Top Guide Posts for this week talk about Hiding, Wrong Way and Ghosts!

I am often asked by clients how I find talent. Not just finding bodies to fill a role. I mean real talent that can make a huge difference in a company's success.

The answer is it depends on what you are looking for in terms of skills, experience and cultural fit.

For example, a small MedTech company might be excited by the prospect of landing a product management candidate from a large MedTech company.

However, if that candidate only ever worked on a small portion of the marketing mix, this could be disasterous.

Why?

Because that small MedTech company may need this individual to manage all 4 P's of the marketing mix. Not just one or two.

That's why we at Due North really dig deep with our clients to understand their needs and find talent that uniquely fits their role.

After all, your success is our success!

Top talent hiding from you? Contact Due North!

Click here to schedule a meeting.

Wrong Way!

We were all told the same thing regarding writing a resume. We were told to list all of our skills and accomplishments like the resume is a great treatise on our history.

Wrong!

A resume should be a marketing piece for the next role you wish to have. So, you need to make sure that your resume is in alignment with the role you wish to have.

So, what does this mean?

It means that you need to understand what skills and experiences are needed for the role you are seeking.

Here's an example of misalignment:

As a senior product manager for a large financial institution, I had responsibilities that included ecommerce initiatives in addition to traditional product management of savings and checking products.

One of the major accomplishments I had was to create a solution to open accounts online. This was something that they had struggled with for years.

While that accomplishment was incredible, it wasn't in alignment with the next role I was seeking. The next role had nothing to do with e-commerce and if I overemphasized this accomplishment, I might have been seen as a poor fit for the role I wanted to have.

How do you make sure you are in alignment?

Go out to your favorite job search site. Look up roles that you are legitimately interested in and legitimately qualified for. For most people, there should be some common skills and experiences among these roles.

Then, do a gap analysis to your resume. You should quickly see where there are holes. And more importantly, where you have misalignment.

By filling the gaps to your desired role and omitting data that is irrelevant, you will end up with a resume that resonates better with hiring managers.

Now, go write your resume the right way!

Professional Ghosts

If there is one trend that I have come to absolutely loathe, it is ghosting in professional settings.

- Candidates do it to recruiters and potential employers

- Employers do it to candidates and recruiters

- Recruiters do it to candidates and sometimes clients

I get it. Sometimes it seems to be easier to never respond rather than saying "No".

While ghosting has become all too common, it's a small world. And what may seem easier today will inevitably catch up with you.

- That candidate you ghosted as an employer or recruiter? They are telling everyone they know not to work with you.

- That employer or recruiter you ghosted? Yeah, you're never going to hear from them again. And when they move to another company, they will remember.

- And any recruiter that ghosts clients? They should just leave the business.

To be clear, by ghosting, I mean when you have been engaged with someone and then suddenly the communication stops. Not the failure to respond to the many unsolicited outreaches.

So, make it a point to not be a prefessional ghost. All it takes is a few moments to say, "No thank you. I have decided to go in a different direction."

Chris Gustanski – Founder and Lead Talent Guide

Chris is a classically trained marketer with over a decade of executive search experience. He moved into recruiting because he was someone that was frequently recruited and was tired of recruiters hounding him to consider roles they didn’t understand, and he wasn’t interested in pursuing. He was determined to disrupt Executive Search to deliver a better result and experience for companies and the commercial talent they need.?After over a decade seeing the dysfunction in executive search firms large and small, he formed Due North Executive Search in collaboration with his wife Amie.

To learn more about how Due North can help you build World Class Commercial teams click here to schedule a meeting.