Build a big career by thinking small. Part 1

This past week a friend and former colleague called to seek my help on his current project.  He told me that he was the acting COO for a $40 million company composed of franchised restaurants, hotels, and real estate.  The company is profitable and growing rapidly.  My friend went on to say that he is tasked with the responsibility to determine how best to organize this company for rapid growth.  The goal is to make it capable of  growing past $100 million in revenue.  His client's situation is very familiar to me.  It is virtually identical to that faced by the client base I have cultivated during the past five years.  I know exactly where this is headed.  These small but growing companies are emerging through-out the country and represent some very promising career opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded professionals.  These companies are keeping me and a lot of other professionals very busy.

Before the recession of 2008-2009 many major brands in the restaurant franchising segment had begun adjusting their asset allocation strategy.  The goal was to become better positioned to benefit from the overseas potential, particularly in China.  These brands began packaging groups of company-owned restaurants to license new franchisees.  This strategy displaced a lot of corporate marketing and operations professionals who ultimately became a part of those new organizations.  There are a host of new franchised brands that are growing as well, many of which are selling the rights for dozens of outlets to franchisees.  In fact, last year I placed a CFO and a Director of Training and Human Resources for one such company.  With a 20-store development agreement as its nucleus and a couple of independent casual dining concepts, their plan is to become a $100 million company in five to seven years.  At that point the owners will likely cash out and find a quiet beach community to enjoy life.

Unlike their counterparts of an earlier generation, these new small companies can be more nimble with fewer resource requirements.  Many overhead components like accounting and human resources functions can be effectively outsourced.  "Focus on what you do best and let someone else do the rest" is current mantra.  They still need their Generals to craft strategy and their front line soldiers to serve their customers, but administrative staff or middle managers, not so much.  Technology has played a major role in supporting this dynamic.  Government policy has provided additional incentive to keep staffs small.

The current administration has not been kind to small business, however well-poised this sector is for growth.  Major companies are not too excited about adding to their employment base.  College grads are finding it difficult to find entry-level employment.  Private Equity Groups are very active in all sectors of the economy as they help the U.S. in its continued transformation from a post-industrial economy to a high-tech, information-age, knowledge-based economy. Emerging markets overseas will continue to create opportunities.  The revitalization of the U.S. Energy Sector is for real.  These factors and others will continue to define business in the early part of the 21^st century and will benefit small businesses.   There is a lot of pent-up energy that must find an outlet and that energy will likely go into the small, emerging companies.  I am of the firm belief that once it is fully untethered the small business sector will lead the U.S. in economic growth, as it usually has.

This is where the action is.  The savvy professional looking to build a career and personal wealth must consider the entrepreneurial sector.  This sector has been my bread and butter since before the crash.  Most of the searches I have been hired to conduct during this time have been for CFOs, with the occasional CMO, and a CEO or two.  As I said earlier in this post, these companies still need their Chiefs.  The next few post will build on this opportunity, which I suggest you give serious consideration.

He talked and talked but didn’t really tell me anything!

“He talked and talked but didn’t really tell me anything.”  That was the feedback I received from a client about a phone interview he conducted with one of my candidates.  The candidate had not performed well. This client is good at asking questions which require the candidate to explain how he achieved the accomplishments listed on his resume.  I understood immediately what he was telling me; the candidate gave vague answers that were not clear and concise.  Talking in generalities as to how one achieved specific accomplishments casts doubt on the candidate and diminishes his credibility.  That is not to say that the candidate was lying about his work history.  What it does say is that the candidate’s communication skills are not up to par, or that he did not adequately prepare for the interview.  In either case, it was an opportunity lost.

It continues to surprise to me, when one of my C-level Executives fails to interview well. One would think these people have mastered the communication skills required in the interview.  My candidates are adept at selling Senior Management and Boards on multi-million dollar initiatives.  You could reasonably expect them to ace an interview.  I am fairly competent in my own interview skills, so no one gets past me who cannot do the job.  It just goes to show that the interview is an art form that eludes even the most senior executives.

Telephone interviews are often underestimated.  They pose a particular set of challenges.  The interpersonal dynamics of a face-to-face meeting are virtually eliminated.  Personality traits cannot be easily observed and assessed.  Still, the candidate must be able to convey energy and personality while presenting his capabilities in a credible way.  In many respects it is the most difficult, interview format.  Regrettably, some employers place too much emphasis on the telephone screen.  A good telephone persona does not necessarily translate to a good hire.  Personally, I believe that the phone screen should be focused on confirming factual data to determine if hard skills and accomplishments meet the job requirements.  The intangible, soft skills are better evaluated in a face to face interview.  Notwithstanding, you must recognize the situation for what it is and take it seriously.

To ensure an optimal result, begin with the basics.  Make sure you have your resume in front of you so that you and the interviewer are literally on the same page. A strong, clear telephone signal and a place without background noise is a must.  Pick a setting that is free of distractions and provides a high-quality telephone connection.  The choice of a cell phone over a land line can be problematic.  Taking the call in a popular Starbucks is a disaster in the making.  Taking the call in your car during your commute can be suicide, literally.  If taking a call at home, remember that children and barking dogs can derail a call.

It is also useful to help the interviewer help you.  Give him the tools to make your interview easier.  Additional printed materials provided to the interviewer can be very useful.  A summary of key career accomplishments will provide the interviewer with interesting questions.  Keep it to one page.  The tried and true, two-column, side by side comparison of job requirement vs the candidate’s background and accomplishments is always a plus.  These materials give the interviewer a road map to guide the interview. The very process of assembling these documents will aid your interview prep.  This is also an effective technique for the face-to-face interview.

My clients want to know how the candidate deals with problems.  How did she analyze the situation?  What alternatives were considered? What resources were required?  Why did she make the decision she made?  How did she approach the implementation of the solution?  If it involved other team members, as one would expect, how did she marshal those resources?  What problems were encountered in the implementation of the solution?  What was the final outcome?  Did it work?  How well?  This could either be a very long-winded story which would put the interviewer to sleep, or it could be focused, concise and energetic.  The interviewee should be able to answer effectively in three minutes or less.  If the interviewer needs more detail or clarification he will ask for it.  

So how does one prepare and practice an effective answer?  I tell my candidates to think in terms of a one-page, landscaped, bullet-point presentation to explain each and every significant accomplishment.  This is a good exercise to focus one’s thoughts and to prepare for the phone screen.  I recommend that you prepare a page for each accomplishment you think appropriate, especially those that dovetail with the requirements of the job spec.  It might even make sense to have a blank template to help you focus your answer for unexpected, or unplanned questions.  Remember to label the bullet points: Situation, Alternatives, Solution Chosen, Plan, and Outcome or Result.  At its most fundamental level these points are the problem solving/planning loop.  It might take a little practice, but the result will prove to be well worth the effort.

Finally, I did close the loop with the candidate in question.  He had not been in a job search for a while and was genuinely interested in constructive feedback.  I am confident that his next interview will be better.  Come to think of it, it might be useful to share this post with all of my candidates in advance of their telephone interview.

The Middle-aged Salesman.

The Middle-aged Salesman. A friend recently contacted me regarding her husband’s need for help finding his next job. Jerry, (not his real name) is an accomplished sales manager in his own right whose experience has been in the commercial printing industry. Now in middle age he has become sidelined in a dead-end job. Jerry is someone I have spent time with over the years and found him to be affable and witty. I had no reason to doubt his networking abilities. He is a salesman after all. Networking is about building relationships, the most fundamental part of sales.

 So, I happily arranged a coffee meeting with Wendy, a friend who has a business helping companies find optimal solutions to their print marketing needs. Since they were both professionals from the Printing Industry I thought this meeting would be a natural. Wendy is an excellent net-worker with very strong connections in Jerry’s target market. I could not have arranged a better connection for Jerry. This meeting looked to have great potential benefit for them both. Well, at least that was my thinking.

We all know that good networking includes the productive use of time. Get to the point. Let me know what you are trying to accomplish. How I can be helpful? The 30 second elevator speech is at the heart of the process. Unfortunately, as the meeting progressed, I saw that Jerry’s goal was to tell Wendy his life story. Jerry’s single-minded intent was to follow through on that objective. Had Wendy been an Executive Recruiter, like me, learning about Jerry’s full history might have been useful. Being a potential networking contact, Wendy’s knowledge of Jerry’s life story was not only irrelevant, it was not a productive use of her time. In the process, Jerry learned absolutely nothing about Wendy. Doubtless, Jerry would not be a very useful networking contact for Wendy.

Frankly, I was astonished. More than once Wendy stopped Jerry to ask him what he was looking to do and how she might be helpful. This irritated Jerry. He did not answer her question but continued on with his story. It was excruciating. Wendy politely cut the meeting short, indicating that she had another meeting to attend. Jerry and I went off to have lunch and debrief.

During our lunch Jerry expressed his frustration with Wendy. He was completely baffled as to why she continued to interrupt him during his soliloquy. I tried to address his fundamental misunderstanding as to how networking is conducted; i.e. time is of the essence, and the process is meant to be a two-way exchange of information. I explained that Wendy had tried to get Jerry to come to the point, but he refused to budge from his script. I went on to explain that over time, in order to build relationships, it may be useful to reveal more of one’s life story. It is totally inappropriate, however, in an initial networking meeting. My final point was that the message to Wendy was; “it was all about Jerry.” I think Jerry got the message, but I cannot be sure.

 I am still unclear as to why Jerry conducted the meeting as he did. It was not only strange, it was a little creepy. At his age and with his experience I expected a focused and productive presentation. I had been with him in a number of social settings and always found his behavior to be appropriate. His meeting with Wendy was totally unexpected. Could it be that Jerry was just a very poor salesman? I was beginning to wonder.

Key Learning: To help facilitate a productive networking meeting I use email to introduce my contacts and exchange their information. Exchanging resumes and LinkedIn profiles is a very useful part of the process to prepare for an effective meeting. This gives the participants the opportunity to learn background information prior to the meeting so the focus of the meeting can be on the present. It puts the meeting in context. A “good networking meeting” is a productive exchange where all parties leave with clear knowledge as to how to help the other.

 In this case, I should not be too hard on myself. I had enough experience with Jerry to expect a good outcome. I did exchange biographical information in advance. Jerry, Wendy, and I are all about the same age so there are a lot of similar life experiences which made the connection easier. I was surprised that Jerry did not grasp the fundamental concepts of mutual benefit and the productive use of our time. He learned nothing about Wendy and how he might be able to help her. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions and solid preparation, things don’t go well. That’s life. Suck it up and move on. As with last week’s horror story our efforts to help Jerry ended with that meeting.

My balance sheet with Wendy is very much in the positive so there was minimal damage to my credibility. Life goes on. Fortunately, my failed networking meetings continue to be a very small percentage of the total. Work in Progress:

The Great CFO. Stay tuned for this post