Developing your Job Search Strategy: Specialists are the Rage

As I draft this post I am reminded of three current clients.  One is a small, growing enterprise trying to optimize its resources to aid in profitable development.  A second is an established manufacturer reorganizing itself for sale.  The third is a large company which has made a number of acquisitions that must be integrated into their core business.  Each of these businesses compete in diverse industry segments following different strategies to achieve their objectives.  As one would surmise the experiences they look for in potential hires is distinctive.   You can be certain, however, that the hiring managers in these companies are looking for senior executives with experience that matches their particular situation.  Call it situational experience.


 It occurs to me that this is a fair representation of the “new normal.”  The career opportunities are declining within large established companies.  Major corporations have learned to be more efficient with less.  They offer fewer opportunities for middle managers and highly compensated, over-50 aged candidates. However, the organizations currently looking for people are emerging companies or those working to find a relevant niche.    Emerging brands, PEG portfolio companies, established companies repositioning themselves and those experiencing major change are looking for people with experience that closely matches their situations.  These situations may be more risky but they can be very rewarding.   Private Equity Groups want C-level candidates who have experience working with PEGs.  If the employer is a start-up, they will be looking for people with start-up experience.  If they are preparing for an IPO they are looking for people with IPO experience, especially CFOs and controllers.  You get the point.  Today, employers are looking for specialists who can make an immediate impact.   They are looking for people with situational experience.  Generalist backgrounds are not in demand so much, especially for the 50+ age group.


There are three primary components to one’s career positioning strategy:  Job Function; industry segment; and your pay grade.  All of these components are fairly straight-forward.  Begin by evaluating your experience to understand where you have particular strengths and experience which can be packaged as a specialty.  Seriously, this task cannot be that difficult.  After all,  personal experience gained with LBOs, mergers and acquisitions, rightsizeings, and re-organizations are all great examples of situational experience.    Perhaps you have been involved in implementing new hardware and software solutions to automate processes.  Or you have been involved in re-engineering activities to help employers become more efficient.  Experience gained in involvement with a company turnaround can be invaluable..  Maybe you have been in a family-owned business or experienced an IPO. Maybe you have been involved in a successful Chapter 11 reorganization.  There are many employers today who face those same issues.  They are looking for you!


Hiring managers have become very particular in their requirements.  They seek industry-specific candidates with situational experience.   The key to a successful job search is to position yourself as a problem-solver who will assuage the hiring manager’s risk aversion.  The Over-50 job seeker must have a career story which speaks to high-value, specialized knowledge and experience.    The flexibility of today's word processing software allows you to create resume versions tailored to emphasize certain parts of your background, positioning you as a specialist.


Think about your career.  Find those common threads that you can position in a compelling way to fit the new normal.

Thank you for visiting my blog.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, President
New Century Dynamics Executive Search
www.newcenturydynamics.com

Track Your Metrics For an Effective Job Search:

For the past 6 years, I have been working very closely with a number of Private Equity Groups, (PEG).  Many of my assignments for these clients have been for Chief Financial Officers.  In every case they want a CFO who can help the business by establishing a set of relevant performance indicators which can be tracked and monitored on a routine basis.  They know that by tracking the right metrics and keeping the management team focused on that data improves the likelihood of achieving their goals.  I am confident that while employed, your supervisor required you to make periodic reports on certain metrics.  If it works while on the job, it will surely work to help you land that next job.

Doubtless, we all agree on the importance of Planning.  We all know the planning cycle.  Set your Goals and Objectives; formulate strategies; develop tactics; track your results; reassess; make adjustments.     How will you know where you stand if you don’t have a scorecard?  Will you know if your plan is on track, or even if it is viable?  What adjustments should you make?  Are you comfortable making important decisions about your career without important data?  Probably not!

So, as you are developing your job search plan for 2015 consider the key metrics, performance indicators, that you believe are vital to success.  

Your prime objective is to land a new job.  Key to landing that new job is to gain the interest of hiring managers who will invite you to interview.  The metrics you will want to track are the activities you complete that move you closer to the goal, getting that interview.   Some jobs are posted, so it would make sense to track resumes sent to posted jobs.  As we all know, however, up to 80% of people land their new jobs via networking.  If that is the case, as I believe it to be, then you will want to develop a set of metrics that track you networking efforts.  Those efforts include phones calls, information interviews completed,  networking meetings attended, and follow up with your network.  Since social media is an important platform for job search you may well develop metrics to track your efforts on LinkedIn.  Contributions to Interest Group discussions and additions to your list of connections may be appropriate.

I have also recommended that you start a blog, if you have not already, with a goal of posting once a week.  This is a great strategy to promote yourself  at LinkedIn or Google+ Groups.  Additionally there are a vast array of Professional Associations and Groups who encourage members to post to their websites.  Everyone is looking for relevant content! 

You should also set goals for personal and professional development.   A diet or exercise metric may be appropriate.

Tracking a handful of key metrics related to your search activities will keep you on track.  Keep it simple.  Pick six to eight of the activities prioritized by those you deem most important.   If you need more than a 3 by 5 index card to track your metrics you probably have too many.

The best of plans are useless without accountability.   There can be no accountability without measurement.   So, if you want to ensure the success of your job search plans, identify the key metrics to track and do so regularly.

Thank you for visiting my blog.
Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, President

New Century Dynamics Executive Search

www.newcenturydynamics.com