Executive Job Search: CEO Coach & the Big Game Strategy

Here at The Sounding Board blog, the sports analogy is out of season (think football in November, December, January and possibly early February) but baseball, spring training and a job-search campaign that you manage like a winning coach are apt thoughts to energize you on what is a dreary, post-Thanksgiving Sunday evening here in New York. Even if you work with me as your executive coach and career concierge to gain traction now (I hope you do), securing a new opportunity has never been more competitive. A new level of commitment and responsibility are fundamental to your results quotient, and that demands sharing of operational and planning activities. In other words, be your own coach for key search components and see a better, faster and smarter job-search return.

To continue from my previous post, you should be gearing up for the Sounding Board December, 2008 Job Search Action Plan. I'd like to share some more details of the "Big Game Strategy" as your coach.

More Action Plan Ideas:

• Remember that box you pitched your tangibles into? Begin organizing and categorizing the contents, and don't worry about missing items or gaps in chronology.

• Work on analyzing meaning and theme. Do some tangibles strike you as being particularly relevant to what you do and the direction in which you'd like to take your career? This is the beginning of a career self-assessment taking shape, as well as the bigger picture for resume creation and targeted research.

• Write down any unifying theme to the full content, or groups of items. Multiple themes are the norm.Out of the theme or themes, create a total of 10 stories. I'm certain you can identify that many stories because you should have reviewed accomplishments from both personal and professional activities. Do not eliminate any stories from the initial list, keeping in mind the strong probability that their relative importance to your career now will shift repeatedly over time and circumstance.
• Brainstorm the stories and note any thoughts that appeal to your intuition. If you are open to the idea, think of yourself as a "citizen journalist" and create headlines for each story as future media content for a top business website.
• As a CEO, tenure in your position is growing shorter every day, especially with angry workers, shareholders and retirees clamoring for strong leadership. Despite any real or potential failures that you imagine are reflected in your stories, don't mistake them as counterproductive. Take steps now to address any major pitfalls in broadcasting these stories to your market. Unresolved issues will take on larger meaning if you don't assign a value to them, assume ownership of failures as well as achievements and refocus to determine positive personal brand attributes that could emerge from your stories.
• You've heard the new message from the Obama team--that out of crisis can come real opportunity. Setting up an executive job search during the holidays should make you more reflective. Bad news has a tendency to anchor your career plans but should not become an excuse for lethargy. Failure to take action now will put you in the back of the queue as a competitive candidate for a new executive position in early 2009.