She also founded and co-led firm’s global Creative Practice, which specializes in content, editorial and design roles. Prior to joining Russell Reynolds, she drove innovation at Time Inc. as the Director of Digital Strategy and as a member of the firm’s Corporate Strategy group. Jessica also served as the Director of Business Planning for Next Issue Media, a digital startup funded by major content companies including Conde Nast, Hearst and News Corp. Her experience is rooted in marketing, including her work at Limited Brands and Grey Global Group. Jessica received her B.S. in Marketing from New York University and her M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

I can't tell you how many people have called me and said, I just got a call about a job, or I just got laid off. I haven't updated my resume in five years, and I have to get it to the recruiter on Monday. But, that isn’t the best strategy.

Keep Your Resume, LinkedIn, and Relationships Fresh.

If you can, as you are hitting those milestones, and basically writing the bullets on your resume in terms of what you do, jot them down. Try to update your LinkedIn resume in real time or every 6 to 12 months so that it doesn't become this Herculean task when you need it. And try to keep your network fresh and active when there isn't the agenda of looking for a job because it'll just make life easier. And then last but not least, always take the call. Even if the job that a company or recruiter is reaching out about isn't something you're necessarily going to take. That's the opportunity to build a relationship.

Relationships.

Get in a call at that company or recruiter and say, you know what, this isn't right for me. But here are two to three people in my network that I think would be right for the role. And you know, in the future, here are opportunities that would be of interest to me, and maybe let's reconnect in 12 months. Those are, again, things you should always try to do when you can.

But the main focus of this is an active job search.

First, Define What’s Next.

So the first thing you need to do is define what's next. And this might be straightforward for some of you. Maybe you've been in finance your whole career, and you've been a CFO and you want to stay a CFO. Doesn't mean it's easier, but it's more straightforward. I'm sure many of you are multi-hyphen, you've done many things. And you can also do many things. And that can be overwhelming, especially, when there's a world out there of opportunity. I try to advise people who are in that bucket to pick two to three lanes. It'll be helpful for you to focus your search. And it'll also be really helpful for the recruiter on the other side of the call or conversation.

I've had people tell me, I've met with a recruiter and he didn't know what to do with me, he couldn't put me in a box, right? You don't want anyone to put you in a box. You don't want anyone to create the narrative for you. They might look at your CV and say, oh, you know what, this person's always been a CMO. They're not right. So get ahead of it. And not only pick your lanes, but what's your elevator pitch, what's your story? To bring this to life a little bit, you could have three lanes. I'll use my CMO example. Here's my path. I have been a CMO, I'm ready to be a CEO. But if there is a CMO opportunity at a public company, that's something I'm open to because that's the last box I haven't checked in the CMO realm. I'd really love to be a CEO, but I recognize I probably can't do that at the same size of company I've been at so maybe if there's like 100 million, sub 100-million-dollar company that needs a marketing oriented CEO, that could be right. Bucket number three. I'm really fascinated by private equity. I've worked in startups, and I love the consumer space. So if there's an opportunity to be a partner at a PE firm, that would be great. So clear, focused, you're also explaining the rationale behind your lanes. And again, that's going to be helpful for you to navigate your search, and also help the other person identify potential opportunities and also not limit yourself to one job, one title, one role.

That, to me, can often be the hardest part. Especially again, if you can do many things.

Nice to Have vs Must Have

The rest of this is really, I call the logistics, the must haves and nice to haves. These are things that you should definitely think about and think through, especially in terms of the trade-offs of potentially the different lanes. Because when you get on the call with a recruiter or company, they're going to ask you about all of this:

· Are you open to relocation?

· Do you need to work remote?

· And would you relocate for one role, but not another?

· Similarly, are you industry agnostic?

· Are there certain industries that you gravitate towards more than others?

· Are you open to startups?

You get the gist of just figuring out the where, because you don't want to waste anyone's time and your time. If you absolutely don't want to work at a startup or in a particular industry, you don't want to be getting those calls. You still take them but you want to make sure that people know what you're interested in.

Lastly, title and compensation. Some people really care about titles personally. Some don't. Decide where you sit along that spectrum. And then similarly for compensation:

· How flexible are you in thinking about this next job and your journey?

· What's your appetite for cash versus equity?

· How much cash do you need to live right?

We all have mortgages, tuitions, fill in the blank or whatever you need. Figure out again, what does that look like so when you have a call with recruiter or company, you are prepared to answer the question. Hopefully you have this figure, you have it figured out completely, or you're at 90% there. Try to put pen to paper and think about this before you start having the conversations with your network. And to that end, I think it's really important for everyone to establish, I call it like your personal board of directors.

Personal Board of Directors

Those are maybe the two to three people that know you really well, and you trust that can, if you haven't figured out everything I shared on the prior page, maybe workshop it with you and say, I actually think you'd be really good at this. Why haven't you thought about this, or you really should have this title. People who know you and you trust. And again, a good combination of that is mentor, former boss, a peer who's maybe going through it with you, and you can share opportunities with each other and benchmark comp. And potentially an executive coach.

I think an executive coach can be really, really useful. But I don't think it's a requirement. I think if you have a really strong network, and again, you have this personal board who can guide you, you don't necessarily need one. But if there are gaps in your network, or potentially gaps in your skill set or public persona, an executive coach can be a really helpful tool for you as you embark on your job search.

So you've figured out what you want to do, where you want to do it, you have people to guide you, then it's time to plant the seed that you are looking. Clearly, you want to reach out to your existing network. Within that, I like to always tell people, who do you know that's always getting the call. I know certain people, my friends are like, oh, yeah, I just got a call about this CEO search or that search. Maybe they're more networked than you are. Maybe they just have a bigger reputation with search firms. Call that person. And that way, if they turn down a job, or maybe it's not the right fit, they can then recommend you and say, you know what, this isn't right for me, but you should call Jess because she would be perfect. Just another way to get on someone's radar.

And then last but not least, executive search firms. And that's kind of the meat of a lot of this presentation. I know firsthand, I was getting calls from search firms before I started working and it can definitely be a black box to many. The ecosystem of search firms is pretty vast. There's contingency first search firms, then there's retained search firms.

Get to Know the Big 5 Search Firms

There are some boutique search firms, but I think for this group at this level, you should get to know what we call the Big Five. That's Egon Zehnder, Heidrick and Struggles, Korn Ferry, Russell Reynolds Associates and Spencer Stewart. I compare it to almost like Bain BCG and McKinsey. Everyone does the same thing. It really comes down to the relationship that you have with the recruiter. And then also the relationships the firm have with particular clients.

And within the search firms, you need to find the specific recruiter that works for you, going back to picking your lanes. That might mean one recruiter at a search firm. There might be two different people at a firm that you should connect with, and you'll figure that out as you go. But to give you the lay of the land in terms of structure, almost every firm is kind of matrix. First, there's offices and locations which clearly in the world we're living in is becoming a little less important. It can be salient depending on the industry that you're targeting or where you want to work. For instance, if you want a Silicon Valley company, more than likely the San Francisco office or the Palo Alto office might have those connections.

So you'll first see when you go to a website of any of these firms you start diving in that they're organized by location, and then either function or vertical. There's functional practices like CFO practice, the CMO practice, the legal practice, that are industry agnostic. They do those searches across any industry, and they just focus on the function. And then there are people like me at Russell Reynolds. I sat in the consumer practice, so my purview was much broader in terms of the types of roles I filled, but I always did it within the consumer space. I wasn't doing B2B work, or focused on anything outside of the consumer space. That was my network area of expertise. And then lastly, there are different levels and roles. I would advise this group to really try to tap into the partner that leads either the function or the vertical, because they're really going to own the relationship with the particular clients and the search. So that's the lay of the land.

The biggest question is how do you build a relationship with the search firm?

The best way, like with anything, is to try to get a warm introduction. And that's going back to your network. When you start your search, you should ask your friend, who do you know at any of the search firms? Can you introduce me?

And the reason this is particularly important for retained search firms is they work for clients. We love being introduced to new candidates. But at any one time, a recruiter is focused on it, depending on the structure of the firm 10 to 15 searches. And our main focus is serving our client and filling those roles.

So if we get an email or call from someone that isn't a fit for one of those searches, it doesn't mean we won't want to talk to you. It's just not a big player. It's not as big of a priority. I will tell people, if you don't hear back from a recruiter for a few weeks, don't take it personally. They're just focused on their clients, and they're focused on their current search work. Nudge them. But it's just an important dynamic to understand because there are people who will reach out, because maybe they're used to working with a contingency recruiter, and you think that the recruiter at an executive search firm might work on your behalf.

And it's flipped around at a retained search firm. So when you finally have the call or your email exchange with the recruiter, you want to share your what's next, your path, your resume, and then always offer to help. Again, common theme of this presentation. There's nothing more that we appreciate than a recommendation. Remember, a recruiter might be working on 10 searches right now. And if you can offer a recommendation from your network, then you're going to win really good favor with the recruiter. And it's the beginning of a relationship. This is really a long game I have. I still have relationships with candidates and clients of mine that started 10 years ago, and many of them I placed in a role become my go to phone call. When I start a search, I'll say, "Hey, Greg, I'm kicking off a CEO search for these companies. Who do you know, who do you recommend and why?". Just a little bit of context around how that dynamic works.

This is a long-term relationship. It should be someone you get to know and you trust and you want to talk to.

How as a client do you choose a recruiting firm, right?

This is a relationship and you're leading, again, a C suite search or hiring for a board role. You're going to be talking to the recruiter, sometimes daily, sometimes weekly, but it's really important that there's kind of chemistry and understanding in addition to being clearly qualified to do the role. So shifting on to the conversation when you're a candidate on a search led by an executive recruiter, you should be super transparent.

Recruiters are like lawyers. In retained search, we get paid no matter what. Let's say we always deliver and finish the search, but even if we don't, we still get a fee and we can do that because there is value in our strategic advisory. There is quality in our work. And we always operate with confidentiality and with the highest level of integrity, or we wouldn't be able to function.

If you have circumstances in your life that maybe you don't want to share with the hiring manager, maybe you're pregnant, and you just don't know how to navigate that, or your spouse is also looking for a job, anything that might affect your job search, you should share with the recruiter personally or professionally. I also talk about bench and salary requirements. I think candidates can often be hesitant to share with a recruiter. When I say, what are your salary expectations, you're not negotiating against yourself. Remember, a recruiter, yes, they're working for the client, but they are operating in your best interest as well as the client because as a candidate, one day, you will hopefully be my client too. And there's no set, you do your best to balance both sides of the equation.

Again, be as honest as you can be about your salary requirements. It's just really helpful for the recruiter to help set you up for success and also not waste time on on either sides of that conversation. Also, let them know if there's other jobs you're interviewing for, if there's any timeliness around, that you're expecting an offer in two weeks, and can they expedite the process. Things like that.