Executives and corporate professionals who have in-demand result histories can be in the position of having employers create the 6-figure dream job they always wanted to court them to work at their companies. But what is most important is you have to know how to do it. Here are 5 steps to take to create your 6-figure dream job at your next employer:
(1) Define the Dream Job You Want & The Mindset to Land It – You must know what you want to do in your dream job. Take out a sheet of paper or open up a new Word document and brainstorm what you want and what you don’t want.
Want to work from home 2-4 days per week? Or 100% of the time? Write it down. Strongly desire getting an MBA paid for? Make note of it. Prefer to oversee an international team in countries where you haven’t worked before to expand your global reach? Jot it down. Are there specific initiatives you want to do in your next role? Put it on the list.
You have to envision what you want to do and write a narrative describing it. This will be one part of the foundation for your career document development and interview story preparation. You have to know what you want in order to get it.
(2) Formulate & Execute a Dream Job Landing Plan – Once you define the job you want, next envision dream companies where what you want to do, and how you want to do it, will be in demand. Research companies of all sizes and industries to identify ones that will have business situations that complement what you do and how you want to be employed. And even include some companies where you believe it won’t be possible—because once you do research on the goals and challenges of the organization, you will find angles in which to present your skills and results in a way that will appeal to the employer, making you irresistible.
Make a list of organizations, conferences, professional associations and contacts to reach out to share your desirable skill set and results history once you have your resume and profile completed.
(3) Design a Game-Changing Resume & LinkedIn Profile – Once you have identified the needs of your target employers, you will want to design your resume and profile to not only make you stand out from the crowd, but position you as the choice candidate who will do what the company wants, producing an ROI on the generous salary you’re going to seek.
Develop a visually strong resume and LinkedIn profile summary that not only speaks to what you want specifically, but will pointedly address what value you will bring to the prospective employer. Base this on your research. Outline related challenging situations you turned around on your documents that pertain to what the future company needs. You are creating marketing documents that start the process to motivating an employer to give you a dream 6-figure job—design documents that achieves this.
(4) Create Door-Opening Cover Letters, Email Notes and Phone Scripts – Gone are the days of long manifesto cover letters. Hiring managers and decision makers want to be approached with high-impact, well-researched, targeted, and concise communications when asking for meetings. Time is a highly controlled resource, so when reaching out to the contacts that can put you in a path to landing your dream job, be pointed in what you are asking for. Don’t meander in your request—nothing will kill your request faster.
When a candidate is direct, yet polite, combined with a strong results-driven background offering well-researched possible solutions to challenges the company is experiencing, that candidate comes across like a highly competent business partner in a class of his/her own—not someone groveling for a commonly defined job.
(5) Mastering the Interview To Land The Dream Job 6-Figure Offer – Clearly, you can’t go into an interview demanding what you want, no matter how good you are. So how do you generate demand for an employer to offer your dream job? Prior to attending the interview, be sure you have researched the organization’s goals and initiatives and put your hiring manager’s hat on to review your background. Ask yourself from the hiring manager’s perspective:
• How can I help this hiring manager exceed this goal?
• What ideas can I bring and execute that the organization possibly hasn’t thought of yet, or didn’t have the resources to implement if they did, that I can bring to realization?
• What challenges are the company experiencing currently that my experience can remedy?
While you included some of these points in your resume and profile in a surface manner to capture the reader’s attention, be prepared with detailed stories for the interview to impress the hiring manager. The interview is your opportunity to showcase how you can make a huge impact that they can’t live without! When you create this type of demand for what you do, you will have leverage to create the job you want and the employer will be happy to do it for you to join them—and not their competitor.
In today’s employment climate where talent is in demand, top executive performers and on-the-rise professionals can call the shots nowadays if they can demonstrate the huge value they will bring, justifying the 6-figure salary for the results they will produce. Setting up a plan and a suite of strong marketing documents that speak to the needs of potential employers is the way to make this happen for you this year. These tips should help.
Lisa Rangel, founder and managing director of www.ChameleonResumes.com, LLC (a Forbes Top 100 Career Website), is a Certified Professional Resume Writer, Job Landing Consultant and 13-year rRecruiter. Lisa is also a paid moderator for LinkedIn’s Premium Career Group, which has 1,300,000+ members.
