by: Fred Coon
Chairman, CEO
Stewart, Cooper & Coon, Inc.
The market is still headed down. If it doesn’t go below 7200 we will all be thrilled. What does this mean to you, the executive in search? It means that your competition is greater because hundreds of thousands of people are unemployed and seeking the same positions you are applying for. When the going gets tough, the tough etc. Ok, but what does that mean to you, specifically? It means that your “brand” and the value propositions you bring to the new company bust stand out and must be perceived as more valuable than those of the others with whom you are competing. What is “branding”?
One aspect of branding is to determine what it is that you are selling. Selling? Yes, selling? You are a product whether you like it or not. Your “brand” will be compared with the “brands” or lack of them, from your competitors in the search. How do you establish a brand? It is not easy. It requires professional guidance and coaching. Frankly, you are too close to the forest to see the trees. Your brand will reflect your value propositions, key qualifications and positioning and your packaging for these must be flawless. By flawless, I do not mean spelling and punctuation, although an error there will eliminate you too. What I mean key qualifications, positioning and packaging is that these all combined will reflect the value you bring to the potential employer.
When you get there, you must interview. No, I don’t mean interview. What I mean is to eliminate the competition. Otherwise, you are like all the other applicants. For example, the American interview goes like this: Hello! Come in, sit down, did you have trouble finding us – blah -blah – blah. Question, answer, question, answer, question answer and thank you very much we’ll call you. Ever conducted and interview like that or better yet, ever been in one that approximates that? Why did you go in the first place? Your sole purpose is to cause the company to feel that they only want to hire YOU, not the other applicants. What did you do when you were there to create added value so you can position yourself better for negotiation?
Once of the most incidious aspects of interviewing today is the EQ emphasis, not the IQ emphasis. Don’t know what this specifically means? Then you are in big trouble before you even start. I see so many executives that are really good at what they do but have no clue why they are good at it or how their behavioral competencies need to manifest themselves in the interview process. Boy, are they missing the boat.
Anyway, what has all this to do with a market value of 7,000? Everything. Competition is much larger and therefore if you are not branded properly, don’t understand correct packaging (I don’t mean just a resume) and have no clue how to describe your EQ, then you will not achieve your next move up the career ladder – whether that is in your same industry or field or a new industry – it doesn’t matter.