If you’re an executive planning your next career move, it might intrigue you to learn that you’ll be judged by more than just your resume during your job search. In other words, a full resume is not necessarily the best fit for each interviewer or contact.Surprised? You’ll find that recruiters, company owners, Boards of Directors, and other hiring decision-makers often look at your experience through a series of interviews...

Applying to jobs at your level – but being told that you don’t qualify, based on your resume? This is a common problem that I’ve seen among leaders at all rungs of the career ladder, with stories of IT Directors being mistaken for programmers, Sales Vice Presidents who appear to be individual reps, and so on. If you’ve experienced this issue in your job search, you’re not alone by a long shot. Many self-written le...

If you’re an executive planning your next career move, it might surprise you to learn that you’ll be judged by more than just your resume during your job search. In other words, a full resume is not necessarily the best fit for each interviewer or contact.Surprised? You’ll find that recruiters, company owners, Boards of Directors, and other hiring decision-makers often look at your experience through a series of interviews...

Trying to get your job search off to a strong start – only to be hampered by the resume-writing process?Do you struggle to articulate the high points of your career and brand - or to sum up the reasons you should be considered over others?If so, you have plenty of company, especially if your career is at the executive or senior professional level. Many leaders have discovered that it’s easier to actually drive change, impro...

Are you a rising star in the IT world eager for a shot at the CIO role? Ascending from IT Director or VP takes more than just showing how you’ve leveraged the technology itself: you’ll need to first put yourself in the C-suite on paper.As described by my recent article in ComputerWorld, most would-be technology executives stumble when it comes to resume writing at the CIO level. Transitioning your value proposition to refle...

Some time ago, I ran across a LinkedIn picture of a job seeker who was holding a very specific political sign over her head.In bright letters.In shorts (and no, they did NOT become her).Curious about this phenomenon, I surveyed my fine resume-writing, coaching, and careers industry colleagues at Career Directors International on the subject of inappropriate LinkedIn photographs. As a result, I came away with a very interest...

Planning to apply to that hot job you just found online? Take it a step further with some competitive research that can put you first in line (but at another company).Here’s the idea: when companies post a position, they might be hiring from within their network – looking at suppliers, competitors, vendors, and any other organizations within their sphere of influence for that perfect candidate.If they follow through on hiri...

Here’s a common refrain that I’ve heard from budding C-level executives: “I wrote my own resume a few years back, but I can see that it’s just not working now. I can't get anyone to respond at the right level!" An overwhelming majority of aspiring and current executive job hunters (and I mean literally 80%+ of the people that I talk with) cannot position themselves properly in a resume, and here’s why:Buzzwords and project...

Are you trying to engage high-level decision-makers in your job search? Planning to contact recruiters or network during business meetings?You might find that these audiences quickly become overwhelmed with reading your full executive resume—or that a multi-page document is simply too much to handle in a busy networking situation.The solution? A Networking Resume—a powerful sound bite that encapsulates your career in a sing...

There’s no doubt about it: LinkedIn is one of the greatest job search tools available today. Not only can you “advertise” your availability and display career endorsements, but being viewable on LinkedIn is a boon to executive recruiters that may need your skills.However, building an effective online profile is something few people address in detail. You may spend hours preparing your resume, only to be confused about which...