Executives are always
seeking ways in
which to distinguish
themselves from other
executives. Karen Armon,
founder and creator of
the MarketOne Executive,
suggests that executives
identify and market
their potential in their
quest to uncover career
opportunities.
Armon, who also hosts
ExecuNet’s member meetings in the
Denver area, shares her thoughts on
this subject in her book, Market Your
Potential, Not Your Past: How To Build A
Career ThatWorks For You Regardless of
What Happens To You<\i>. She also presents
an ExecuNet FastTrack program of the
same name.
In this exclusive ExecuNet interview,
online editor Will Flammé asks Armon to
explain how executives can market their
potential and successfully advance their
careers in the process.
Q. When should an executive highlight
past successes to indicate future
potential?
A. “Potential,” as I define it, is experience
that relates to what the marketplace wants
today and demonstrates key opportunities
that an organization can realize through
hiring a particular executive. Successes
from a previous position are most often
irrelevant for today’s business challenges.
Focusing your presentation on these past
successes causes the hiring managers to
extrapolate what that means for them and
their business today. Many cannot, or will
not, do that — it is just too hard to read
the tea leaves and figure that out.
Therefore, it only makes sense that an
executive candidate outlines what he or
she can bring today to the table and use
past successes as a support for that value
proposition. Past performance does not
mean future success, and anyone who
has hired someone knows that!
Q. Creating name recognition
is a great idea, but how does an
executive not working for a
powerhouse company actually
do that?
A. Gaining name recognition is
one of many outcomes for executives
who make their career the
single most important aspect of
their executive life. With tenure
averages of two to two and onehalf
years, what lasts longer — the
job or the career? In my book, I outline
several things that executives must do to
make their careers into their own business.
As I stated before, name recognition
is just one measurable outcome of
a well-managed executive career.
Executives no longer need to be
aligned with a top Fortune 100 company
to have a stellar career. With access to the
Internet, getting visible on the Internet is
relatively easy. To move beyond obscurity
to recognition can happen in a variety of
avenues. Again, the result is not as important
as the strategy behind it.
Q. When should an executive use
techniques such as cold calling,
prospecting, cold networking and
other forms of lead generation?
A. Lead generation today must go
beyond cold calling strategies to find
leads. The strategies and techniques that
worked more than 30 years ago must
become more nuanced and sophisticated.
With everyone busy and working 12
hours or more a day, cold calling (in the
classic sense), doesn’t work very well
because it is a “front-door approach”
that has several gatekeepers who are
very well-skilled at keeping an executive
candidate out.
There are other “forms” of lead generation,
however, that I believe work well.
One of them is to purposefully become
visible in your local or national professional
association to get on the inside
track of hidden job leads. Another is to
be part of a large, target-rich event in
your city via a community event (such
as the March of Dimes) to meet power
brokers. Finally, make sure to stay connected
to your local ExecuNet facilitator
and in the online ExecuNet social forums
throughout your career to keep growing
your network.
There are various ways to “give your
way into job leads” rather than through
cold calling someone you don’t know and
who doesn’t know you.
Q. My closest contacts know me well
enough to be able to communicate my
value statement to potential employers
on my behalf. How can I help my wider
network to understand my uniqueness
and also be on-message?
A. Don’t assume your closest contacts
know your value statement. Here’s a test to
find out: Ask them what they think your
value proposition is. If they answer in a
way that presents your next steps in your
career, you are home free. If they do not,
you need to do some work with them, too.
I believe that an executive must identify
what he or she stands for as a leader.
To accomplish that, here are some sample
questions to get started:
What is your particular leadership style?
Why has your leadership style
developed in the way that it has?
What characteristics do you possess
that make your leadership unique?
What attributes within these characteristic
signify a powerful leadership
benefit to your potential employer?
What unique attributes have your
employers and employees identified
with?
What one leading attribute makes the
most compelling message about you?
Your network of advocates should be
able to outline the benefits of working
with you. They should be able to point
out why you are, or are not, a good
candidate for a position, and if they are
effective advocates, they can go beyond
just referring you. A strong network can
be specific about who you are and what
you believe as a leader.
If you would like to become an ExecuNet Member, Click Here.
"I want to take a moment to thank you for the quality service and support you provide to members. The newsletters, POVs, resume assistance, networking meeting notices, in addition to the job search database, are very helpful."
