You’re an executive looking to move up on the corporate ladder, but your company is on a committed downsizing track. Have you tried submitting your resume to executive HR search firms? American business owners are grappling with the twin problems of employee loyalty and productivity; where are the best workers and how can we find them? Talent acquisition management can help you find the perfect position, but there are some things you should know before you contact restructuring consulting firms.
You may be spending too much time perfecting your resume: talent acquisition management firms would prefer that your resume is legible and easy to skim rather than unique. Industry experts recently confirmed that when they are sifting through hundreds of resumes, they are more likely to read resumes with at least a 12 point font. It’s not necessary to include every detail of your past positions: pick five to 10 salient points or accomplishments and make sure that you’re representing yourself well without attempting to oversell yourself. When asked to describe yourself in a telephone or in-person interview, focus on your three biggest accomplishments and keep your response relatively concise.
Once you find executive HR search firms that are interested in your talents, make sure you share your ideas about where you’d like to end up: there’s no need to waste time trying to convince yourself that you want a challenging, 80-hour per week position when what you want to do is edge into an ancillary consulting role and work part-time. Talent acquisition management is keen on having their clients wind up happy, and do put in a lot of work to make sure that your temperament is a great match for your new firm. In this era of remote workers, you may also find that you prefer to work from home. In that case, you could find yourself working with international firms that need your particular skill set. One caveat: working with clients in Asia or Europe may require you to log in on the night shift.
If you have any extended gaps in employment, make sure that you mention the reason to your recruiters at executive HR search firms. Most companies understand that their employees have taken time off to grow their families or to deal with illness, but it’s best to be up front and to explain extended employment gaps. The majority of American companies are extremely concerned about employee retention: it seems that our workforce is becoming less loyal and more mobile. Looking for new employees with the help of executive HR search firms can help pinpoint great candidates: if you’re looking for work, you should know that average search times can stretch past several months. Companies spend so much money onboarding new employees that they would rather wait for an obviously good fit in a new candidate’s skill set.
Looking for a remote position? Thousands of American companies are shifting away from traditional work environments: long-term reports on co-working spaces has indicated that workers become distracted more easily and take more sick days. Statistics also show that when we work from home, we are more creative and productive. Employee communication platforms allow workers to interface with each other from around the world, and the cost of rent is a budget line item that many small businesses are happy to jettison. Also, the best candidate for the job may be located in a small town instead of a larger city: cherry picking remote employees could be the key to workplace satisfaction and productivity.
While there may not be an easy answer for the question of employee satisfaction and loyalty, executive HR search firms are trying their best to bridge the gap by delving into candidates’ professional backgrounds and accomplishments. Focusing on temperament may mean an elongated search process, but candidates who will settle for nothing less than the perfect work environment would do well to be patient and await their tailored results.
