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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.  #Top 15 Benefits for Leaders Working with an Executive Resume Writer & Career Coach
Are you still on the fence about working with a resume writer and career to make your next career move? Not sure if doing so will have a solid ROI for you? How could this be helpful for you as a seasoned and accomplished executive? Obviously the outcome largely depends on the individuals concerned: client and coach as well as how well they work together. I have nevertheless analyzed and distilled some common outcomes and benefits my clients have experienced over the years. Here are the top 15 benefits of working with an executive resume writer and career coach: 1) Greatly improved and optimized resumes 2) Keyword enhanced and branded LinkedIn profiles 3) Easy-to-digest and on-brand executive bios 4) No nonsense cover letters that get read 5) Understanding and knowledge of their top career stories 6) Clear and consistently communicated personal brand 7) Career marketing collateral ready to go any time needed 8) Time saved in document preparation and overall search time 9) Enhanced market competitiveness 10) Executable job search strategy 11) Increased networking ability & networking with a plan 12) Higher overall market value & confidence 13) Sound knowledge of the hidden job market 14) Readiness for all common executive interview scenarios 15) Ability to negotiate high-end compensation at the maximum of the salary range Takeaway So there you have it. If you ask me, I feel very confident that those 15 points will be beneficial to empower your search for your next executive opportunity. Did I forget something or do you disagree with certain points? Either way, send me an email: info@windhofcareers.com Good News: The New Privacy Guidelines for Your Resume Projects Are in Place
You have probably noticed a large amount of privacy notice update emails you received over the last couple of weeks. This is due to an extensive new data protection law by the European Union which came into effective today, May 25th, 2018. Data and confidentiality is obviously a very sensitive topic when it comes to your executive career and your career marketing documents. In your resume, bio and cover letter, you are pretty much “forced” to reveal a full name, a phone number and an email address at a minimum. And who knows where this personal data of yours ends-up once you upload your resume to job boards or on global company websites that may be operating data centers and services across the globe? So while the new privacy law seems like an administrative monster, it is certainly an initiative in the interest of all job seekers whether actively or not-actively looking. Your Resume, Bios, and Personal Data when working with me So your resume and bios will contain personal information about your contact details, past and present employers as well as educational background and that’s why I have implemented a new Privacy Policy so that my clients and potential clients can see at all times how I collect and protect their data. You can read the full policy here. Any questions about how I can help to take your executive career to the next level? Not sure if your current resume presents you in the best possible way? Just sent me an email: info@windhofcareers.com  Assessing the Time it Takes to Find your New Executive Job
Obviously, no one can tell you reliably how long the specific search for your next executive opportunity will be. Nevertheless, the question is pretty much on everybody’s mind. Particularly if you are in transition, you will want to know if your severance package will carry you long enough. Your specific search time will be impacted by external economical as well as candidate internal factors. I like to break this down into 3 categories: 1) factors you can’t really influence, 2) factors that you can influence to a certain degree, and 3) factors that are totally up to your efforts. Now, let’s look at some core bullets of each category. 1) Economic and Industry Outlook - Type of industry: declining, stagnating, or booming? - Global climate impacting the industry - Hiring and talent situation in your market 2) Reputation and Flexibility - Your market reputation and relevant business network including leading executive recruiters - Your industry and leadership longevity (general management background? Niche experience?) - Flexibility in terms of target titles (e.g., CEO vs SVP) or location (available for relocation?) - Educational background (e.g., Ivy League degree, Executive MBA, etc.) 3) Job Search Collateral, Commitment, & Effort - Your job search and hidden job market strategy and game plan - Quality of your career marketing documents (executive resume, cover letter, bios, etc.) - Personal branding efforts (are you consistently marketing your core value?) - Informal and formal interview performance - Your tenacity and commitment in executing your job search game plan Additional points to factor in are lengthy background checks, screenings, several rounds of interviews, and possibly, board approval. Outlook and Takeaway Going through these bullets and comparing these points to your specific situation should give a pretty good idea on identifying factors that could either shorten or prolong your search process. While I am generally a strong optimistic thinking proponent, I recommend not coming up with an unrealistically short time as that will only put unnecessary pressure and stress on you; particularly if you are in between jobs. Need help with the factors that you can influence? Just send me an email: info@windhofcareers.com |