Last updated: May 27th, 2026
Here’s a mistake I see constantly. A senior executive decides to get active in the market – and immediately defaults to the broadest possible positioning.
“I’m looking for a significant leadership role” – because they’re very experienced – “in any industry” – because they learn fast – “based in a major city” – because the kids need a good school.
For a recruiter or search firm partner, this is not a useful brief.
Yet, many senior leaders fall into this trap. They try to keep their options open by staying broad.
It also makes you almost impossible to place.
Counterintuitively, narrowing your focus increases your opportunities – because the market will recognise your value and know when to think of you.
Expert Tip.
When you tell someone you’re open to anything, you’re actually telling them you haven’t done the work to figure out what you want. And if you haven’t figured it out, why would a search consultant or a hiring manager do it for you?
Before you reach out to a single person, get three things locked in.
1. Pick The Right Direction.
Choose your next role based on where market demand meets your experience and values – not just what you’re good at.
Don’t ask yourself “what have I done?” but “where has my work created the most measurable value?”
Your next step is to ruthlessly eliminate options – until you’re left with the one that best aligns with your values.
Because competence and fit are not the same thing.
Expert Tip.
Competence alone is a poor guide to what you should build your career around. Many leaders are competent at jobs that drain them – or are no longer conducive to the lifestyle they want to enjoy.
The hard part is knowing whether the lack of satisfaction you’re feeling is a sign that you:
- Need to stay resilient, push harder and sacrifice a part of you – in order to achieve what you want.
- Have drifted off-course and are surviving – with no clear path back to a career you enjoy.
(Related: How Arielle Executive Strategic Positioning Works).
2. Set Concrete Boundaries.
If you’re struggling with the task above, start by removing smaller pieces.
First, decide which sectors are wrong for you – so you can stop pretending they’re not.
Next, determine which cities actually work for you as a base. (Yes, a stint in Singapore looks exotic on your resume – but Singapore is also a hot concrete jungle).
Rule out running an Australian outpost of an international company – if you’re tired of odd working hours, living on planes and reporting to a CEO in Frankfurt or San Francisco.
The key decision here is balancing the size of the business with your seniority (e.g., step up to the C-suite at a 500-person scale-up or take another functional role at a 10,000-person company?).
A great tie-breaker here is usually the type of culture you thrive in.
Important!
The tighter your criteria, the easier it is for other people to connect you with the right opportunities.
3. Build A Narrative That Sells.
You’ve decided on your next step. But you can’t go to market with a $25 AI-generated resume from Fiverr.
A strong resume is a forward-looking business pitch that demonstrates your fit at the next level up.
Unfortunately, most leaders have resumes that look like backward-looking chronicles of their careers.
If that’s you, invest in a professionally-written executive resume and a LinkedIn profile that convey your commercial value.
Because at your level, every day translates into thousands in opportunity cost.
(Related: How To Write A Resume For The Australian Market).
Think about it this way – if professional help moves you into a role with a $50,000 higher base salary, 6 months earlier, the documents have paid for themselves during your first month in the role.
Important!
That salary differential doesn’t just happen once. It compounds across every role and every negotiation you have over the next 2-3 decades.
As humans, we under-estimate opportunity cost.The real cost isn’t the money you spend. It’s staying invisible for another six months while you wait to see if the DIY version works.
Never Spray And Pray Search Firms.
Once your positioning is clear, you’ll be tempted to go wide.
To blast your resume to every recruiter on LinkedIn. To send a generic note to two hundred people with “exploring new opportunities” in the subject line.
This is the executive equivalent of spray-and-pray. It feels productive. It achieves almost nothing.
Strategic outreach means three things:
- Reach the right search consultants. Find the firms serving your target sectors. Identify the one consultant most likely to be running mandates you’d fit. Write them a SHORT, personalised note that demonstrates you’ve done your homework. Request a meeting, but don’t be offended if they don’t respond. They probably won’t.
- Go directly to decision-makers. A client of mine lost his role in a restructure. He spent a few weeks researching the companies he admired most. He identified the regional business heads at each one and reached out for coffee conversations. Three months later, his brash approach landed him a VP role. The hidden job market doesn’t reveal itself to people who wait. It reveals itself to people who show up.
- Find the connectors. Every industry has a handful of people with an extraordinary knack for making introductions. They know everyone, and they genuinely enjoy linking the right people together. You may not be one of them – but you need to identify who they are in your network and invest in those relationships. They are the fastest path to opportunities that never get advertised.
What Top Candidates Are Doing To Win.
Executive candidates who are landing roles in 2026 are treating their search like a campaign – with a target market, a value proposition, a channel strategy, and a timeline. They’re deploying the tactics I described above in a systematic way.
Candidates who are failing treat their job search like a lottery.
Irene
