The weekly Member Bulletin from Allan Hoving at ExecuNet arrives in my email box every Friday morning, and of the first things I do is check the “Learnings from Landings” – my favorite part of the bulletin! It’s a nice up note to hear about someone who has landed, but even more importantly, learning what they learned is always helpful and interesting.
This week, a newly landed executive shared this: “If I had it to do over again, I would focus my message and network earlier.”
In a nutshell, that’s the best strategy for any job search:
- Focus your message. What do you need to convey to let network contacts know how they can help you and let employers know how you can help them?
- Network. Talk to people. Deliver your message. Ask for help, appropriately. Follow every lead, focusing on identifying business problems, then show how you can solve those problems. Help others and let them help you.
It might sound simple, but it’s certainly not easy. Kudos to all who land, and thanks for sharing what you’ve learned.