Navigating Your Way to the Top Executive Position Without Recourse to Job Advertisements
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In the competitive world of executive-level positions, standing out from the crowd is crucial. Gina Riley, the creator of Career Velocity, a comprehensive career transition system, believes that executives should move beyond reactive job searching and focus on strategic self-positioning and message alignment to create stronger, proactive visibility [1].
Clarifying a unique value proposition (UVP) can help executives network more effectively and receive more relevant introductions. Riley suggests that executives should engage in private strategy calls focused on a high-level diagnostic of their personal message to identify where it might be leaking. This approach helps executives clarify and sharpen their message, enabling more proactive and strategic visibility [1].
Being qualified isn't enough at this level; being visible is what moves the needle in executive transitions. Many strategic executive roles are not advertised publicly, but rather found through conversations, referrals, and quiet recommendations. Investing in thought leadership is often overlooked in an executive job search, but it can help executives build credibility and expose themselves to fresh problems and networks [1].
Short-term or project-based consulting allows for building new credibility and exposure to fresh problems and networks. Consulting engagements can turn into full-time roles, board invitations, or referrals due to visibility. Consulting can be a direct path for executives to prove relevance in a new arena [1].
Riley teaches executives to use consulting as a bridge to create opportunities instead of waiting to be picked. Volunteer leadership is a career accelerator, showing leadership and creating visibility that can lead to introductions, endorsements, or direct invitations for roles. At the executive level, decision-makers are evaluating a candidate's leadership style, not just their technical ability [1].
Soft skills such as influence, collaboration, and trust-building can make a candidate memorable and promotable. Trust is often a deciding factor at the executive level, often outranking talent. Sharing a perspective that aligns with the kind of problems you want to solve reinforces relevance and is associated with expertise by decision-makers [1].
In summary, executives should aim to create proactive visibility by intentionally managing the clarity and impact of their professional narrative. This means shifting from merely reacting to job postings toward intentionally managing the clarity and impact of your professional narrative—ensuring your leadership story is aligned, powerful, and unambiguous to key decision-makers. By diagnosing and refining how you communicate your value, executives can create stronger, proactive visibility that attracts the opportunities they want [1].
[1] This information is based on articles and interviews with Gina Riley and her work at Career Velocity. For more information, visit career-velocity.com.
- Gina Riley, the creator of Career Velocity, suggests that executives should invest in thought leadership to build credibility and expose themselves to new problems and networks, thus creating proactive visibility.
- In addition to engaging in private strategy calls to clarify and sharpen their message, executives can use short-term consulting as a bridge to create opportunities and show leadership in volunteer roles, which can lead to direct invitations for roles at the executive level.
- Since trust is often a deciding factor at the executive level, executives should focus on developing soft skills such as influence, collaboration, and trust-building to make themselves memorable and promotable, as these skills can reinforce their relevance and expertise to key decision-makers.
