Here's a 30-minute challenge for exec / director / leadership jobseekers to try today, which will may improve how much interest you get. Do it now!

Think about your last role. Imagine you've been promoted and been tasked to find your replacement.

For some obscure reason, you are only allowed 30 minutes to find them, and are limited to only using LinkedIn:

- search on suitable job titles and skills
- get a shortlist of 3-5 likely candidates
- choose your favourite candidate from their LinkedIn profile

Bingo. Successful appointment!

Now ask yourself this:

- what made you click on their profile?
- what appeals to you about them? Photo, headline, banner, about, featured content, career history, something else?

Imagine you are applying for a role, where you and this candidate are the only two in consideration.

And the decision is down solely the strength of these points.

If your profile is weaker than the other's, you've work to do.

Take a few more minutes to critically assess the "successful candidate's" profile. Where is it stronger than yours? What lessons can you apply? Compare and contrast objectively.

Do the same with the "unsuccessful candidates" and learn from their misfires.

By acting as a hiring manager, you'll take the same approach other hiring managers and recruiters do in assessing your profile.

Detach yourself from your profile (ego, humility and a concern for appearing arrogant are all issues) and use your experience in hiring to make it objectively more attractive to the people that you want to find and employ you.

It doesn't matter how good you are if we can't tell this from your LinkedIn profile, content, CV, cover letter, interviews, or behaviour. Or if we can't find you because the key words we search on don't appear in your content.

Assume we will only go for the low hanging fruit, and help us do our job.

You'll improve your odds.