Candidate Resources

You have been identified as a potential source or candidate and receive that all important phone call from an executive search firm like Boyden. Are you prepared? Have you perfected your elevator pitch? How do you ensure you are not caught off guard, or worse, screened out of a search before you've even had an opportunity to prove yourself?

If you’re a leading executive, it is important that you understand the benefits and limitations of social networking. A few years ago, you may have heard of MySpace and thought social networking was a game for teens--something your college-age son or younger sister did, but something that had little importance to you or your career. While that may have been closer to the truth back then, fast forward a few years and you couldn't be further from reality with that mindset.

Last year, the Convention Industry Council launched 'Face Time. It Matters.' a grassroots industry campaign designed to promote the benefits of face-to-face meetings. According to their research, based on surveys and interviews with leading executives and focus groups.

You've heard it a million times, but hear it once more: Times have changed. Responsibility for your professional security has shifted from your employer to you. If the company won’t “take care of you,” then you must take care of yourself. It is up to you to manage your entire career.

Whether in an active job search or just proactively managing your career progression, building relationships with retained executive search consultants is an essential element to a successful career strategy. BlueSteps, the executive career management service of the global Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), recommends that executives establish a system of targeted outreach to search consultants who work within their own specific function, industry, and region. Sending a mass email to all the consultants you can find is strongly discouraged, and will very quickly place you on the consultant's list of executives who do not fully understand the retained search process.