10 New Executive Job Search Realities

By Deb Dib

Does your executive job search have you dazed, confused, out of your C-suite or corner office comfort zone, and just plain mad? Are you still working, thinking about testing the waters, yet afraid to make a move from a relatively secure position to take a new job? A job that might just disappear in the outwash of the economic meltdown?

It may be cold comfort, but you're not alone. Here's why:

1. The rules have changed in executive job search, but no one has written the new manual!
2. There has never been more top talent on the market, competing for fewer and fewer top jobs.
3. Executives who aren't differentiated with platinum brands and value propositions won't often make the short list, and will take far longer to land. Yet most executives do not manage their brands, or even know they have a brand.
4. C-suite executives are too busy keeping their companies afloat to manage their brands internally for best effectiveness, and externally to build opportunity-attracting visibility and credibility in the market place.
5. Social media is a must-do that most executives bypass, through ignorance of its importance, or through simple lack of time.
6. "First-strike" career communications (i.e. resumes and cover letters) have jumped off the page and onto LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and more. By the time an executive's resume is seen, she's been searched on Google and LinkedIn, and likely on Facebook and Twitter.
7. Resumes are changing in response to social media, becoming leaner and more concise. Most executives have no idea this is happening, or how to write these new documents and associated executive portfolio components.
8. Recruiting is a contact sport - on-line, and off-line - and most executives have no playbook to master the game when recruiters aren't calling them (or even when they are).
9. Job boards don't work well, especially at executive levels, but most executives think they do. They also think executive recruiters will get them a job, even though most statistics say far fewer than 20% of senior-level jobs are landed through recruiters and job boards, combined.
10. Executives are terrific at their jobs but lost when they need one; then they are rudderless, crave direction, and don't know where or how to find the best guide. They are also loath to admit this, especially if they are unemployed. In fact some executives won't even tell people they've lost their jobs, effectively and foolishly cutting themselves off from networking opportunities.

Yes, it's a tough, tough market, but the good news is you can do this! You're a top executive. You're used to changes in the marketplace, new competition, new products, and waning interest in dying technologies. You solve problems every day. You learn new skills, assess, and manage risk, and reap the rewards.

Today's new paradigm in job search is no different. It's just in unfamiliar territory: you need a good guide and new directions. This five-part series will show you how. Stay tuned for: The 4-Power-Play C-Suite Career Plan -- Be the CEO of Company You | Brand to Land | Niche Right & Write Tight | Get Social.