The plight of the 50+ executive is anything but hopeless. Here are a few things they can do:
1. Use a Rifle Rather than a Shotgun
Many executives summarize their 30 years of experience with the all-inclusive label ‘generalist’. Such a strategy is usually designed to maximize their range of options in the market. While sound in theory, such a strategy is dilutive in effect. Organizations tend to hire executives to address specific issues not general ones. Presenting oneself as a generalist creates the impression the the executive is average at everything rather than exceptional at anything. It confuses the market on how best to deploy the executive and sets them up for disappointment.
Instead, executives should put away the shotgun and pull out the rifle. They should pick their spots, be honest with whether sales, marketing, channel management or business development is where they really shine. If they have worked for both Canadian firms and US subsidiaries, they should be honest with which prefer and why. These are different beasts and the likelihood is high that one fits a given individual better than the other. Executives should select a business context (turnarounds, early stage etc) in which they have had the greatest impact and then focus on those opportunities. After working for over a quarter century 50+ executives should know themselves by now and use that to their advantage.
Finally, they should make sure their resumes are tight and speak to where they want to go, not just where they have been.
2. Be Proactive
If executives believe they are confronted with bias, they should deal with it head on. They should discuss what continues to drive them, what the employer can expect in terms of effort, energy etc. They should yank the issue out from under the table and put it on the table, out in the open. They should take control of the issue and use it as a positive rather than negative.
The catch, of course, is that this requires executives to be honest with themselves. If they are applying to run sales for a start-up they should be sure they are really up for the travel intensive, high-energy life that awaits them. If they really want to be the CEO of a company again, they should be certain that they are willing tand able to pay the price that such a role demands. If they are up to the task, they should tell the potential employer, and tell them why. If not, they should save themselves and everyone else some valuable time.
3. Look Young
I recently had a breakfast interview with a 60 year old CEO candidate who had impressed me in our telephone conversation. He had great credentials and sounded exceptionally well-suited to my client’s needs. When he arrived for our scheduled meeting, I was struck by his slovenly appearance. At least 100 pounds overweight, wearing an ill-fitting suit and a tie that was neither straight nor matching, he looked sloppy, tired, and extremely unhealthy. This contrasts with another candidate for that search who was also 60 years old but fit, fashionably dressed, and energetic. The differences in marketability of each candidate was palpable.
Everyone knows that while companies are legally obligated to make hiring decisions on the basis of objective, ‘best-fit’ criteria, most do not. Subjectively always creeps into, if not dominates, decision-making and candidates never know for certain which variables tip the scales. Appearance is but one subjective variable, yet one that candidates can largely control. If executives want to be considered for a role that clearly requires energy and stamina, expect that the employer is going to be assessing whether the candidates’ appearance supports or betrays their words. The message is stay healthy, look healthy, sell healthy. Have an updated rather than backdated look. Consider new glasses, new haircut and new suit.
While advising candidates to attend to cosmetic issues may ring shallow, there are now books out there with titles such as How Not to Look Old and Staging your Comeback which speak specifically to why it should not be overlooked.
4. Keep Learning/Stay Current
It can be argued that companies don’t want young people as much as they want people who will keep with the times.
High performers continue to improve and learn. If executives do not want to be viewed as over-the-hill they should make it clear that they are still climbing the hill. They should take courses, stay active in the business community, remain current in their field, learn new things, try new things, use new things, and be curious. In other words, project a youthful attitude.
5. Work at it
There is a large community of companies out there, all potential employers. Only some however are prominently displayed in the few tech sector directories on the market. The vast majority of others are specialty or vertically focused businesses which care little whether anyone outside of their customers know that they exist. They may produce specialty software for transit companies, seismological equipment, or communications gear for police. What they share however is that they are all growing, and at any given time, looking for help. Many are also what I would call orphans. They are companies without a large community of competitors from which to hire talent and as a result they tend to look outside their sector for candidates.
Finding them is work that requires digging and focus. But they are there and the fruits will go to those who work at solving the problem of how to find and engage with them. Such a willingness and discipline is unrelated to age.
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.
The Plight of the 50+ Tech Sector Executive – Part 2
May 6, 2008