By Deborah Wile Dib, CCM, CCMC, CEIP, JCTC, NCRW, CPRW

Our executive clients are often woefully unprepared to do an effective job search and career management. To best serve our clients we must raise our clients' awareness of "top-of-the-pyramid" executive job search and career management techniques.

A PARADIGM SHIFT  
It is vitally important for clients to realize that executive career management is no different in concept from corporate management, and that it must hold as high a priority. As they do in their jobs, our executive clients must:

* Conceive a VISION (where they want to take their careers).

* Build a strong team of top professionals--a "DREAM TEAM" or board of directors--of executive coach, resume consultant, professional mentors, researchers, professional associations, recruiters, network contacts, and even database and secretarial services for help.  

* Create their BRAND--their strongest and most marketable attributes--and build success

stories proving the concrete, profit-oriented results these attributes / branding have produced.  

* RESEARCH their market--the industries/companies in their field--to discover overriding and subtle issues so that they can, a) become an EXPERT and make immediate contributions in their next position and, b) create distinct VALUE PROPOSITIONS and SOLUTIONS for their top targets.  

* View interviews as BUSINESS MEETINGS, taking control by taking a peer-to-peer stance, asking challenge-based questions, and delivering solutions to those challenges while in the interview.  

Understand that "DOING THE JOB" in the interview is the best way to EARN the job, especially at executive levels, where thought leadership, problem solving, presentation abilities, and proactive mental agility are critically important to the hire.