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Professional Development - Energizing!

This past week, I had the pleasure of attending a professional development meeting with my colleagues from Partner Search Alliance - also called PSA (http://abelnmagy.com/partner-alliance).  We get together twice each year for one reason - to learn together.  We are all Partners/Owners of our retained/executive search businesses.  We each have different specialties and markets (non-overlapping). We are also all friends, making these trips educational and fun - a winning combination.

Professional Development - this is one of the four areas all of our clients actually want from candidates they hire for their senior/executive positions.  These four requirements, regardless of the industry or function include:

  • Professional Development: what have you as a candidate done recently to stay up-to-date in your field
  • Cross Functional Knowledge: how do you demonstrate that you, as a functional leader in your organization, truly understand your business at the enterprise level
  • Accomplishments: being responsible for things is not enough; the key - what have you accomplished - and how did you accomplish it
  • Strategy and Tactics: functional leaders or people in the C-Suite need to think strategically; they also need to be comfortable getting into the tactical level when needed (and it is often needed in small to medium businesses/organizations)

Rarely part of a resume or even mentioned

Resumes are full of lists - usually company names, titles and a litany of responsibilities. At the end, stuck at the bottom of a page (with little space remaining) is the Education section.  It lists the degree(s) the person received.  The assumption is that the degree came before the experience listed.

What have you done recently?

Professional development is rarely mentioned, yet learning new approaches and trends for getting your work done is critical to success. Why would a company want to hire someone who is stuck in the education/knowledge set of many years ago? While listing it is critical (for the resume writer and reader), actively participating in development activities is wonderful and energizing.  The benefits to you and your organization are considerable.

Energized

I came back from my three days away with renewed energy and new approaches to how we can better serve our clients. And the next gathering of the search partners is already being planned.  There is so much to learn - and we want to assure we are the best search partner for you, our clients and candidates

Ask me about PSA (Partner Search Alliance) and our continued development