Want the CEO to want you? Prepare, prepare, prepare!

What jazzes a career coach most? A joyful call from a client who has landed a dream job!

This morning I received one of those calls, and hours later I’m still smiling. During the call, we discussed what had worked best during my client’s short, 3-month job hunt (he’s a senior-level sales management executive in the technology / Web 2.0 space who resigned from his last position because of severe burnout after years of accelerated growth within a company he helped build).

He told me the resume we prepared -- a precision document strategized specifically to the needs of his target market -- worked like a charm. He did a mass mailing and made 40 cold calls. In his words, the resume “got air speed in a hurry” and he was soon fielding interview requests all over the country.

But landing the job after getting on the short list wasn’t as easy as this stellar exec expected. Although we’d done extensive work on his value proposition and brand for resume and interview prep -- tying both to multiple and specific examples of success in many key areas -- he’d not reviewed our work thoroughly and had not followed our game plan of scripting a variety of 30-second commercials and play-by-play case studies designed to irresistibly move decision makers towards an offer.

After he fumbled his first interview, he realized that out-competing at elite levels was going to take some real work. He prepared a precision attack plan for handling just about any interview question and “do the job to get the job” scenario he could imagine. He also polished an extensive white paper case study and used that to great advantage when interviewing. He told me “I wanted everything I said to be magnetic – to attract a follow on question that will compel them to dig deeper.”

Fast forward to recent weeks when he landed on the short list for his dream job -- a job with his dream company, with his dream product, within a growth industry, and with an office just 20 minutes from his home. He nailed every interview, and was told by the CEO, “You’re the most impressive candidate I’ve had in my office in seven years.”

Within days, the CEO offered him the job -- and a very generous compensation package. The comp was far more than my client anticipated, but he felt that at his level he would be expected to counter. He told me, “I thought, this is a GREAT package. But what the heck, why not be bold and counter with requests that really show how much confidence I have in my ability to make things happen?”

Negotiations were completed in record time, with the CEO telling the board, “I’ll stake my career that this is the right guy for us. I don't want to lose him. Give him what he wants.” My client walked away with 90% of his bold counter offer and a promise to be considered for company officer status within a year, despite the fact that he’s the youngest GM in the company’s history.

Now, just days after his hire, we’ve already made plans to update his resume, create a new executive bio, revise his profiles on LinkedIn and other networking sites, create a media plan for speaking / writing gigs, and coach around leveraging this job to raise his visibility within his industry.

Why so soon? Because he anticipates that within a few years his company will likely be sold and he’ll need his next job. When that happens, he wants to be the hunted not the hunter, and he wants to control his destiny.

Precision preparation…for the finish line and beyond!

Posted by Deb Dib

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