Research surrounding the executive career management industry is extensive and the statistics available provide a resource paramount to the success of any senior executive career. These numbers warrant your attention.  You do not need to be a chief financial officer, mathematician or statistician to establish the relevance of results obtained from a wide range of resources - most importantly from decision makers - so do the math because your career depends on it.

Let’s Google the numbers and begin with how much time is invested in scanning an executive resume. Depending on the terminology you use for your search, it could net over 1 million results! Despite the huge number of results and sources the range of times are all between 5 and twenty seconds. With these consistent and extremely low numbers, there is no need to calculate an average; and suffice to say, when it comes to your resume, there is no room for error.

Okay, now let’s Google layoffs in 2015 and reduce the results from 13,900,000 to 603,000 by narrowing the search to Toronto. If you didn’t receive your pink slip this year, keep in mind it’s not over yet. A review of the thousands of job cuts show results for CBC, Kraft Heinz, TD, Scotia, Bell Media, Sears and Bombardier and that’s just the first two pages! There is no doubt that these layoffs will impact other businesses resulting in further layoffs. We could calculate the numbers in relation to the population of approximately 6 million. It is estimated 3.6 million out of 6 million were employed in July 2015, but regardless of any of these numbers, you don’t need to be a financial expert to understand that the key here is in being prepared for a very likely career transition. By maintaining a current resume, references and networking you will dramatically reduce the possibility of a lengthy executive job search.  

Have you reviewed the job interview statistics recently? With thousands of applicants vying for the same position competition has never been more fierce and so too is the process of elimination. Decision makers rating the top mistakes in a job interview ranked lack of knowledge about the company and lack of eye contact at the top of their list. But those factors will only be a consideration if you have managed to pass the first few seconds where failure could be as simple as a weak handshake or the lack of a smile. The numbers are available so do your homework and do the math. If we calculated an average of all statistics produced, the results would relay the same story.  A survey of one group of recruiters, HR professionals and decision makers may report 95 percent relied on LinkedIn to validate a potential candidate after the interview and another group could report 89 percent. Despite any variance, the numbers are in and a completed and professional Linkedin profile is as important in today’s career management as a professional resume.   

Have you given serious consideration to your attire prior to each job interview? If statistics show an average of 90% of decision makers respond more positively to a conservatively dressed candidate, would it be prudent to wear a bright flowered dress? If you are one of two candidates vying for the same position and the decision maker believes you are both exceptional candidates but there is only one position to fill, do you want to risk elimination due to your attire?

Research is at your finger tips and the numbers are in! There are no calculations needed to determine the importance of so many key factors in managing a successful senior executive career. So don’t worry about the math but remember these statistics are compiled by analyzing data received from decision makers. You have the freedom to make many decisions but remember to heed the numbers related to every aspect of managing an executive career because there is one decision you don’t get to make and that is whether or not you get the job so do the math.