This is an excerpt of "Technologies on the C-Suite Horizon," from AESC's Report Leading Transformation: Shaping the C-Suite for Business. In the excerpt, AESC member executive recruiters share what they think makes an innovative business leader in today's Business 4.0 world.

Innovators Are Courageous

Is your New Year’s resolution to land your next great executive-level job? Do you have a comprehensive written plan and strategy to ensure your successful results—one that does not rely exclusively on job postings? An effective job search in 2019 requires a nontraditional combination, multi-pronged strategy—proactive outreach both in-person and online.

First, remember connections continue to be the key in how the most sought-after executive positions are filled. The growth of social networking, online dissemination of personal information and increased workforce mobility have made the importance of building and maintaining professional connections critical.

With 2019 right around the corner, it’s time to think about what the new year holds for your executive career. If it’s time to make a change, or at least prepare for one, it’s not about just brushing up your resume and having it ready for executive recruiters.

It’s also about polishing and optimizing your LinkedIn profile to make sure it attracts opportunities and supports your candidacy for right-fit leadership roles and serves as a tool to build and track your network—an important part of any executive job search strategy.

As a LinkedIn profile strategist, I see a lot of profiles in their un-optimized format and have compiled a list of what to avoid doing on LinkedIn, that in fact, most of my clients were doing before coming to me.

You are really in big trouble if you come across a job interviewer who just keeps talking.

What the interviewer really should be doing instead was asking questions, then listening to what you have to say about yourself and your work experience. You came for a job interview not to listen to a marketing presentation.

Technically speaking, we say such a person has got logorrhea, an actual illness and pathological inability to stop talking. Sometimes, and less serious, you see a word like loquacious, for people who talk a lot and often about stuff they think we should all know.

It is critical to use social media (LinkedIn for most in the world of medical sales) to connect with your network and tap into opportunities. However, as an executive resume writer, I can attest that your resume remains THE DOCUMENT that forms the foundation of a well-planned and executed job search.

Here’s are three things you can do to give your resume or CV a competitive advantage:

#1 Articulate Your Value From the Top – Concisely

Recruiters usually have a lot on their plates. This makes for skim rather than in-depth reads…especially during the first few rounds. Your summary or branding statement at the top must quickly inform the reader:

Whether supervising people or projects, leadership is not only time consuming but can be mentally and emotionally taxing. Navigating difficult situations, working with strong personalities or balancing life and work, being a leader isn’t just a 9-5 job. It requires well-honed skills (sometimes new ones), discernment, decisiveness and the ability to act under pressure.

I’m sure you hear about people securing jobs through their networks all the time. In fact, if you look back at your own work history, you’ll probably recall that some of the vacancies you filled in the past were brought to your attention by people you knew. As an executive leader, you may also know that when you are trying to fill positions you first look internally and then as close to internally as possible, drawing on referrals of current employees or maybe people you’ve done business with.

While the average tenure of chief marketing officers (CMOs) has remained relatively steady at the top 100 most-advertised brands (44 months in 2017 and 42 months in 2016), it’s worth mentioning that the early part of 2018 has proven to be quite extraordinary – and not in a good way. An usually high number of well-known brands that we track across a number of key industries have undergone a change in the top marketing role this year.