Self Executive Career Coaching

In the age of pandemic disruption, what do managers have to focus on to manage their professionalism at their best?
Organizational skills and personal reputation are at the forefront.

We are in the age of pandemic disruption.
Globalization and re-localization are changing their paradigm; the managerial talent pool continues to increase due to diversity and new generations, but skills shortage and war for talents are a matter of fact. Moreover, businesses are becoming increasingly less pyramidal and less top-down. So today Managers should focus on self-value, growing professionally and working on self-development, rather than just building a career. The notion of executive career is therefore based more on organizational skills and networking than on preconceived knowledges.
Growing professionally means being aware of one’s own organizational skills and managerial actions, as well as asking superiors, partners and coaches for feedback. It is important to pay attention to your soft skills, to have your own action plan and to be aware of your personal brand. In short, self-career management.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Continuous learning is necessary to keep up with the market and to be aware of your own managerial wellbeing.
It begins with defining your goals, identifying the skills to achieve them and analyzing at what stage of this path you are.
“If I leave this specific company with my current background, will I be able to reposition myself in the market adequately?”
If yes, it is best to “stay on the market” because the business and professional worlds are constantly evolving.
If the answer is negative, managers shouldn’t feel discouraged, but rather continue to improve themselves according to specific guidelines.

HOW TO TRAIN

These days managers are asked to fulfill different targets simultaneously: from large-scale goals and singular functions, to one’s own professional growth.
It is necessary to have a comprehensive approach which includes acquiring technical and managerial capabilities for internal organization, as well as external relational skills.
The support of an executive coach can be decisive in this way.
It is important to prepare strategies to strengthen skills, keeping in mind coaching techniques for building relationships and networking.
If managers are particularly eager, they can start acting on their own, following a few guidelines.

WHICH BUSINESS TO TARGET?

The choice of “target companies” depends on one’s background and specific goals.
Managers with experience in foreign multinational corporations or in entrepreneurial businesses may have different paths and opportunities to choose from.
New businesses and startups are good opportunities, but of course not for everyone.

INTERNATIONAL RELOCATION: IS A MUST.

At high managerial levels, internationals experiences are a must.
They indicate an open-minded and risk-taking attitude, as well as the development of distinctive skills (i.e. ability to engage with different cultures, to negotiate at several levels with various rules etc.)

NETWORKING & REPUTATION

Networking with the sole goal of taking advantage of opportunities, thus for repositioning, is a practice that does not pay off much in the long term, and, in recent times, neither in the short period. The receiver (head hunters in primis) is usually aware of this instrumental goal and will be skeptical, though perhaps subconsciously.
Not only is networking for “learning and sharing” more noble, but also decidedly more useful.
The key combination is networking and collaboration.
Build your professional brand” is an even more relevant slogan, both on professional large social networking and in vertical communities. Reputation is important because managers have to build confidence in themselves and in their resources. This is fundamental to develop a critical thinking and to respond proactively to challenges, without letting themselves get buried by other’s expectations.

DIGITAL

Digital is another key word that some people confuse with a mere technological skill.
Today, people managers are asked to navigate the new, while appreciating (and taking advantage of) younger generations, who can bring a new approach to business (reverse mentoring), thus helping challenge the status quo. In short, to connect the dots in a different way.

DECISIVE FACTORS

Overall, the axis of current career self-management consists of overseeing your hard skills and business command, as well as soft skills like organizational and people management, as they let you be perceived as a real decision maker, enabler of change and value carrier.
Businesses need highly reliable players whose moral strength, fitting with the specific company’s culture, is clear even in the worst situations.

Job search tools & channels

Looking for a job is simple, but not easy. In order to make your job search as smooth and effective as possible, you need to understand which pieces of the puzzle you need to make the entire process work. What follows is a description and tips around the most important job search tools – prepared by Career Angels who will also share advice on how to approach the four job search channels.

JOB SEARCH TOOLS

CV

The most crucial job search tool is your CV as it is your business card. It is the first impression you will make on a recruiter or your potential boss, that is why its quality – in terms of both content and graphics – is so important. The entire document should be prepared with the reader in mind – in other words: include only relevant information. Consequently, if you pursue different career opportunities, you might end up having two or three CV versions. Important: start your CV with a well-written profile summary and provide tangible successes and projects under your Professional Experience section. Last, but not least: proofread the file! Double-check everything: formatting, grammar, spelling etc.

CV ATS

If you apply to a job through a website, chances are that you are uploading your CV to a so-called ATS – Applicant Tracking System. That’s a software that allows managing candidates and most of them have a module that filters and matches CVs against job descriptions. As you can imagine, not all programs are created equal with big differences in functionality and “CV reading capability”. For you, as a candidate, it means that you have to adjust the formatting to be ATS-compliant  → don’t include: tables, graphics, text boxes or columns! And before uploading your CV, use e.g. JobScan.co to double-check if you have all necessary keywords for the role you are applying to.

LinkedIn profile

LinkedIn is an effective tool when it comes to your job search, i.a. because it has a very comprehensive job board – but not only. With a great profile, you can attract recruiters or make applying more effective. Here’s what you need to know: LinkedIn uses 2 algorithms that are interesting from a job seeker’s point of view: 1) it positions candidates who apply to job ads; you have to analyze the job ads with regard to skills (given by the so-called job poster as well as those which are available for premium users) and 2) shows recruiters which members are active candidates (available for all users at “My dashboard” and in “Settings”) – it is important to properly complete this part. Remember: don’t copy / paste your CV onto the platform. Describe only your last 7-10 years or 3 workplaces briefly, and do not include data that isn’t public for confidentiality reasons.

Cover e-mail

While sending your CV to decision makers or recruiters, you will stumble across some obstacles. Firstly: you want them to open your e-mail. Secondly: once they have read it, you want them to open your CV instead of hitting the “delete” button. Thirdly: you want them to read the whole document after they have read your profile summary. Fourthly: you want to be invited to an interview. The third and the fourth obstacle can be overcome by an exceptionally good CV. The first and the second – by a well-written motivation letter… that was some time ago… nowadays the “cover e-mail” has replaced the motivation letter. It needs to be written for the eyes of the reader. It must be specific and interesting enough for the receiver to want to open your attached CV.

Job search tracking (CRM)

It is recommended to keep track of your job search process in an organized manner, ideally divided into the channels with relevant links and the entire contact history. The best format? A simple spreadsheet! It is like a CRM for your job search that will help you monitor when and where to follow-up and calculate your job search KPIs like response or interview rate. That way you will always know if you are on the right track!

 

JOB SEARCH CHANNELS

Now that we have defined the most important tools, we will move on to the channels. There are four job hunting channels for which we have calculated their efficiency by collecting client data about accepted job offers in the last 3 years: direct approach (43.3%), networking (27.33%), job ads (15.67%) and headhunters (13.67%). In the following paragraphs, we will show you how those numbers have changed due to COVID-19. In other words, the statistics for the last three years differ from the numbers for 2020.

Direct contact

Despite common belief, networking is not the most effective job search channel, but it is “direct contact”. The way it works: depending on your seniority and difficulty of your job search goal, make a list of min. 60-120 companies. Identify and email your potential boss directly. Why does this method work so well? Because demonstrating proactivity is valued by potential employers. And – you are going straight to the source – the so-called hidden job market. Thanks to this approach, a company might open a role that wasn’t planned, they might offer you a project or include you in their talent pool. Pro tip: don’t take shortcuts via LinkedIn – make the effort of finding the right email address. It will pay off in a much higher response rate!

Networking

One way to generate job offers is to skillfully take advantage of your network. How do you elegantly communicate that you are considering a career move? Who do you tell? Who not? How do you tell them? What information or favors should you ask for? Which not? In person? By email? Over the phone? It is recommended you audit your current network and prepare strategies for different segments in order to prepare a proper networking plan. The efficiency rate in 2020 for the networking channel was 23%. Pro tip: start strategically networking 6-12 months before actively starting your job search.

Job ads

What is the first thing people usually do when it comes to looking for a job? Search for opportunities on job portals. This can be an effective channel, IF you understand how ATS work. According to the statistics from TopResume, 75% of CVs are never seen by “human” recruiters. In other words: abide by strict formatting rules to make the CV ATS-compliant and always, always, always adapt the CV to the exact key words of the job description. A great tool: JobScan.co! Read more about it in the Step-by-step guide on how to hack ATS . Done correctly, it can generate an efficiency of 26%!

Headhunters

Identify and contact 30-50 headhunters per country that you are actively interested in. Note: countries with a population of >30 million are city-driven, which means that you will have to do additional research on the cities that you are actively interested in working and living. This channel had an efficiency of 19% in 2020. Some might wonder: why contact so many? Because headhunters work on behalf of the employer, not the job seeker! You will have to reach out to a certain amount of recruitment agencies or Executive Search firms to cover 80-90% of active recruitment processes in your country of interest.

By now, you have probably noticed that you should treat the job hunting process like a project: establish a time line and milestones, track your progress and calculate your KPIs. With all that information, we hope your entire job search process will go much more smoothly for you.

 

If you are an active student or alumni of MIP Business School who feels stuck or lost or frustrated in their job search, you can book a free 30-min consultation with Career Angels to help you identify improvement areas or share feedback on your CV.

Send an email to: Bichl.Sandra@CareerAngels.eu 

Subject: Career Consultation / MIP

 

Becoming the leader of my career: a tough path to the goal

Closeup shot of two businesspeople shaking hands in an office

Three pillars of training at MIP are high-level courses, a strong community to rely on and the mandate to be the leaders of our careers.

As we want to lead the development of our working life, we need to train to recognise, build and exploit the opportunities to achieve our goals: MIP has structured its Career Development Center to train Part-time MBA candidates, the students’ community at large and alumni in planning and executing their strategy to succeed. The program proposed for this training foresees different tools and opportunities in order to develop career-leading skills.

FLEXA is the main tool available to improve skill-awareness: I introduced myself to my digital mentor, describing the functional area and the industry of interest and then, through a structured test, I was given a deep insight into my skills. The FLEXA platform gave me a score on hard, soft and digital skills, highlighting my weaknesses and suggesting articles, courses and other training to fill in the gaps: my path of continuous learning keeps on daily to reinforce my skills and provide endless training. Along with FLEXA, other platforms help us to be aware of the power of our resume (like VMock) or the state of job opportunities (like JobTeaser).

Career Workshops are two-hour webinars held by experienced consultants and headhunters: before taking those courses, I was acting more out of enthusiasm or a feeling of discomfort, but then I learned how to effectively define my professional goals in order to make them specific, achievable and timely. I felt like an alchemist: motivation was the fire to ignite the reaction, my skills, competences and passions the ingredients, opportunities and constraints the alembic through which to distil my goals. The workshop trainers also gave me hints and suggestions as to how to structure my career goals into a road map of intermediate targets, learning how to analyse and recognise the best fit between my goals and the needs of the market.

Finally, I can’t wait to have my one-to-one consultancy meeting: the Career Development Center experts will be available to understand my goals, discuss my plan and help me to evaluate any possible improvements. As I was starting from a very foggy condition, I’m forcing myself to do a great job on my own before this meeting, in order to be able to exploit the consultants’ experience in the best way possible.

This tough path to define my goals and the targets for achieving them will enable me to take advantage of the great networking opportunities offered by MIP. Meetings with HR and headhunters, orienteering sessions and networking with colleagues and alumni are the best testing ground for refining my plan and my storytelling and ̶ why not? ̶ to lay down the basis for future opportunities.

 

About the author
Fabrizio Liponi

My name is Fabrizio and I work as a tunnel engineer in the construction of Underground Line 4 of Milan. Born, raised, studied, living and working in Milan: I love my city and I’m proud to take part in building its future. Travel addicted, I love to meet people and different cultures.

The Global Talent Recruiting Day goes digital

In recent years, MIP Politecnico di Milano has worked hard on the potential of digital learning, to respond to the need for greater flexibility and personalisation and to guarantee high standards to its students, as recognized by the latest Financial Times Ranking.

In line with this strategy, the School decided to use even more this know-how to continue to provide education and services, in order to minimize the inconvenience caused by the evolution of the situation linked to the Coronavirus.

Indeed, for the very first time, the annual Global Talent Recruiting Day, will turn digital and be fully managed online, through a digital platform.

Moreover, it will be powered by FLEXA, MIP’s innovative digital platform, featuring the latest Microsoft artificial intelligence tools, designed for students and companies.

On April 3rd companies and candidates, who will accept this challenge, will be able to meet in a virtual meeting room and schedule interviews throughout the day.

The event will host leader companies from different sectors and our International Specialising Masters and  Full Time MBA candidates, coming from more than 30 countries all over the world.

In the end, MIP first digital Global Recruiting Day is also a unique opportunity to exploit the potentialities of digitalization for both candidates and recruiters.

The first ones will meet HR and Managers of top Employers representing different Industry Sectors and the second ones will be able to find new talents among the best in the world, without moving from home!

Global Talent Recruiting Day

MIP and Politecnico di Milano are facing the emergency of these days, thanks to a consolidated expertise on DIGITAL, implementing a rapid and effective turn on distance learning. Here the recognition of the Financial Times.
In line with this strategy, we are glad to confirm the annual Global Talent Recruiting Day which will be managed on a digital platform.

Companies, assigned to their own sector (Technology & Digital | Industrial & Energy| Retail & Consumer Goods| Luxury, Fashion & Lifestyle| Consulting & Finance) will have the opportunity to:

  • Access a virtual room
  • Schedule interviews throughout the day
  • Better manage the time of interviews
  • Meet International Master candidates coming from more than 30 countries all over the world, representing different cultures and speaking at least another language in addition to English.

The event is open to MIP International Specialising Master candidates, available from May 2020 for internship/job opportunities in companies.
Specialising Master candidates have an international background and 0-2 years of professional experience in different sectors and functional areas such as Supply Chain & Procurement| Business Analytics & Big Data| Marketing Management, Omnichannel & Consumer Analytics| Luxury Management| Industrial Management| Project Management| Innovation & Entrepreneurship| Fintech, Finance, and Digital Innovation |  International Full Time MBA

 

HOW TO PARTICIPATE
The participation in this event is reserved for a limited number of companies belonging to the MIP network.

The deadline for registration is March 16, 2020.
Discover how to become an MIP Partner. For further information please contact: Company&PartnerCare@mip.polimi.it

Concetta Lombardo: 342 1479806

Daniela Mataro: 349.8147209

Elisa Zagami: 327.9776213

AMONG COMPANIES ALREADY INTERESTED IN ATTENDING THE EVENT

AMPLIFON| AXPO ITALIA| AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINI| BIP| BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM|BTS ITALIA| CAPGEMINI| CEMP| CEVA LOGISTICS ITALIA| COSTA CROCIERE| DANIEI & C. OFFICINE MECCANICHE| GENERALI| GRUPPO NESTLÉ| CARREFOUR ITALIA| HILTI| IBM ITALIA| IKEA PURCHASING SERVICES ITALY| ILLIMITY BANK| KONE| KPMG| L’OREAL| LEROY MERLIN ITALIA| MAILUP GROUP| MARELLI| MARSH| NTT DATA| OTB|SC JOHNSON ITALY| SIA| SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC| SUCCESSORI REDA| TEAMSYSTEM| WHIRLPOOL|

MBA Recruiting Day

On January 24th, MIP will host an MBA Recruiting Day, dedicated to the International Full Time MBA candidates and the companies belonging to the School network.

Starting from 10.00 am companies, distributed by their own sector, such as Technology & Digital | Industrial & Energy| Retail & Consumer Goods| Luxury, Fashion & Lifestyle| Consulting & Finance will open their desks to candidates.
At the end of the interview sessions, all the participating recruiters are kindy invited for a networking lunch.

The event is open only to MIP International Full Time MBA candidates, available from May 2020 for project work opportunities in companies.

MBA candidates have an international background and 3-7 years of professional experience in different sectors and functional area such as: Sales & Business Development, Strategy, Operations, Marketing&Communication, Analytics and Big Data, PM, Legal, Digital Transformation.

The event is dedicated to Employers who have the opportunity to:

  • Select talented international candidates to be placed in a range of business areas and positions
  • Test the ability of one or several candidates by proposing a strategic project of high impact for your company, in areas such as Digital Innovation, Business Transformation, Brand Strategy, Internationalisation, Business Development, Process Optimisation, etc.
  • Network with other Top Employers

Companies will have the chance to publish internship and job openings before the event, while students will have the opportunity to present their applications.

Agenda
  • 9.00 – 9.30 Company Registration
  • 9.30 – 10.00 Welcome Coffee for Recruiters
  • 10.00 – 13.00 Stand Opening and One to One Interviews
  • 13.00 – 14.00 Networking Lunch for Recruiters
How to participate

The participation to this event – deadline December 4 – is reserved to a limited number of companies belonging to MIP network.

The participation will be confirmed until the available places are exhausted.

For further information please contact Unit Company Engagement& Partner Care (Company&PartnerCare@mip.polimi.it)
T. 02 2399 2832 – 2847 – 4898

Useful information

January 24th 2020 | h 9.00 – 13.30
Politecnico di Milano – Campus Bovisa | Edificio BL 28 Glass Room 1 Floor
Via Raffaele Lambruschini 4B, Milano 20156

 

 

Recruiting Day: searching for the perfect match

The choice of the project work represents an important moment for the candidates of the International Full Time MBA. After one year spent back in school, they are now ready to face the labor market once again. Thanks to both professors’ classes and managers and recruiters’ testimonials, they’re ready to step into the job market with a new set of skills.

 

The clear relationship that the school has established with many companies, offers students many on field experiences, company visits and corporate testimonies. These are all key elements, which enrich students learning processes.

Thanks to this privileged relationship with industries, students are able to periodically take part in reserved recruiting sessions.

 

On January 18th, the Career Development Center team and the Company  Engagement & Partners Care team have organized an ad hoc Recruiting Day for the International Full Time MBA students.

Twenty-six companies specialized in five different fields – Consulting & Finance, Energy & Industrial, Luxury, Fashion, Lifestyle, Retail & Consumer good and Technology & Digital – will spend a morning at MIP, interviewing students and networking.
Our students will have the chance to meet Amplifon, Ariston Thermo Group, Axpo Italia, Azimut Benetti, BTS, Costa Crociere, Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche S.p.A, Electrolux, Eli Lilly, Epta, Gruppo bancario Crédit Agricole Italia, Hilti Italia, Hyundai motor company Italy, IBM, lastminute.com Group, Leroy Merlin, Lyreco Italia, Marriott International, Marsh, McKinsey & Company, MediaWorld, Moncler, Salini Impregilo, SIA, TeamSystem, Whirlpool and Snam.

 

This represents a great opportunity both for the MBA students, looking for a place where to conduct their project work, and for companies as they have the chance to meet the most interesting and talented candidates.

Furthermore, all the companies were able to analyze the profiles of all the candidates in advance thanks to the innovative digital platform Talent Bank. This platform also allowed industries to publish their company profile and to promote their open positions.

 

Besides the Talent Acquisition – key theme of the day– the companies have some time for networking. This is useful in order to confront themselves with the new trends of the labor market and with the new services provided by the school.