The higher you go, the harder it is to advance because you’re in more competitive territory. You have to stand out and offer something unique. Your best leadership asset at the top is your authentic leadership style — the one that gives you energy instead of draining you and the one that makes you effective at all times with all audiences.

If your authentic leadership style isn’t obvious to everyone who meets you, you have work to do to build your Invisible Resume that helps you land the executive job — and then succeed once you’re there.

In this three-part video series, I’ve covered several diverse aspects of your Invisible Leadership Resume, your global perspective, your leadership presence and, below, your authentic leadership style.

Part III: Build your authentic leadership style

The secret to developing an authentic leadership style is that you have to develop it yourself and take full responsibility for it. (read more…)

If you’re like most of us, you see people get promoted over your head that are less talented and less capable. This is particularly frustrating when you’re trying to make the tough leap from a management to a leadership position.

What have the folks getting promoted over you have learned that maybe you haven’t? That a strong leadership presence is one of the keys to being hired into the executive and C-suite ranks. And that your leadership presence is at the core of your Invisible Resume that helps you land the executive job, and succeed once you’re there.

In this three-part video series, I cover several diverse aspects of your Invisible Leadership Resume, your global perspective and your leadership presence and your authentic leadership style.

Part II: Develop Your Leadership Presence

Your leadership presence may not be what you think it is. It’s not about what you do, it’s about how others feel when they interact with you. (read more…)

Moving from managing to leading is a challenge because the skills that make you a good manager aren’t enough to help you excel in leadership positions. Men and women alike sometimes perceive the gap between managing and leading to be a “glass ceiling” when, in many cases, it’s not necessarily that at all; it’s a subtle group of skills you must have to be considered for leadership.

Many people who make it into leadership, even the ones who don’t appear to deserve it, have mastered skills that don’t show up on a traditional resume. They have built a strong Invisible Resume that helps them get into — and succeed — in the executive and C-suite ranks.

In this three-part video series, I’ll cover several diverse aspects of your Invisible Leadership Resume, your global perspective, your leadership presence and your authentic leadership style.

Part I: To be a leader, you must get out of the weeds

Leaders, especially those who will thrive in the C-suite, must understand the entire business, not just their area of expertise. (read more…)

Alex Churchill is the CEO and founder of VonChurch, a recruiting firm that specializes in the digital-entertainment industry, including social, gaming, mobile and interactive content. I spoke with Churchill about VonChurch’s digital recruiting methods, including the importance of expanding recruitment via social media.

Can you talk a little about your philosophy behind social media recruiting? Why is it so valuable in this day and age?

Communication is unstoppable. Initially, recruiters were the oil in the industry. Today, it is social media. When recruiters harness social media, they have the ability to become the oil again.

A hurdle to this is the commonly accepted thinking that Facebook and Twitter are a disruption to productivity. This is like thinking the world is flat.

Why? Because 33% of all people in 2011 found their next role via Facebook. Can you imagine being in one of the largest global recruiting companies and banning Facebook, the world’s largest social network where a third of all people find jobs? (read more…)

Mark Moore is the president of staffing firm Kavaliro. SmartBrief asked Moore about the methods Kavaliro uses to screen candidates’ online profiles and about measures job seekers can take to avoid having their online activities hurt their employment chances.

What are Kavaliro’s methods for screening candidate’s social media profiles? Is there any technology used?

At Kavaliro, we often perform formal background checks through partner companies. These days, many of these companies also conduct a social media screening. We also monitor the social profiles of candidates ourselves by utilizing sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Of course, we do not infringe on any employment discrimination laws and also support everyone’s right to free speech.

It seems obvious that a blatantly inappropriate Facebook photo might hurt someone’s employment chances. What are some less obvious items that people commonly post on Facebook that might cause them to miss out on job opportunities?

Many people applying for jobs don’t realize that anything can be perceived as polarizing one way or the other. (read more…)