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Executive Outplacement . . . A Powerful Plan Or A Crapshoot?
What’s an executive outplacement plan got to do with you? Well, if you’re an executive, and you’re entering the job market for the first time in a long time, you better know what to do in today’s sophisticated job marketplace. And you better understand the needs and expectations of today’s savvy employers. That means you need a sophisticated outplacement plan. Because the alternative is a crap shoot! Now, just to set the record straight, when I say a plan, I do NOT mean what most outplacement people think you have to do to find a job . . . write an award-winning resume, mass distribute it to some job sites, mail and email it to a bunch of companies, maybe some agencies and recruiters. And, of course, answer plenty of job opening ads in The Wall Street Journal and the Sunday Times.. In fact, that old-fashioned approach I’ve just described is what I mean by a “crap shoot!” Why? Because you’re leaving everything to chance. You have no control over the results. And you’re condemning yourself to weeks and possibly months with few or no results. And you won’t even know why! We’ve all been brainwashed into thinking that the resume is the focus of a successful outplacement plan. The better the resume the better the results. The wider the distribution the more interviews. Nothing could be further from the truth. Particularly these days. You need a powerful outplacement plan . . . one that makes person-to-person contact with a decision-maker (who could be your next boss) a priority. At your level, no one is going to hire you on the basis of your resume. Employers these days could really care less what you used to do for someone else. They want to hear how you are going to make a difference to their organization. How you’re going to fit into their team. So, an intelligent outplacement plan comes out of a different starting point. If the secret to job search success is showing a hiring decision-maker how you can be part of the team, then all of your efforts must be focused on how to accomplish that. Your resume simply doesn’t get it! What you need, instead, is a plan of action that proceeds, step-by-step, to get you face-to-face with the person who could be your next boss. And then, once you’re there, shows you how to grab his/her attention by representing yourself as a solution to issues you’ve uncovered about the organization and the interests of the decision-maker. Is this easy to do? No. But if you have a good executive outplacement plan, you’ll spend a lot less time with infinitely more rewards than following the old-fashioned methods. A successful 21st Century executive outplacement plan has to take more of a non-traditional career advancement approach. In fact, with this kind of plan you could be meeting face-to-face with a prospective employer in a matter of days. And you could lock up a high-paying job in as little as two weeks!
 
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