The first stop in any executive job search should be the closest mirror. While this sounds obvious, even trite perhaps, it actually runs contrary to the urge in many of us to respond to a setback by immediately jumping back into the fray. I get calls every week from executives advising me that they have, on that very day, severed ties with their employer and are making the rounds to get another job.
Soul searching is an iterative process, the proverbial onion of understanding that is peeled layer by layer. It can be an uncomfortable, at times even painful examination and as such garners few volunteers (that said, self-awareness is a key differentiator in high performers). The only time most of us take that step back to calibrate our careers, capabilities, interests, limitations and motivation going forward is during times of significant stress such as death, divorce, ill-health and job loss. The rest of the time we are too busy doing whatever we are doing to be thinking seriously about whether we are doing what we should or want to be doing.
Thus, in a perverse way job loss is an opportunity, a forced vacation if you will during which we can travel inward to revisit and explore both old and new destinations. Though it holds the promise of treasures, it is rarely a relaxing journey, burdened as it is with the weight of urgency, the fear of what we may learn about ourselves and the uncertainty surrounding tomorrow’s unknowns. Outplacement services and specialized support groups (such as the Phoenix Executive Network in Toronto) provide useful maps and tools and thus if they are offered or available one should take advantage of them. If not, some basic organizing and planning will help make the journey more purposeful and productive.
There are four simple categories of consideration: MONEY, MEANING, SECURITY and LEISURE.
Money: Ask yourself how important money will be to your next job decision. If it is a key consideration this will drive you down certain decision paths. It will also dissuade you from looking at certain jobs, or possibly even sectors such as non-profit. It will guide your decision-making if you are considering switching industries, a move that often requires a step down in responsibility or pay as a whole new world is learned.
Meaning: How important is the industry in which you work, the products or services the company offers or the work itself? Some executives tell us they are tired of working for companies whose products mean nothing to them. Others specifically want to get into more ‘meaningful’ work involved with the environment or healthcare or public service. If meaning is an important consideration going forward this will guide your search process and the decisions you take.
Security: Executives love or hate the roller coaster world of high risk startups. Some find the ride exhilarating while others are frightened. The latter are often willing to trade money or meaning for that security. Executives coming from long careers at large companies will often admit that they prefer the security of such entities and covet finding similar organizations going forward. If security matters, it should play a factor in the sectors and companies targeted.
Leisure: Our family cottage is located just outside of Ottawa in the Gatineau hills. Many of our neighbors work in the public sector. While they may or may not enjoy the work they do, there are certain undeniable lifestyle considerations that have factored into their career choices. These include relatively defined hours of work, generous vacations, rich benefits and on and on. I cannot help but notice that while the tech sector executives and consultants (that would be me) in the neighborhood burn the late night candles on most evenings, these people can be found skiing or cycling in the company of their families. How important are such consideration to you in your next job?
Gauging yourself on these four basic criteria aims you towards certain target markets, companies and jobs most likely to satisfy you. There is much more to soul searching than just these four considerations (for example, what kind of people and company cultures do you thrive in? In what organizational contexts and roles have you tended to be most effective, and why? How does your next position fit into a broader longer term career plan? etc etc), but at least you have taken an important step in the direction of pointing yourself down a well-considered path.
Next week, next steps.
Looking for a dynamic HR role? Stay away from the entrepreneurial tech sector.
January 1, 2012
In a recent survey of HR graduate students, the technology sector rated among the most coveted destinations to ply their trade. It is viewed as a world of innovative people, technologies and approaches where progressive talent management, OB/OD and related HR work awaits.
The Cry to Replace RIM's CEOs – A Truly Dumb Idea
October 13, 2011
Leaving aside the recent service outages, the shellacking of RIM in the press is a tad surreal to behold.
For the few Luddites not familiar with the firm, Research in Motion is the successful Canadian smart phone pioneer with revenues of $20bb per year, no debt and cash in the bank. They manufacture products that remain popular around the world and continue to boast technological innovations unmatched by any competitor. Their most recently launched smart phone devices have been well reviewed and appear to be selling well. And though the company's first version of its new tablet, the Playbook, has room for improvement, it is a promising piece of technology.
Context: When Companies Confuse Start-up Experience for Start-up Experience
October 7, 2011
I had the occasion this week to chat with an entrepreneur still licking his wounds from a stalled startup venture. His tale is a reminder of how easily companies misunderstand organizational context when hiring. For startups, such a misunderstanding can be fatal.
The CEO Hiring Practices at HP
October 3, 2011
The press tells us that Hewlett Packard is the largest technology company in the world with revenues of $126bb. Impressive as those numbers may appear, they do not seem to impress HP's Board of Directors. You see they do not believe that any of the firm's 324,600 employees are capable of leading it. Not one person. Not this year or last year when CEO changes were made. In fact they were apparently not capable six years ago or even eleven years ago when CEO changes were also made. But before summarily indicting the firm's succession planning/leadership development programs, it is useful to consider the track record of the external candidates who were considered better choices than the firm's internal candidates. This analysis decidedly shifts the spotlight to the competence of Hewlett Packard's Board of Directors.
The Folly of Believing What You Read
September 19, 2011
Some time ago we posted a blog titled ‘So you REALLY want to be a CEO?' which looked at the human costs of climbing the upper rungs of the management ladder. The blog was based on a series of articles immediately following the ‘resignation' of Pfizer CEO Jeff Kindler. All of these articles presented a cautionary tale of life in the fast lane, the long hours, the extensive global travel, and the shareholder pressures that accompany an uncooperative stock price. They also spoke poignantly of the physical and emotional toll that such unrelenting pressure took on the Pfizer CEO who eventually resigned in order to attend to his family and health. As it turns out however, much of this narrative may not have been true
Before sending us your resume (and then getting frustrated with us) ask who we work for
July 25, 2011
A friend of mine is a trustee in bankruptcy. As his title suggests, he and his firm serves those contemplating the ‘cleansing' process of personal bankruptcy. Potential customers compare service providers, select one, and then pay the chosen firm a fee to initiate and manage the ensuing process on their behalf. However, as soon as the relief-seeking customer signs on the dotted line, the trustee's allegiance shifts to the creditors for whom they then seek to maximize debt recovery. This shift in who works for whom must be a tad unsettling for people who already have a heap of problems and stress on their hands.
What Dating Services Can Teach Companies About Hiring
June 1, 2011
Executive-level hiring is a decidedly aspirational endeavor. Organizations idealize their workplace cultures, select for attributes that will fit into those romanticized environments, and then immerse unsuspecting hires into their ice-cold reality of their works-in-progress.
How to Survive a Startup - by Jill Ram
April 20, 2011
If you're an executive and you're thinking of joining a start-up, know what stage of a start-up to join. If the company is in its first year or so, don't expect to make significant changes. If you join after the company is somewhat established and mistakes have been made and learned from, you'll likely be more successful from the outset. If the founder has stepped aside, well, by then, the company is likely not considered a start-up anymore. It won't be functioning like a big company yet, and it won't have all the structure in place that it needs, but it will be run with more practicality and with less emotion. Timing is everything so choose it well.
Good News for the Old, Overqualified and Overlooked
March 18, 2011
It is expected that a significant percentage of the baby boomer generation will drive right past the Freedom 55 highway exit. For many the goal of early retirement will have proven to be unattainable hype, while for others the ups and downs of working will appear more attractive than the prospects of working up and down the local lawn bowling leadership board.
Pressed for time? Blame those Benedictine Monks.
February 24, 2011
It is among the principal reasons candidates tell us they are open to consider a change in employers. They are tethered to it, yet somehow it still flees. It is time, the most precious of resources, and for many harried executives they want some of it back.
Though their relationship with time may be strained, it is worth pointing out that it was not always this way. In his fascinating book Time Wars, Jeremy Rifkin chronicles the evolution of our modern relationship with time. He points out that in traditional agrarian and pastoral cultures, time was a very naturalistic notion maintained in cyclical, repetitive, biological and even sacred terms. The ‘passing of time' was cued via the changing seasons, biological lifecycles and lunar patterns and thus, the cadence and tempo of those societies were finely tuned to the cyclical rhythms of their physical environments. As he states, "Our early ancestors coveted the circle, perceiving time as eternal return, a ceaseless repetition of an endless cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth". Since these cyclical rhythms could neither be accelerated, nor altered, the cadence of these societies' was natural and harmonious.
Job Search Strategies: Step One
November 7, 2008