A 2011 ExecuNet study asked a wide range of hiring managers what they consider to be the top ten characteristics that they look for in hiring senior management talent.

At the top of the list was leadership.

The study explained that leadership – whether it is personal or as a leader – is so important because this is the characteristic that is most exemplified in successful employees.

I get asked quite often if career networking groups are useful to people in job transition. The line of inquiry usually goes “why do I want to surround myself with unemployed people – they can’t help me”.

This concludes our blog series on developing a personal marketing plan based on the great insights from John O’Brien, CEO of The Sales Talent Group.

Here is the blueprint that John has developed based on the best practices he has gathered:

Before continuing our best practice discussion on developing a personal marketing plan, let’s review the first three steps outlined in previous blogs:

1.  Create a purpose and mission for yourself
2.  Set clearly written and defined goals
3.  Complete a product and marketing analysis

Next we will move onto to step 4 - identifying your target markets, and step 5 - creating career marketing materials.

In my January 3rd blog, I began a series on how to develop an effective personal marketing plan based on the insights shared with me by John O’Brien, CEO of The Sales Talent Group.

In that post, we covered step 1 - the need to develop a purpose, and step 2 – the need to develop a defined set of goals. Now let’s move on to step 3.

3. Develop A Personal Sales and Marketing Analysis

The Frontier Group was mentioned in a recent Atlanta Journal Constitution article, 12 job search tips for 2012. The article summarizes 12 great job tips for 2012. To read the article, go to: http://www.ajc.com/business/12-job-search-tips-1291030.html.

I recently had an excellent executive recruiter – John O’Brien, CEO of The Sales Talent Group – speak at my career networking (C3G Sales sub group) on how recruiters operate and how candidates can best work with them.

John was also gracious enough to share with us his “Developing Your Personal Marketing Plan”. The document is a summary of his insights gathered over fifteen years of recruiting and over 17,000 reviewed resumes.

As the year winds down I wanted to send out one last blog on random thoughts on job search and career management.

The remaining weeks of the year can be used to take time off to recharge and re-focus but they also represent a great opportunity to have a productive search period.

Focus Your Job Search – Identify Target Companies

In my previous blog I wrote how focus is the key in your job search. Focus creates opportunity because you draw the straightest line for a potential decision maker in terms of connecting you with a position within their organization.

We may at first consider this focused approach will limit our opportunities because it will place us out of consideration for a number of potential positions. The opposite is actually true.

Focus Your Job Search - Define What You Want

One of the key premises in marketing is that successful brands need to focus.

Al and Laura Reis – two of the leading branding experts in the field – wrote a book on this very subject titled - Focus: The Future Of Your Company Depends On It.

In the book they talk about how to build a brand by clearly defining its purpose.  They say: