Looking for your next executive role? Use this guide to identify your leadership values, vet company cultures, and target senior roles where you can truly thrive.

Why Values Matter in Your Executive Job Search

I recently worked with a woman who was landing interviews for senior leadership roles… and couldn’t move forward to the next step.

When we looked into her situation, we found this subtle dynamic: She wasn’t applying for roles at companies that were really a values match for her.

Research shows that workers in positive organizational cultures are almost 4× more likely to stay with their employer. And 86% of employees say it’s important to work for a company whose values align with their own.

Now we talk a lot about values and purpose at work—but it doesn’t just mean working on the social issues and causes we care about.

Values Run Deeper Than Causes—They Shape How You Work

Values run deeper than that—and as a result, they can be more complex to ‘diagnose.’ Let me give you some examples:

• Do you think direct communication is best in organizations, or do you prefer a softer, gentler approach?
• Do you believe in moving and iterating quickly and messily, or using a step-by-step methodical approach?
• Do you think analytic data-driven decision-making is a better way to proceed, or do you think a more intuitive approach should be more widespread in companies?

Your values are the ways you believe work is best done. And as we become more experienced professionals, our values develop. We grow into OUR unique way of doing things. 

Those unique ways make us so much more valuable.  But they also mean that not every workplace is the right fit for us.

Common Misalignments That Hold Executives Back

My client? She was an innovator.  She’d led in startups. She’d worked in one of the most innovative companies in her sector. She thrived in companies where departments worked together nimbly, and didn’t jealously guard their ‘turf.’

 But for years, she’d been applying to old school bureaucratic companies that didn’t buy into her way of working.

 There was a fundamental misalignment, which was why she wasn’t getting chosen or rising in those companies. Sometimes we have an idea of the kind of company we’re “supposed” to work in.

 Sometimes it’s based on what our parents wanted for us, or what success looked like in school.

But when we pursue that image in our heads of how things “should” be rather than digging into the unique way we like to add value, we end up stuck—stuck not making it to the second interview, or even worse, stuck in a job where our gifts aren’t appreciated.

Stuck not making it to the second interview—or even worse—landing the job in which we can’t thrive and use our gifts. 

Because when you’re clear on that, you soar—just like my client.

How to Identify and Apply Your Leadership Values

So when making your next career move, make sure to ask these questions:

1. What is my unique way of working? What differentiates me from other leaders?
2. Which companies and teams share those values? How would I know? (eg. What do they do differently that would be a ‘tell’ for me that they have this value?)
3.  Focus your job search on filtering and vetting companies for alignment. Use your executive networking strategy to target organizations that share your values.

Once my client got clear on her values, everything changed. “All of a sudden,” recruiters began to flood her inbox, offering highly aligned roles. 

She ended up taking an executive role leading a highly visible change management initiative.

The Results of a Values-Aligned Job Search

When you stop applying randomly and start aligning, you:

• Increase your odds of executive job interview success
• Land in companies where you can use your leadership values and strengths
• Build a long-term, values-aligned career path

Next Step—Pinpoint What’s Holding You Back

Ready to get clear on what’s between you and your next-level role? Take our 5-minute assessment to pinpoint the exact obstacle between you and your next role.

About Maya Sharfi

Maya Sharfi is an executive and career coach and the founder of Build Yourself. She helps women move forward into the right role and step up into new levels of impact and fulfillment. Her clients achieve results like launching new, innovative programs, landing senior director roles, and earning $25,000 raises.