Whether you're a sales professional
with 25 plus years in the business world or an executive
without any sales background, you do need to do a certain
amount of "selling" when you want to get noticed by
prospective employers in your executive level job
search. As a professional, there are some simple steps
you can take to get results; however, this doesn't necessarily
mean they are easy--just simple. You'll have to put
forth some time and effort to get a positive
outcome.
If you put the following suggestions
into practice and do some follow-through--you'll eventually
locate the hiring managers that are looking for your
"specific" skill set and make the breakthrough you've been
waiting for.
Here's how you can put sales skills to
work to help you sell yourself into your next executive job
opportunity.
Step # 1: Identify the prospective
employers you're interested in working for:
You're a
professional so the first thing you need to do to sell
yourself is to make a plan of action by defining those
companies you'd like to present yourself
to.
Who will you approach? What types of
companies are you interested in working for? What types of
industries or products excite you the most? What would the
culture look like at those companies? Is it a culture that
fits your personality? Answering questions that define what
you want is where you start.
Once you've identified the
companies you'd like to learn more about, make a list of the
ones that meet your criteria. Maybe they only specialize in a
particular industry or product. Maybe they're only located in
your chosen city. Whatever your reasons for wanting to work
for them, write them down. This is the first step to
getting noticed, especially in an industry-specific area. Once
you have the names of your companies on paper, the next step
is simple--but time consuming.
Step # 2: Discover the plans and goals
of your chosen companies:
The next step requires you to uncover
information about the companies you've selected. You need to
research them and identify their missions, plans, goals,
wants, needs, culture, and find the soft spots. What are they
committed to doing and what can you do to help them achieve
their goals? Check out the company profile pages on their
websites, news pages, and press releases. These are good
places to find this data.
When you discover this information for
each company on the list--make note of it.
Step #
3: Match your skills up with their business goals and
needs:
Now that you've discovered where your target
companies want to go, you need to match up your skills and
competencies with their company goals, needs, and
strategies. Define which skills you can use to bring
them to where they ultimately want to be. Write down examples
of what experiences you have that already accomplished similar
results. You'll need to communicate these experiences to the
companies you've selected--you'll use them to make a business
case of why they need to hire you.
Step # 4: Call and convince your
target companies--sell them!
Now, here is where the important
follow-through comes in. You've compiled a lot of information,
but if you don't use it, what good is all of that hard work?
Call on those companies that you find yourself most aligned
with--these are the ones that will be more receptive to you
because you have the skills they need to reach the results
they are looking for.
Your job as a potential employee is to
convince your target companies that you can add value while
helping them reach their goals. Be careful not to run on
about you and your skills; you need to focus on them and their
problems. Unfortunately, they don't care about you and your
needs--all they want to know is what you can do to help them
solve their problems.
Getting noticed comes with having
something to say that is truly relevant to your listeners--in
this case, potential employers. Find out what is
important to them and make a case as to why you are the
executive they are looking to hire. The above steps take
time and can be hard work, but the rewards are pretty
strong.
It's easy to scour the job boards and fire off
a resume to a job you think may suffice. But if you
don't mind investing a little more time and effort in your
executive level job search, you'll get a better return in the
long run.
This approach also gives you better
job opportunities to pick from--you don't have to settle for
only posted positions. You can actively seek out openings that
aren't posted to the public to find the best position that
fits your needs and goals, while also helping your chosen
organization, its team, and clients.
