Executive Job Listings

Executive job listings are notably different from clerical and service job listings, which isn't to say they're qualitatively better or worse--just different. Scan a few online job boards and you'll find companies bragging about the hundreds of new postings they print each week. What they neglect to say is that the bulk of these opportunities are for low-wage jobs with few if any benefits.

Executive job listings tend to have more stringent requirements that may include things such as Board of Directors experience, advanced degrees such as JDs or MBAs (or both), and copious references. It's not uncommon for executive job listings to require 10-15 years of related professional experience either in a given industry or an overlapping one. What's more, a goodly number of these listings demand proof of results--that is, demonstrated excellence in the form of a track record.

How To Approach Executive Job Listings

If you've never held an executive-level job before, that doesn't necessarily disqualify you from holding one in the future. Were that the case, there'd be no executives in the world! Nevertheless, it may behoove you to start a notch down on the ladder and then climb up from there. No rules on the books rule out promotion as a legitimate way of achieving executive status.

Say you're a sales rep with only three or four years of experience. That may not be enough to qualify you as district manager at a Fortune 500 company, but it may help you get a proverbial foot in the door. You might try applying for a sales rep job at that company or even a sales manager job, then eventually work your way to upper management, provided that's the route you want to go. If not, you can always stay a rep and continue making oodles of cash that way.