Find Your Next Great CIO Job, Part 2: Building Your Brand

In this, the second article in a series guiding IT leaders to find a role that matches both your interests and abilities, Heller CEO Martha Heller articulates how to know and communicate your strengths as a candidate.

You’ve decided to make your move and you’ve defined the type of position you want. But as any good product manager will tell you, you cannot go to market before you thoroughly understand your brand. When you’re looking for a new job, you are the product, and you need to understand and articulate the features and benefits of that product.

Here are the steps to get you started.

Step 1: Define your brand.

You may be thinking, “I’m the VP of IT at ABC Resorts International,” or “I lead information security at XYZ Financial. That’s my brand.” But your title and company are just one piece of your brand. There is so much more.

Are you a turnaround executive? A technology guru? An operational leader? A strategist? Maybe you’ve gained experience deploying artificial intelligence agents. Maybe you’re an analytics expert, a team builder or a specialist in supply chain management.

Selecting and highlighting two or three areas of professional strength are critical to building your brand. In fact, you need to know these attributes so well that you can articulate them succinctly and consistently to a variety of audiences.

One CIO told me that, before launching his job search, he surveyed his professional networks to determine what kind of impression he made. From the results, he learned which five brand attributes best described him, and he used that information to develop a personal mission statement about the unique value that he brings to his roles.

If surveying your colleagues is not for you, then look for clues in performance evaluations and what people say when they introduce you to colleagues or at industry gatherings.

But regardless of any of this input, define your brand based on what you understand to be your strengths and on what work you like to do most.

Step 2: Communicate your brand on social media.

You’ve chosen a small group of attributes that you believe best define you; now it’s time to tell the world (or at least your professional networks).

Start by looking at your LinkedIn profile. Is it sparse? Is it outdated? Does it include one paltry, half-hearted recommendation? LinkedIn is often the first place a recruiter will turn to learn about you. Before you start your search, make sure your profile is up to date, sufficiently detailed, includes recommendations from past bosses, and makes solid references to your brand attributes. For your headshot photo, use a close-up shot (head and shoulders) that looks professional, on a background that is not too busy. Smile!

If you’re concerned about tipping off your current employer that you’re seeking another job, don’t put “career opportunities” as something you want to be contacted about. But remember that LinkedIn is a widely-used tool for establishing relationships with vendors, potential business partners, and for interacting with other professionals in your industry. A robust, up-to-date profile on LinkedIn does not automatically signal that you are on the market. It simply demonstrates that you are an active member of your professional community.

Your social media activity on X and Facebook will not make or break a senior executive job search. C-level recruiters are not looking for candidates on these channels. As long as you have a detailed LinkedIn profile that effectively communicates your brand attributes, you can base your participation in other social media channels based on how much you enjoy doing so.

That said, there are companies for whom social media is a key to their digital strategy, and who need a CIO who can play a leadership role in this area. In these instances, recruiters or hiring authorities do want to hear about your experience using social media to achieve business goals. In such situations, your own activity on Instagram and Facebook will hold more relevance. 

Step 3. Establish a platform.

You’ll be a more marketable candidate if you are known in your industry and among your peers for your ideas and expertise. Writing for IT or industry publications, participating in relevant online communities and speaking at conferences are all effective ways to get noticed.

If writing is your thing, you’re in luck. Online publications are often hungry for contributors, especially those with an innovative idea, a unique point of view or advice about a timely topic.

You can pursue speaking engagements through local MBA or executive education programs, which are always on the lookout for guest speakers. You can also offer to be a speaker or panelist at events for organizations you belong to, like local IT associations (for example, the Society for Information Management) or industry trade groups.

Regardless of the platform, make sure your content aligns to those brand attributes you worked so hard to define.

So, there you have it: You are a product headed to market, and now you have a brand.