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Going repeatedly through several rounds of interviewing and not getting the job offer can be very frustrating. The question then becomes, is it your interviewing or something else? I have dealt with this question in my latest Forbes contribution here.
 A new tool for conducting a confidential executive job search: GatedTalent
As a seasoned executive, you have come across various executive search portals. Usually, you have to sign-up for a fee-based “membership,” and in return, you are “allowed” to upload your resume to their database where your resume could get found by executive recruiters. Now, I personally always found that idea, where you as the searching executive have to pay to make the life of recruiters easier to find you, a little bit cheeky, but whom am I to judge, right? Nevertheless, I was quite happy to learn about a new and free alternative out there for top-level executives trying to conduct a confidential search with leading recruiting firms. Enter GatedTalent (www.gatedtalent.com/.) GatedTalent was formed in 2017 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dillistone Group, the largest publicly-traded software and technology supplier to the recruitment sector in the world. With the GatedTalent business approach, it is the executive search firms that have to pay for accessing top talent on their database. That seems to me the way it should be, but I wanted to learn more about the company and service. So, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Louise Duffield, an Executive Researcher with GatedTalent. I asked Louise to tell me a little bit more about the platform and how it works from the executive point of view. Here is the takeaway from our Q&A session: Tim: Louise, why should an executive register with GatedTalent? Louise: The Answer will vary based on those ‘actively’ looking and those who are not looking ‘right now’. Most executives will know a couple of senior recruiters. Most also know that senior positions aren’t advertised. Most will realize that high level Searches are handled by a single recruiting firm. However, most don’t think through the ramifications of these three facts – if you know 5 of the top 6 recruiters in a sector, but the perfect position for you is being filled by the 6th and is not being advertised, they you are not going to hear from that recruiter unless you can be found. GatedTalent helps highlight your achievements and aspirations and puts you under the nose of leading recruiters – it is used by over 200 of the leading Search firms in the World to identify and engage with talent and is accessed via the CRM they use day in, day out. It’s also private, so executives can share more information that they would on LinkedIn ensuring that they are more easily found. Fundamentally, what I do state to those who are not actively looking ‘right now’ is GatedTalent is a way to stay on the ‘radar’, something we touched on in our last article was the rate at which things can change day to day. It’d better to be on the ‘radar’ and be informed in my opinion, then to dismiss a chance of being found for your perfect next role. Tim: Could you tell us a bit the type of opportunities executives can expect to find through GatedTalent? Can you find C-level opportunities through the platform? Louise: Absolutely. We have over 200 clients across 30 countries. Many undertake Board work; others cover the C-Suite. We also have clients which deal with Consulting or Interim roles. An executive can express their interest in their preferred role/s in a GatedTalent profile – under ‘Aspirations’, they can add as many roles which are of interest to them currently, along with aspirational information on location and compensation expectations. Tim: Could you tell us a bit about the confidentiality aspect of the platform for executives who are currently employed and might want to be on the platform in stealth mode? Louise: This is crucial for our members. A clear majority of profiles in the platform belong to successful executives who are currently employed. They can’t be seen to be looking! A point made to me time and time again and of course always happy to reassure our executives on! Unlike LinkedIn, our platform is only available to our recruiter clients who pay a fee to access it. Should they find your profile, your name and contact details will be hidden initially. You also have the option to mask your company name and title if you wish – so the CEO of American Airlines (as a random example) could label himself “C-Suite Executive, Global Airline” if he wished. At GatedTalent, we are so focused on privacy that even I won’t ever know if the executives I speak to create a profile as I have no access to the profiles made by our members. Tim: Are there any regional restrictions or is your platform a good resource for executives conducting a global search? Louise: Great question, something I am asked a lot as we are a UK company, I am pleased to say there are no restrictions! Our platform is truly global. We have executives in more than 100 countries. We have recruiters based in 30 countries, but many of them operate globally. Our recruiter clients between them have offices in more than 60 different countries. Tim: How would a recruiter find an executives profile and how would they establish contact? Louise: We offer very detailed Search functionality, and this is available directly within the CRM platform that many of the recruiter firms use (FileFinder Anywhere from Dillistone Systems – our sister company).The recruiter can search on various criteria (industry, location, required compensation, key words, company / title (if you decide to share it), resume text etc.). They will then see an anonymous version of your profile if you are a match. If a recruiter is interested by your anonymous profile, they’ll send you a message with details of the search. If you are interested, you can share your details. Alternatively, you can block the recruiter or simply say “not right now” meaning the they can contact you again in future. Tim: Last but not least, is there any scenario you can see where it would not be a good idea for an executive to sign-up with your platform? Louise: I can safely say I can’t think of one. An executive in her perfect role may be interested in a Board seat. An executive not in her perfect role may be interested in a new executive role. It’s a free service with no fees at any time and it maintains your privacy…. I cannot see any disadvantages in creating a profile and believe it can only be beneficial for executives to join us at GatedTalent! Conclusion There you have it right from the source. In my opinion, a great new tool for advancing your executive career, even in times when you are not actively looking. So far I cannot see any reason why you wouldn’t leverage it as part of your strategic career planning. More questions about your career search or career documents? Simply shoot me an email: info@windhofcareers.com Behavior or competency-based interviewing of job seekers is arguably one of the most challenging forms for candidates to navigate. See my most recent post on how to master them in full length here.
Personal branding needs to be a holistic and consistent approach for it to have any impact. If you flip-flop your message or randomly change aspects about your personal brand in your career documents, you are jeopardizing your chances of seamlessly moving up the career ladder. Read up on how to do to this in my latest Forbes contribution here.
Tim Windhof accepted into Forbes Coaches Council
This week, I have been accepted into the Forbes Coaches Council, an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. I have joined other Forbes Coaches Council members, who are hand-selected, to become part of a curated network of successful peers and get access to a variety of exclusive benefits and resources, including the opportunity to submit thought leadership articles and short tips on industry-related topics for publishing on Forbes.com. Forbes Councils combines an innovative, high-touch approach to community management perfected by the team behind Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) with the extensive resources and global reach of Forbes. As a result, Forbes Council members get access to the people, benefits and expertise they need to grow their businesses — and a dedicated member concierge who acts as an extension of their own team, providing personalized one-on-one support. Joining the Forbes Coaches Council is really a natural next-step for Windhof Communications – Career services in providing thought leadership career advice for executives. Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, “We are honored to welcome Tim Windhof into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world.” For more information about Forbes Coaches Council, visit https://forbescoachescouncil.com/. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.  Special Report:
What credentials should your executive resume writer hold? Choosing the right resume writer for creating your new executive marketing materials can be challenging and confusing. There is not “the one” qualification or credential. Many factors come obviously into play when assessing a potential match between you and your writer: - professional background of your potential resume writer (e.g. real corporate world and board experience?) - college education and degrees, and - their resume writing credentials. In this report, I am going to throw some light on the later and assume that we agree that your resume writer should have demonstrated their industry commitment by at least completing and holding one resume writing credential. I. An overview So, let’s look at some resume writer associations and organizations that you’ll most likely come across the most. We could call them the Big 4 of Resume Writing if you like. 1) THE NATIONAL RÉSUMÉ WRITERS' ASSOCIATION (NRWA) The NRWA with its 600+ members is the only nonprofit, member driven résumé writers’ organization in the world. I am actually currently on the board of this association, so, yes, I might be a bit biased here. Passing the NRWA’s “Nationally Certified Resume Writer (NCRW)” designation is quite a rigorous process and there currently are only about 60 writers in the nation who have passed this examination. Taking the NCRW requires submitting a resume sample package and documenting 10 CE before being admitted to a two-part examination consisting of a proofreading as well as a resume and cover letter writing part. 2) CAREER DIRECTORS INTERNATIONAL (CDI) Career Directors International LLC is a privately-run membership based business that offers various resume writing and career coaching certifications. Pre-requirements and specific testing depend on the specific level of certification. There are several resume certifications offered by CDI include:
3) Resume Writing Academy (RWA) Offered via the Career Thought Leaders Consortium (CTL), a think tank of career industry leaders run my Marie Zimenoff, the Resume Writing Academy offers an “Academy Certified Resume Writer (ACRW)” certification as well as a specialized social media profile writing designation called “Academy Certified Profile Writer (ACPW) certification.” Both certifications offered require 3-months intensive coursework training. One aspect to note is that the ACRW certification does not require membership, renewal, or continued education. 4) The Professional Association of Résumé Writers & Career Coaches (PARW/CC) The PARW/CC was the pioneer in resume writing and career coaching’s industry early days and was established in the early 90s. With 1,500+ members including independent business owners and nonprofit career centers the PARW/CC is certainly an impressive organization. PARW/CC back in its early days developed a standard for testing resume writers and, since then, awards successful candidates with the Certified Professional Résumé Writer (CPRW) credential. II. So which one is the “must have” for your resume writer? Reviewing the different organizations makes it obvious that there are many ways to becoming a certified and credentialed resume writer. Choices of your resume writer for one certification and bypassing another one might come down to personal preference in learning styles (e.g. autonomous self vs. intense course environment) or desired client specialization fields. In my opinion, you can therefore not fairly pick the one “must have” certification to look for when choosing your resume writer. One thing I can say, however, is that I frequently see writers on the top of their game holding various resume certifications. So, this might not be a bad thing to look for in a qualified resume writer. You can check out some of my credentials here. |