As an executive-level leader, you have assumed a certain degree of risk throughout your career. You aren’t a stranger to the sometimes unexpected and dramatic changes that come along with reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, rapid growth phases, and powerful dynamics among executive teams and board members. Luckily, you’ve got decades of experience strategizing how to face these challenges head-on and emerge with positive outcomes.
Approaching an executive career transition is no different. Similar to the importance of having a targeted business strategy, targeting your job search activities will open more doors to better opportunities and ultimately expedite your career transition. If you are a CEO, COO, CDO, CFO, CMO, CIO, CTO, or other CxO, you can add structure to your executive career transition by doing the following.
How to Prepare for an Executive Career Transition
- Identify your executive transition options. What growth initiatives have you engaged in over the last couple of years, or is it time to explore professional growth opportunities? Consider executive education programs, leadership courses, groups or affiliations, board certifications, or other leadership specializations. Maybe you’ve also had some lifestyle changes and can now travel, relocate, or spend more time on a personal passion or with your family. Have you discovered that you work better remotely or require social stimulation to remain productive and engaged? The answers to these questions will help narrow down what types of executive roles you find exciting and viable.
- Define and track your job search activities. The more purposefully you spend your time, the better and faster your results will be. Many executives choose to engage with professional executive recruiters during their career transitions. Brush up on leveraging LinkedIn to bring opportunities to you and learn how to harness and build the power of your network of influential contacts.
- Assess your leadership potential for areas of growth or gaps you want to fill. The first step is to identify what you see yourself doing next. Once you’ve narrowed in on a target, categorize your skills by your subject matter expertise, core leadership traits, certificates, degrees, and awards. What could you add to your list of skills that would balance out your leadership skills for 2023?
- Prepare your transition message in your career marketing documents. The wisest executives will vet and hire a top executive resume writer to help them sharpen their transition messaging and strategy. Such an investment can pay off tenfold in more and better interviews, conversations, connections, opportunities, and salary packages. Solidifying an authentic message will match you to the role you want next with a polished and crisp presentation that fluidly communicates your value proposition.
- Keep an open mind and think big.Many executives unknowingly hold themselves back from higher-level roles they are, in fact, qualified for. With the help of an executive resume writer and career transition coach, you can increase or decrease your current P&L by 5X on average, secure a different tile, change industries, or secure your first public/paid board role.
To garner additional feedback from us as you consider your executive career transition options, book a complimentary and confidential call with us here.
