Every day, marketing executive recruiters are scouring through resumes and LinkedIn profiles to find the right candidate for an open position. The reality is top talent only has a short window to catch the recruiter’s attention before they move on to the next. In some cases, marketing executive recruiters will completely miss a resume or LinkedIn profile because it does not possess the keywords they are looking for. If you are not coming up on marketing executive search results, you are missing out on job opportunities.
The good news is you can significantly improve your visibility as a top candidate by simply investing time to update your resume and profile. Even if you are not currently looking for a new role, keeping yourself digitally current can lead to more opportunities. As the leading marketing executive search firm, MarketPro’s recruiters have determined easily fixable mistakes they commonly see in executive resumes/profiles.
Marketing Executive Search Tips For Better Career Opportunities:
Updated LinkedIn Profile
By now, top marketing executives understand that most recruiters rely heavily on LinkedIn to find quality candidates for their client’s open positions. LinkedIn accounts give recruiters a better understanding of who you are aside from your resume. They can see recommendations left by your colleagues and managers, what you are passionate about, what kind of content, videos, or whitepapers you have created, where you might have been published, what engagement or networking you have done, etc. With the endless possibilities, there is no question that candidates with strong LinkedIn profiles will have a better chance of receiving a recruiter’s call.
However, as the leading marketing executive search firm, our experienced recruiters have come across too many great executives with not so great LinkedIn profiles. One of the biggest factors that cause a candidate to lose opportunities is mainly due to their experienced section on LinkedIn. It does not look good when recruiters see an individual have 3 different marketing executive jobs with different start dates but all still say “present”. To recruiters, it looks as if the person is working 3 jobs.
While this is a small mistake and recruiters understand that the profile could be wrong or needs to be updated, they have hundreds of applications and profiles to look over. More often than not, they will move your profile to the side and look at it if they have time. As a result, it could have cost you a great opportunity.
LinkedIn Summary
Think of the summary section as an indirect introduction of yourself. You want to give the recruiters a clear idea of who you are, what you are looking for, and what sets you apart. In many cases, a LinkedIn summary can help dictate what kind of opportunities come your way. However, you need to carefully consider your choice of words as well as the structure of the summary.
According to Hubspot studies, a summary should be composed of a hook, mission, expertise and skills, proof, and a call to action. Recruiters do not have time to read a long summary that has no clear direction and adds little to no value to their search. You want your readers to be interested in knowing more about your expertise and experiences. Therefore, to avoid a rambling summary, the leading marketing executive search firm recommends you avoid copying and pasting resume information into the summary.
Use “Buzz” Words
With hundreds of articles written about how to gain a recruiter’s attention, using buzz words is among the most repeated key tips. Most of the time, recruiters will brainstorm a list of keywords that will closely match the roles they are trying to fill. The closer the term gets to the related job function, the higher your chances of getting a call. The best place to look for relevant keywords is in the job description of the position you are looking for or within the key metrics/KPIs of your current role.
Buzz words like optimize and increased, while great for resumes are too generic. You need to be more specific about your job functions, not the department or company’s goal. Tell recruiters your specific contribution to the company’s success. The more keywords the better.
In addition to buzz words, you need to continue to provide valuable information that demonstrates your ability to maximize your return on investment. The goal is to attract recruiters with the usage of buzz words and retain their attention with dollar amounts, growth percentages, lead volume, or website and SEO rankings to show your accomplishments.
“Tell Me About Yourself”
During most job searches, there are usually questions recruiters ask to better understand who you are. Whether it is in the application or interview process, knowing how to answer the questions correctly will boost your chances of getting hired. This is especially true for marketing executive jobs. When you reach a higher level, recruiters are more interested in you and the type of leader you are.
Let your resume brief recruiters on your past accomplishments. Recruiters want to understand how you led a team to success, what kind of leadership strategies you used to become efficient, or how you managed to create a work environment that keeps your team motivated and happy. The reality is, having the right experience and expertise does not always make you a good fit for an executive position. You need the right soft and hard skills to effectively lead a team. Therefore, the next time you get to answer a question about yourself, share who you are as a person and the values you believe are important to maintaining a great working relationship with your team and co-workers.
Conclusion
Gaining job opportunities in today’s market is quite different than in years past. The only thing we can do is to grow and learn from our mistakes. Take time to complete an overall review of your professional life. What kind of goals do you want to achieve? Have you met past goals you have set for yourself? Did you spend enough time on the things that will help set you up for success?
As an experienced marketing executive search firm, we believe it’s entirely up to individuals to take charge and ownership of their career growth and development. If you invest in the time to prepare yourself for new opportunities, you’ll certainly encounter great career advancements in the future.
Author: Melissa Van Rossum