The Art of �EXECUTIVE-PRESENCE� and Executive Presnece

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) January 26, 2004 -- The first quality, EXECUTIVE PRESENCE, is hard to define, but like art, recruiters "know it when they see it" and won't recommend you without it. When taking this measurement, their first impressions are key. For instance, a manager with EXECUTIVE PRESENCE doesn't speak with a noticeable regional accent. In conversation, he or she uses strategic silences to appear thoughtful.

Grooming and looks are important aspects of EXECUTIVE PRESENCE. A male candidate would be manicured and wear a dark, expensive suit, white shirt with French cuffs and Hermes-type tie to an interview. Although exceptions occur, most corporate leaders are tall (six feet or taller for men, 5 feet 6 inches or taller for women) and lean. They have good posture. Facial hair and jewelry (watch, wedding ring and cufflinks excepted) are no-nos, unless you're in the entertainment, retailing or computer industries.



Many employers seek change agents who can make improvements by thinking outside the box. This usually means that these companies want the benefits of change without the discomfort of the change process. If you can show that you turned things around in your current company -- without threatening the chairman -- you'll likely be recommended for a change-agent position.

Traditional managers, on the other hand, have more rigid attitudes. They've typically spent their careers in a manufacturing company, where they've progressed up the corporate ladder, gaining more support staff with each move. While they're likely to have mobile phones, they shun computers because they "don't know how to type." Or, if they have a computer, a secretary prints their e-mail. Other tip offs to recruiters: saying "my people" or "I'll have someone take care of that" or blaming a company mistake on incompetent subordinates.



One way to change a culture is by hiring someone "new and different" from the outside, but putting a shark in a goldfish pond is always dangerous. Culture fit with the hiring manager is also key. Executives with Executive Presence hire people in their own image and are more likely to offer a job to someone with similar experience, education and lifestyle -- not to mention from their fraternity or sorority.

Hands-on executives can do the job they're directing others to do. Thriving in a team-oriented environment, they avoid excessive delegation. To be close to the action, they meet with customers, use computers, place their own phone calls and fly coach. While it can be difficult to find a hands-on executive who has EXECUTIVE PRESENCE, it's not impossible.



Excellent professional accomplishments will help you get your foot in the door at a new company, but top executive recruiters won't dwell on them. Instead, they'll quickly move on to judge your intangibles. These qualities form the real you that they'll present to their clients.