LinkedIn Best Tactic for Undercover Executive Job Search - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Best Tactic for Undercover Executive Job Search Are you job hunting now or planning a search in the near future, but afraid your employer will find out, so you’re hunting on the sly? Most of my clients are employed c-suite executives who either see signs of a possible layoff, or have become dissatisfied with their jobs and want to test the waters to see if there’s something better elsewhere. I counsel them to create a fully-fleshed out, keyword-rich (and hopefully branded) profile, or revisit their existing profile â€" I know many of you slapped up a perfunctory profile months or years ago and then forgot about it â€" and get it up to snuff for their current search target. Download my free e-book if you need help, Executive Branding and Your Profile. Some are resistant to having a profile, or any online presence, and putting themselves out there. They fear, and rightly so, that if their profile indicates that they’re in the market, they’ll sabotage their career. They think it’s safer to limit their search campaigns to responding to job board postings. Theyre unaware that, although this active search method requires a significant investment of time, it yields dismal results. At most, maybe 5-7% of executive job seekers land jobs through the boards. You  can easily optimize  your profile to make it more search-friendly, without shouting out Im looking for a job. Make sure it’s updated with your latest achievements and contributions, and clearly communicates your value proposition. Be careful about your Answers and Groups activities â€" your co-workers probably belong to some of the same groups and will know if youre discussing your job search there. NOTE: Please see Bill Cohns comment below for advice on adjusting your privacy settings to keep your network from receiving notification when you update your profile. is an accepted (and vital) part of ongoing healthy career management. Chances are your companys other executives and c-suite all have presence, and your company itself probably has a profile, too. Take a look at your co-workers profiles. Anything there hinting that theyre job searching? Did you know that something like 85-90% of recruiters rely on to source talent? If youre not there, you may be invisible to them â€" the very people you NEED to find you. By merely positioning yourself with your profile, youre leveraging a key strategy for passive job search. See my post, Does Your Online Identity Scream Hire Me?, to find out what one recruiter says you need to do with and your profile to tip the scales in your favor. Youve already worked on, or are updating, your executive resume in anticipation of your search, right? If youre doing it correctly, youre building all the information in it around what your target hiring decision makers are looking for in candidates. You do know who your target audience is, dont you? If not, back up and work on identifying companies that will fit your career needs, how you will meet their needs, and the hiring authorities within each one that you hope to attract. Need some help here, see my post 4 Executive Job Search First Steps, Before You Write Your Resume. Your updated (hopefully branded) resume, with strong positioning summary sitting above the fold, along with bites from your career biography, become the foundation for your branded profile. Read what Jon Burke, a computer software major accounts executive, had to say about and his job search, in Elizabeth Garones Wall Street Journal article, Job Hunting Under the Bosss Nose: In this market, having a profile on doesnt necessarily mean youre looking, says Mr. Burke. Unlike wearing an interview suit to work, using such websites isnt a clear sign of job hunting, since many people use these portals as part of their job. For Mr. Burke, who uses the site daily as a sales tool, it was the easiest way to search for a job without being too obvious. After Mr. Burke made the changes to his profile, he says he was contacted on a regular basis by recruiters. Hed respond via to ask what they had to offer. Mr. Burke was able to quiz the recruiters almost exclusively through email. I was very picky, he says. I … couldnt afford to waste my time. Theres just no getting around the fact that, in todays executive career and search landscape, you HAVE to have a 100% complete (according to ’s standards), keyword-rich profile and pump up your network with new connections through . Don’t be afraid to broadcast your brand and value proposition in your profile. Just keep the job search part under wraps. Related posts: 10 Steps to an Authentic, Magnetic Personal Brand How to Write An Irresistible C-level Executive Brand Resume in 10 Steps How to Write a C-level Executive Career Brand Biography Stalled Executive Job Search? Get Busy on and Twitter The 20 Most Common Mistakes 00 0