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Resource Library: Career Center

The Career Center contains information and resources relating specifically to executives and others at a senior level who are making career changes. What worked for you when you were younger and/or at a much lower level will not work for you now. Why do I say this? Because it didn’t work for me when I was in transition despite suggestions from recruiters and authors on job search at a senior level, many of whom gave conflicting advice or theoretical advice that was not practical.

A former colleague sensed my frustration and we decided to start an executive search firm that would focus on leadership positions in the Middle East, where we both had extensive experience. Unfortunately, we soon realized that our timing was off as the Middle East expatriate market at senior levels dwindled. Hence, we increasingly focused on the US and European markets.

Since our client experience was mostly at executive or senior levels, we decided to concentrate on retained search assignments because we felt it was the most appropriate professional service for companies looking to recruit executives and senior level employees. To understand the different types of recruiters, recruiting firms, and how you can work more effectively with each, click here.

Taking the lead on starting the executive search firm, I soon realized that we needed to change our thinking from assessing candidates whose focus was solely on making a job change to assessing candidates that were open to either a job or, in many instances, a career change. Making career changes at an executive or other senior level is very different from changing jobs earlier in our career when we didn’t have the skills and experience we developed over our working career.

Shifting our thinking from looking for another job as a job seeker to looking for qualified senior-level candidates as an executive recruiter enabled us to focus on two things:

  1. What executives did that increased their success at finding new career opportunities.
  2. What executives did that decreased their success at finding new career opportunities.

As I developed more experience leading the executive search firm, I began to see what employers and executives did that was more effective and what wasn’t.  Using my experience in interviewing candidates, I  prepared career change guides for executives in transition that we often gave to executives we did not recommend to employers. Over the years, that morphed into 12 Steps to a New Career.

A Career Change Book for Executives

12 Steps to a New Career is the most comprehensive and authoritative career change book for executives and others at a senior level. It explains what you need to do, why it is important, when you need to do it, and it then illustrates how to do it. Whether you think you are only making a job change or think you may need to consider changing your career direction, 12 Steps to a New Career will help you to develop your strategy and then coach you through the entire process.

Resumes

Resumes for executives and others at senior-level positions who have several years of experience will require a much different resume than when you were in the earlier stages of your career. The example I show will illustrate how you can create a powerful resume that:

  1. Describes the position you are seeking.
  2. Highlights your skills, experience, and qualifications.
  3. Demonstrates your effectiveness and achievements at what you are best at doing.

Chapter 6 in 12 Steps to a New Career contains more detailed information about resumes.

Career Change Worksheets

12 Steps to a New Career describes the entire career change process for executives. It includes worksheets and exercises that will help you to communicate your value proposition more effectively when you are networking for employment and in employer interviews. All worksheets and exercises from the book are listed in this section enabling you to download and use full-size copies at no additional cost to you.

Career Change Reference Documents

There are three lengthy documents that I was not able to include in the book due to the extensive subject matter and my desire to keep them current.  You can download and review them here:

Executive Career Change Tips

Executives contemplating a job or career change or who are already in transition often have questions about some aspect of the career change process that they think are unique to them. Many of those questions are common to others and, in the hope that your question might have been asked by others, check out these tips to see if your question is answered. The tips are grouped into the following five subjects:

  • Career Change and Job Search
  • Interviews
  • Executive Resumes
  • Self-Employment
  • Other topics

Executive Career Change Stories

Here are stories of specific situations confronted by some of my clients and how they effectively dealt with those situations. All the stories relate to personal experiences and some have been published in other media. Take a look. You may find answers to some questions you hadn’t even thought about asking.

Job Search Q and A

Maybe someone else has already asked the question you have. Check them out. You may find the answer to your question here.

Executive Career Coach

Perhaps you need to talk with an expert who specializes in working with executives in transition. If you think you might, Carl Wellenstein has been in your situation. He’s been on both sides of the table: making a career transition at a senior level, owning an international executive search firm, and participating in many interviews with client employers when they selected leaders and managers. He knows what works, why it works, and what doesn’t.

If you would like to have a conversation or schedule a meeting with Carl Wellenstein, click on the link: Request a Career Consultation.