaned from this report. You can download an executive summary of the report at no cost via the link at the top of this post. A full copy of the report is available to those who join ExecuNet's CareerSmart network. I have consistently received good feedback from my executive resume writing clients who joined this network.

Where Are the Jobs? | Indeed.com

Job Trends at Indeed.com:
"Rankings February 2005 -- 50 most populous metro areas ranked by job postings per capita"

Laurie's Comments:

I was recently alerted to a relatively new site called Indeed.com, which is an online employment search engine (it was still in beta test when I first visited it). I was pleased to note that this job search engine actually does what it claims to do. If you enter a search term or keyword and specify that you want only listings that contain that term in the title, it actually returns only listings meeting those specifications.

What a concept! This is in contrast to virtually every other such engine I have run across, where one is forced to wade through many hundreds if not thousands of irrelevant listings in which you are hard-pressed to find the words you specified anywhere in the listing.

I input the title "CIO" and specified that the word MUST appear in the listing title. This yielded 113 listings, some of which were not relevant (such as "Executive Assistant to the CIO"), but overall brought back far more relevant results than I have seen from any other engine. Similarly, when I input "CEO" the engine produced 589 results nationwide, with a fair number of "Executive Assistant to the CEO" and the like, but at least every returned result did actually have the word CEO in the listing title. Listings retrieved came from a variety of sources, including major and niche job boards, corporate sites, and newspapers.

The above were very simple searches. You can specify multiple keywords or keyword phrases, city, state or zip, use quotes to specify phrases, and even use "Boolean" logic to fine-tune your search. The site also features abilities to set up e-mail job alerts and RSS feeds if desired.

But I digress from what originally prompted me to write this... The link cited at the top of this blog entry is actually to Indeed's Job Trends page, where they display a map providing statistics on job postings per capita for the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the United States. You will find this very revealing. For instance, New York City averages only 7.5 postings per capita, versus Washington D.C's 20, San Jose's 22.1, and Boston's 24!

Executives in career transition may want to take the data presented into consideration when determining how to geographically target their employment search campaigns. In any case, when sending your executive resume to that recruiter in Houston, New York, Boston, Atlanta, or any major city, you'll have something upon which to base your expectations.

Meanwhile, I am encouraging my executive resume writing clients to give the Indeed.com search engine a try. I like it, and I think you will, too.

Downsizing the CEO

Business Week: The Boss On The Sidelines

"If anybody needed proof that the new balance of power in Corporate America has shifted, Maurice R. 'Hank' Greenberg provided it on Sunday, Mar. 13. While the imperious chairman and CEO of American International Group Inc. (AIG ) was holed up aboard his yacht on the Florida coast, his company's independent directors were packed into a conference room in their lawyer's Manhattan office.

The board members faced an urgent crisis: a growing accounting scandal that seemed to lead straight to the CEO. As directors debated whether to cut Greenberg loose, the 79-year-old titan lashed out at them by telephone. 'This board is being run by a bunch of lawyers who can't spell the word 'insurance,'' he shouted. 'If you get rid of me, you will destroy this company!'

It was the kind of intimidation that had helped Greenberg consolidate unprecedented power in his four decades at the helm of the insurer. But this time, the bullying didn't work. Within a day, Greenberg, once the most powerful man in the industry, was out as CEO. Two weeks later, as the scandal widened, he was forced to resign the chairmanship, too."

Laurie's Comment

I highly recommend a thoughtful read of the full article cited above for top executives (CEOs, CFOs, etc.). We have entered a new era where boards of directors, auditors, and lawyers have taken the reins in corporate America and show no signs of letting go. Facing legal and criminal liability for their failures, they are experiencing real and well-warranted fear of severe consequences and are no longer willing to remain on the sidelines.

Whether the new legalistic, formal relationships with CEOs that have replaced traditionally informal and cooperative ones are good or bad on balance remains to be seen. But this new business environment seems to be here to stay, so senior executives had better prepare themselves to deal with it for the long haul.

Employers Finally Realizing Foolishness of Putting Executives Out to Pasture?

The Herman Trend Alert
More Employers Will Seek Older Workers
April 6, 2005

"As the labor market continues to tighten, employers will intensify their competitive search for qualified workers. They will seek competent, experienced, dependable people with a strong work ethic and proven ability to take care of business. Employers will be eager to hire skilled workers who understand the true meaning of customer service, who can communicate well with others, and who can draw on their experience to solve problems and make progress. Workers who can take initiative, follow through, and coach others will be in high demand.

Older workers meet these qualifications--and more. Employers prefer seniors' ability to initiate sales and demonstrate dependability, their varied work experience, a higher capacity to work with mature clientele, and an old-fashioned work ethic. They describe appreciation for punctuality, positive attitudes, commitment to quality, lower absenteeism, and less likelihood to change jobs."

Laurie's Comments:

I cannot tell you how many prospective clients for my executive resume writing services express pessimism, dismay, discouragement, and even fear of encountering age discrimination in their search for executive employment. The spectre of age discrimination seems to be haunting ever younger and younger candidates, to the point that it has become a concern as early as age 38-40.

The absurdity and foolishness of this trend has been demonstrated in so many ways throughout corporate America. The potential consequences of large-scale rejection of older, more experienced, and frankly wiser talent in favor of cheaper but almost inevitably less experienced and more naive up-and-comers are dire. Older executives, by and large, possess a blend of dependability, maturity, old-fashioned work ethic, and ability to draw on extensive experience to solve problems that is generally lacking in younger workers.

The good news is that employers and recruiters alike report difficulty in finding workers with the right set of skills and that growth in employment of workers 55 and older has outpaced all other sectors since 2001. This is in line with an overall trend in which employers are Feeling the Pinch of a tight labor market, where finding qualified people is steadily becoming more challenging.

What does all of this mean for the older executive in career transition? It means that you can enter the market more confidently than before. It also means that you must vividly demonstrate in your executive resume and in interviews the depth of experience, initiative, wisdom, leadership, and mentoring skills you offer that cannot be found in your younger counterparts.

Inaccuracies on Your Executive Resume May Come Back to Haunt You!

The New York Times > Sports > Baseball
"Medical Adviser Says He Regrets Resume Errors
By DUFF WILSON

Published: March 31, 2005

Elliot J. Pellman, the medical adviser to the commissioners of professional baseball and football and the Jets' team doctor, said in a statement yesterday that he regretted what he called discrepancies in his educational and professional credentials and would correct them."

Laurie's Comments:

This is yet another in a series of recent incidents that have proven extremely embarrassing if not catastrophic to the careers of high-profile professionals and executives. Multiple survey results have shown that 50% or more of resumes examined contained inaccuracies, while anecdotal testimony of hiring managers indicates figures as high as 80%.

Inaccuracies can range from creative embellishment or exaggeration to blatant lies. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found in a survey late last summer that 3 out of 5 HR professionals identify discrepancies in resumes after conducting background checks, in a study reprinted on AICPA's CPA Career Center.

Consequences of discovery of inaccuracies on a resume include summary dismissal and loss of all earned benefits such as retirement, pensions, or stock options. This can and has on a variety of occasions included employees of 20 years or more, even those in academia or government who otherwise enjoyed exceptional job security under the umbrella of tenure.

Presentation of credentials on the executive resume, executive bio, and official employment applications is a situation in which an executive's integrity is routinely put to the test. Amid the plethora of corporate scandals in recent years that have put integrity at the forefront of public scrutiny, it is now more than ever inadvisable to be found wanting in this area.

My position on this is as it has always been: It is dishonest to exaggerate or lie on a resume, and clients who knowingly attempt to materially misrepresent their qualifications or accomplishments will find themselves looking for another executive resume writer. Not only is honesty the best policy and healthy for your career, it is also the only ethical course of action.

Urban Legends of Resume Writing

The Ladders.com

"URBAN LEGENDS OF RESUME WRITING
by Mark Bartz

Pop quiz, folks! Are these true or false?
Open your cover letters with an explanation of what
you bring to the table -- not what you want from
the employer.
Put all your contact information on your resume,
including street address and zip code.
It should be exactly one page long.
Off-the-shelf resume writing software will help you
get a great resume.
The Cubs will be the 2005 World Series Champions.
So what do you think? In a way, it's a trick question
-- it's not that they're100% false (forgive me, Cubs
fans!), but none are absolutely - or even mostly-
true. These notions have lingered on for years, like
the Loch Ness Monsteror Bigfoot, despite all evidence
to the contrary."

Laurie's Comments:

In order to read this entire article, you'll need to subscribe to The Ladders premium service (not a bad idea - I've received substantial positive feedback on the site as a resource for $100K+ jobs).

Mr. Bartz interviewed various recruiters and HR professionals regarding some persistent myths about resume writing. First among them was opening your cover letter with an explanation of what you bring to the table. This is fine for "cold calls," but when you are applying for a specific position opening, SAY SO, and do it right up front.

Secondly, in today's job search world where resumes are often posted where virtually anyone could access them or dispersed to people you do not know, including your street address may not be such a good idea. Including your street number and name could potentially expose you to security or identity theft. The author also points out that by not including your address, you can avoid the "Dear John" letter regarding a position for which you interviewed, by basically forcing them to notify you by telephone. (I'm not quite sure this is entirely true, since I suspect in many cases you would just hear nothing at all. Business etiquette seems to have gone out the window long ago with regard to this.)

The third myth Bartz cites is that a resume should be exactly one page long. For an executive resume to cover 15-20 years of complex and highly accomplished experience in a single page is rather ludicrous when you think about it.

Myth number 4 is that off-the-shelf resume-writing software will help you create a great resume. He says, "Call us anytime and we'll talk to you in detail about how awful this software is, and why candidates who use it typically don't get good responses." The generic, cookie-cutter resume produced by such programs will utterly fail to "brand" you or convey your unique value. Whether you write your resume yourself or use the services of a professional executive resume writer, I urge you to avoid jeopardizing your employment search success through use of one of these programs!

Do You REALLY Want Recruiters Reading the "Markup" Comments on Your Resume?

Bite of Advice: Un-"markup" your resume before sending it off!

"If you use “Markup” in Word to track changes and edits to your resume or cover letter, but sure to remove all the comments before emailing a softcopy of your resume to potential employers."

Laurie's Comments:
From the blog of a Microsoft technical recruiter, this is a real cautionary tale! Executive resumes naturally tend to go through a series of edits and fine-tuning to get everything just right. Unless you want to risk your recipient seeing all of your changes and comments, you'll want to be sure that all comments, change-tracking, etc. are removed from your document before you send your file to a recruiter or target company!

Recruiters Having a Hard Time Finding Qualified Executives

"The Herman Trend Alert - Feeling the Pinch
March 9, 2005

Employers are beginning to feel the tight labor market. Our ongoing research with a wide range of employers throughout the United States and in a number of other countries confirms that finding, recruiting, and hiring qualified people is becoming more challenging. Stories we hear move us to say, 'MUCH more challenging.'

The number of job openings is increasing---at all levels. Recruiters are more aggressive now, seeking qualified people to work as executives, managers, technicians, production workers, salespeople, drivers, mechanics, and many other jobs. One FORTUNE 500 company has 7,000 openings; another needs 8,000 over the next six months. Retained search firms have difficulty finding qualified senior executives [emphasis added]."

Laurie's Comment:

This is really good news! Signs have been indicating an up-tick in the executive employment market for a while now, and it seems that the market is beginning to really break loose.

Frustrated executives and managers unhappy with the way they've been treated in recent years are actively circulating their resumes. Those who have been afraid to "rock the boat" are now testing the waters. With position openings steadily increasing, we seem to be shifting back toward an employee's market versus the employer market we've seen since 9/11.

It may be time to consider dusting off that old document and putting together a polished and impactful executive resume that will make recruiters and employers sit up and take notice!

Reducing Your Work Hours Isn't Always a Career Killer

"Study: Reducing hours isn't always a career killer
By Kathy Gurchiek
Society for Human Resource Management Online

Choosing to cut your workload to three or four days a week is not a career killer for top-level employees, according to Crafting Lives that Work: A Six-Year Retrospective on Reduced-Load Work in the Careers and Lives of Professionals and Managers, a study that was released Feb. 16.

'Many leading employers have been formally and informally offering alternative work arrangements such as reduced-load work for many years,' according to the executive summary of the report by McGill State University, Canada's leading research-intensive university, and Michigan State University (MSU)."

Laurie's Comments:

If you are an executive with major health challenges that limit your ability to work, elderly parents who require substantial attention, young children who require parenting, or simply are at a stage in your life where quality of life and personal pursuits weigh heavily in the equation of work/life balance, this is great news.

This study shows that, even in the demanding executive arena, part-time work can be a feasible option for many that allows time for a fulfilling personal and family life. As your executive resume should focus on communicating accomplishments and results of your efforts, that those were achieved in a limited timeframe should certainly be no detriment to your marketability!

Weddle's Top-Rated Employment Websites for 2005

Weddles User's Choice Awards
"Recruiters & Job Seekers Pick the Top Sites on the Web

Who has the best insight on which employment sites are most helpful? We think the answer to that question is obvious - it's you, the recruiters and job seekers who have used the sites. And, that's what the annual WEDDLE's User's Choice Awards are all about. They recognize the elite of the online employment according to the most discerning judges around - that would be you!

WEDDLE's User's Choice Awards recognize the Web-sites that provide the best level of service and value to their visitors, and help others make the best use of the best employment resources online."

Laurie's Comments:

It can be difficult to discern in which among the plethora of job boards and employment sites out there your time is best invested. Given the fact that as an executive employment candidate you do not have unlimited time to conduct your online search, it is good to know where your efforts in posting your executive resume or browsing listings are likely to yield the best ROI.

This annual survey conducted by Weddle's ranks more than 150 job boards and career portals based on the input of more than 15,000 users, and produces a list of the top 30. I find it interesting that ExecuNet, a site used and recommended by many of my executive clients, once again ranks as one of the elite in the online employment industry - as it has since the inception of the awards.

For a list of online employment resources that is geared specifically to the executive candidate, see Creative Keystrokes' Web Resources page at: Creative Keystrokes Executive Resume Service.

The Herman Trend Alert Niche Job Boards Filling a Need

Niche Job Boards Filling a Need

The Herman Trend Alert
March 2, 2005

"With the increasing use of the Internet for purposes of job-seeking---and by employers searching for just the right candidates, there is a growing trend toward the use of niche job boards. The relative popularity of these services, particularly compared to the more general job boards, is fueling expansion of Internet use in the re-energized employment market."

Laurie's Comments:

What a revealing set of statistics! Niche job boards are preferred by 78% of corporate employment specialists, while only 17% prefer mega-sites like Monster and Career Builder!

As an executive resume writer, I have for quite some time advised my clients to make sure their executive resumes are posted to appropriate senior-level boards such as www.theladders.com, www.6figurejobs.com, www.brilliantpeople.com, www.christian&timbers.com, and www.atkearney.com, as well as consider membership and posting at executive networking sites such as www.netshare.com and www.execunet.com.

With this trend driving increased use of the Internet for both recruiters and candidates in the current employment market, it behooves executive-level candidates to take notice.

CareerJournal Defining the Duties Of the American CEO

Defining the Duties Of the American CEO
"By Peter F. Drucker
From The Wall Street Journal Online

CEOs have ultimate responsibility for the work of everybody else in their institution. But they also have work of their own -- and the study of management has so far paid little attention to it. It is the same work, whether the organization is a business enterprise, a nonprofit, a church, a school or university, a government agency; and whether it is large or small, world-wide or purely local. And it is work only CEOs can do, but also work which CEOs must do."

Laurie's Comments:

This is an insightful article that gets down to the nitty gritty of what it really means to be a CEO. A CEO's role is so much more than achieving P&L, shareholder, or Wall Street objectives. The author emphasizes that his or her first task is to define the organization's relationship to the "outside" - the society, economy, markets, customers, etc. The CEO must look at larger questions of what the business is, what it should be, what should be the priorities, with the most critical job being, ironically, to say "No." The executive's success in accomplishing these tasks determines his or her marketplace value and must be strongly portrayed in all self-marketing materials, including the executive resume.

Are You Ready to Be Googled?

BostonWorks - Jobs, Events, and Information from The Boston Globe:

"Ask not for whom the Web searches because someday soon it may be you.
By Alan R. Earls, Globe Correspondent, 1/9/05

If you're looking for a job, be aware that prospective employers are taking a close look at you, too, in more ways than one.

A recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive shows that 23 percent of people search the Web for the name of a business associate or colleague prior to meeting them. And plenty of hiring managers Google prospective candidates as well."

Laurie's Comments:

Yet another sign of the times... Googling is here and it behooves career-advancement-minded executives to take heed! This is another front in the rapidly evolving executive employment marketplace that top executive resume writers are monitoring closely.

With research showing that YOU as a job candidate are likely to be the subject of online research by your potential employer, you'll want to maximize your visibility on the Web. This can be accomplished through basic public relations tactics such as press releases (yes, you as an individual can do this through PR Newswire or PR Web), working actively to have yourself interviewed and quoted, maintaining a business-related "blog," and maintaining a personal website and/or online career portfolio resume.

If creating and maintaining a website or webpage is too technical for you, you might try a commercial service such as those offered by www.ziggs.com, www.eliyon.com, www.linkedIin.com, www.zerodegrees.com, and www.ryze.com. You can also have a resume webfolio created and posted online for you by your executive resume writer (Creative Keystrokes offers a web resume development and posting service).