• I want to work for a company with a global foot print, or
• I want to work for a company that consistently invests in R&D, or
• I want work with a company that believes in strong brands, or
• I want to work for an organization that is mission driven, or
• I want to work for a firm that’s 15 minutes from my home (as I have childcare issues), or
• I want to work for a company that takes people training and development seriously.

Doing this seemingly simple exercise becomes invaluable later in the process as many find themselves with more than one offer on relatively close timing. Among other factors, what is important to them in their new roles can be the deciding variable in a complex decision process and often more influential than the offer package itself.

Other factors influencing the decision are the role itself and individual’s fit for it, the condition of the company and the industry, the geographic location and the daily commute, opportunity for growth and advancement, the culture of the company, the relationship with and assessment of the supervisor and colleagues, the level of innovation and differentiation at the company, the nature of the competition, and, of course, the specific elements of the offer package.

Often the potential employer will put the candidate through a search process of three to four months involving multiple interviews, psychological assessments, questionnaires, and presentations before an offer is made, and then ask the candidate to absorb, evaluate and respond to an offer in just a few days.

Very often the candidate will receive their initial offer via a phone call. It is critical to make detailed notes, ask clarifying questions, request the offer in writing, and not make any commitment. It’s possible that a second, or sometimes a third offer, can come in within a week or so of the first offer, and we’re highly alert to the opportunity of using one offer to precipitate or accelerate another, a fairly common situation.

We dissect the offer, or the term sheet, element by element, looking at title, salary, bonus, equity, severance (including career transition services), relocation package or housing allowance when relevant, healthcare coverage, other cash subsidies (company car, club membership, etc.), and the non-compete/non-solicitation provisions. If a candidate has more than one offer, we obviously compare one to the other, and each offer to the client’s prior compensation package, and what we know of offer levels in the marketplace.

On occasion, we will encourage a client to accept an offer that is complete and at or above market without any negotiation. Much more often, however, there is a need to negotiate key elements of an offer package and seek clarification and information on others (organizations, for example, rarely share the specifics of severance policies unless asked directly). We construct a template to be used as a negotiating tool that captures key offer elements, matching counteroffer elements, and an appropriate rationale for each requested change. We then rehearse the suggested approach with the key negotiator from the hiring company – a human resource executive, the hiring executive, or even the recruiter who, although never the final decision maker, may be acting as the intermediary or buffer for the company.

Additionally, if there are detailed employment and equity agreements packed with legalese, we encourage our client to engage an employment attorney.

After one or more successful rounds of negotiation, sometimes with more than one company, our client is well-positioned to accept a much improved offer relative to what was on the table initially. In a very recent situation, for example, we were able to help a client secure over $300,000 more than the company initially offered. An improved end result is very common when our SoftOneIT coaches work closely with clients during the negotiation process.

In summary, we employ a series of practices and tools that consistently prove to be crucial in helping clients define the role they are seeking, and develop a strategy and plan to secure the role. We then stand shoulder to shoulder with them to assess the opportunity and optimize the offer.

The post Focusing On Your Best Offer appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

Let’s face it – unless you’re very well connected, or your skill and experience are as unique as a professional golfer or a concert violinist, you will be in a dogfight when nailing your next job, especially if the search is being managed by a recruiting firm being paid to bring multiple candidates to its client.

With this in mind, here are 10 ideas to generate your “wow” factor and impress the hiring executives of the company you’re targeting.

Predicting where is the industry going?

When the telecom industry was deregulated, competition significantly increased, new products and services were introduced, product and service packages proliferated, and pricing bundles changed dramatically. If you can describe what is likely to happen to an industry you’re targeting based on your prior experience and marketplace factors, and how to capitalize on it or protect against those changes, you will undoubtedly impress the people with whom you’re interviewing. For example, if you were previously in an industry that moved from highly regulated to deregulated (or the reverse), you can translate that knowledge into a powerful story to a company within an industry that is experiencing or likely to experience the same thing.

How can you help make the competition obsolete?

While Uber and Lyft may not completely eliminate the yellow cab in most cities, they have already completely changed the way many consumers secure rides. What ideas can you share during your interviews to do the same thing? While technology is often the catalyst, it may also be how one uses or executes the technology, not the technology itself. What else might you do to make your competitor obsolete?

What customer segment is willing to pay for a more advanced solution?

Luxury hotels have exploited this opportunity with wealthy travelers for years by providing high end rooms and services. Can you identify a similar opportunity – an unexploited or underexploited segment – for your target company? This is especially meaningful if you’ve done something like this in the past and can translate that success for your prospective employer.

What customers have special needs that have been overlooked?

Over the last few years, the best children’s hospitals in the U.S. have expanded their market overseas, either by treating more foreign children in the U.S. or setting up facilities overseas, often as joint ventures with a host medical system. Can you identify a similar opportunity for your target organization and make a persuasive case on how you can help make it happen? If you can, you will clearly be seen as a value creator in your interviews.

How can you better help your customers sell their customers?

Some industries have complex layered distribution chains. For example, consumer product companies sell to retailers who sell to consumers. The best consumer product companies work with retailers to help them increase store velocity and per store sales. If you can show your target company how to help its customers sell better to their customers, you have a value-added solution that shows insight and perspective that you can promote in a key interview.

How could you increase cycle time to overtake industry competitors?

While it may seem like old hat now, when Federal Express introduced overnight package delivery, it not only revolutionized its industry, it created an expectation that is only now being met by other industries more than 40 years later. What can you propose or suggest to a prospective new boss to create an increased cycle time factor that will wow the customer?

How could you help to simplify an offering to reach a much larger audience?

Today, the only Tesla vehicle consumers can purchase is the Model S which starts at $70,000, limiting its market to very affluent buyers. Tesla has publicly announced that it will be introducing a Model 3 in the next year or two at a price of $35,000, presumably to reach a much larger market. If you can explain how you can help a company do the same thing with one or more of their products or services, you can clearly differentiate yourself from your search competition.

What offerings can be priced up or monetized for the first time?

This is almost the reverse of the above. Years ago, GE manufactured and serviced its own locomotives and had a high quality reputation in doing so. The company realized that, with some added effort, they could learn how to service the competition’s locomotives and charge for doing so, giving them a whole new revenue and profit stream they didn’t have before (while going directly after their competition and reverse engineering competitive products at the same time). Have you done something like that before? Do you see an opportunity to do it now? Tell that story and wow the people who make the hiring decision.

Break your story down into simple, easy to understand but compelling components.

The smart phones we use today have more power and capability than the computers on Apollo 11 that landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. Yet, when Apple and Samsung advertise and promote their products, they don’t sell the technology. Rather, they sell the features and the benefits. You will wow your interviewers if you can tell your accomplishment stories and bring out your personal features and benefits. Use images, props, simple logic, mental models, presentations and analogies to do so. Creativity and distinctiveness grab the attention of hiring executives and decision makers during a competitive interview process.

Explain your uniqueness in a way that wows the hiring company.

When baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays was first seen by a professional scout, he was immediately described as a four tool player – he could hit, hit with power, run, and field like few others before or since. What are your four tools – why are you better, faster, more productive, or less expensive (meaning you can add more value) than your competition? If you can wow people with that story, you will get the offer and the job!

The post The Wow Factor in Nailing Your Next Job appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

There has been an increasing number of articles written recently about so-called Activist Investors such as William Ackman, Carl Icahn, and Nelson Peltz and a growing group of others who have started to mimic their strategies and tactics in operating hedge funds that take significant positions in target companies and then lobbying for a variety of “improvements”.

While many people have strong views pro and con regarding activist tactics, their effectiveness, self-dealing, and ability to genuinely create long term competitive advantage and value for other shareholders, there is no doubt that they have a very disciplined methodology for approaching their targets which have parallels in performing a successful job search.

Activists typically follow the following game plan:

• Quietly build ownership in a target company.
• Push for agreement to their change agenda.
• Ramp up the pressure as their major deadlines approach and launch a proxy fight.
• Release of detailed White Papers and accompanying press releases regarding what they see as target company shortcomings and how they plan to create value.
• Win, through a vote or a settlement (e.g., their ownership interest is bought out at a premium) or lose and “go home”.

So how does an Activist game plan translate to a job search strategy? I believe it does in the following ways:

An effective job search requires the identification of target industries and target companies. As the saying goes, if you don’t have a destination any direction will do. At SoftOneIT we find that our most successful clients, with our assistance, develop a clear idea of where they want to land and why. This has to be really considered carefully with decisions made based on solid analysis, good judgement, common sense and attention paid to what the market will and won’t accept.

Once a client has identified a number of high interest target companies, he or she needs to put together a change agenda. What I mean by this is that the client has to be able to identify a target company’s core problems and how he can help solve them, or a target company’s opportunities and how she can help capitalize on them, or, finally,  a target company’s challenges and how she can help meet them.

While it takes some genuine effort to determine a company’s problems, opportunities, and challenges, clients can do this by studying a company’s website and use search engines, focusing on product or service announcements, press releases, senior executive speeches and presentations, annual reports, SEC filings, stock or debt offerings, analyst reports, social media comments, and industry trends and issues just to name the most obvious sources. Activists do this type of research. So must job seekers who need to be well informed.

The job seeker equivalent of pressure exerted by activists is to find connections into a company at relevant levels within relevant functions, business units, and departments. These may come from personal connections with employees of the target companies, networking contacts who can make introductions into the target companies, professional service providers (such as an accountant, lawyer, investment banker, insurance broker, compensation consultant, etc.), and vendors or customers who have ongoing and close contacts with the target company (and often an entire industry).

Next, based on the intelligence and information gathered from the previous two steps, the job seeker’s analog to release of a White Paper is to assemble an outline or presentation which lays out in some detail what they would do once onboard. Sometimes this takes the form of a 30-60-90-180 day plan; at other times it can be a Power Point presentation, or a position paper. Whatever the format, it forces job seekers to think through and present their value proposition to a prospective employer, and it serves as a real differentiator versus other candidates who may be vying for the same position.

Finally, the ultimate “win” in the search process is for the job seeker to secure a bona fide offer that can be successfully refined and negotiated during the normal back and forth between the candidate and the company.

And, of course, while it’s never a happy situation not to secure the position which you’ve been targeting, job seekers need to be practical and resilient and move on to other potential opportunities when they are not selected for the role they were most recently seeking. Just as activists are not always successful — for example, Nelson Peltz and his Trian hedge fund were recently defeated by DuPont’s CEO Ellen Kullman in a highly visible and vitriolic shareholder vote, but they have licked their wounds and have moved on to other targets such as Sysco Corporation where Trian was recently awarded two board seats without a proxy fight.

It seems clear to us at SoftOneIT Associates that active job seekers can take some key lessons from activist investors when searching for their next position to enhance their chances of securing a desired role in a targeted company.

The post Thinking Like an Activist During Your Job Search appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

Ageism in the workplace is real. In our Executive Career Transition Management practice at SoftOneIT Associates, our senior clients routinely report instances when they have experienced age discrimination – both at work and in the job search. And we work closely with these clients to help them prepare for and minimize the impact of ageism as they interact with the job market.

The reality is that, other than doing the obvious, e.g., omitting graduation years from resume and LinkedIn profile (which we strongly discourage), staying in good physical condition, and remaining technologically proficient, there is not much we can do to alter the inherent bias against older workers.

However, in our interactions with senior executives, we have also noticed a disturbing trend, which we’re calling “Self-imposed Age Discrimination”. Here are a few examples of how it plays out in the job search:

• An executive fails to apply for a position for which she’s qualified, assuming that her age will disqualify her.
• During a job interview, an executive makes comments that call attention to his age and take focus away from his accomplishments, inadvertently selling against himself as a viable candidate.
• An executive learns that a prospective employer has selected another candidate. Although he has not received any specific feedback from the recruiter, he tells his career coach that this was due to his age.

The common factor across these three scenarios is self-limiting. That is, these executives are behaving in ways that limit their chances to land a new position, absent any situation-specific information to inform their behavior. And behind each is a self-limiting belief. Here is how these self-limiting beliefs might sound, as well as their impact:

• For the first executive: “I’m just too old for this position.”, or “No one is going to hire someone my age.”. Even though she has no real evidence, these beliefs are causing her to jump to a conclusion that takes her out of the game before it starts.
• For the second executive: “Honesty is the best policy.” or “It’s not polite to blow your own horn.” Notice that these are deeper-seated rules about how he should be. While they might serve him well in some areas of his life, it’s obvious that in a job interview they will undermine his chances of success.
• For the third executive: “It’s just not my fault.” This belief may not relate to age in particular, but it leads the executive to automatically point the finger of blame away from himself. It leads to an easy, ego-protective response, but it could be dead wrong. The failure to look inward for answers may keep him from learning from this experience and self-correcting for the next interview.

So, what can we do to avoid our self-limiting beliefs about age? The first, most important step is self awareness. Sometimes, by just getting off auto-pilot and tuning into our thinking, we can engage our self-limiting beliefs and head them off before they start to affect how we feel and what we do.

But this can be easier said than done. We formed many of our beliefs, especially the deeper-seated ones about ourselves, our worlds, and our futures, as children. Even with conscious awareness of how these rules might be hurting us, it takes far more effort to navigate them.

SoftOneIT career coaches work closely with our clients, using proven techniques, to help them stay resilient in transition. This includes helping them minimize the negative impact of their self-limiting beliefs and concentrating on all the ways that they can positively influence the outcome of their search.

The post Overcoming Self-imposed Age Discrimination appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

Sometimes concern about the cost is a mental stumbling block for individuals considering career transition services. They hesitate to engage us because they are concerned about the expenditure when they have just lost or anticipate losing their position. Even if they are paid a severance by their former employer, and perhaps a third do receive such a payment, they are nevertheless reluctant to pay out of pocket as they are no longer receiving a regular paycheck and they are concerned about conserving cash during a challenging time.

While a great deal of stress can be experienced as a result of job loss, reluctance to invest in a SoftOneIT program may lead to the further stress as well as of a longer time to land, greater loss of income, and a sub-optimized compensation and benefits package when made an offer.  The hesitation to choose a SoftOneIT program at this critical time is short-sighted and a serious mistake.

Electing to have a highly-qualified career coach and choosing SoftOneIT as a partner during this important career inflection point is a very sound decision for a number of reasons:

First of all, putting your savings or severance to work to purchase our services can enhance and accelerate the job search process. This parallels the classic and timely principle that ‘you have to spend money to make money’. Of course, once a new job is secured, the savings can be replenished out of income immediately or over time.

Second, SoftOneIT ’s process can typically accelerate a client’s landing by at least a month, and often by even more time, because we focus on discovery/positioning, tool development, networking (including introducing our clients to our deep contact network) and interviewing, and negotiating and preparing to onboard our client into his or her new role at the new company.  A simple calculation indicates that in most cases our clients will ‘pay back’ the cost of our program by improving time to landing by only one month. For example, a client who is earning $150,000 in base salary and lands one month sooner more than pays for a six month SoftOneIT program.

Additionally, at SoftOneIT we are often able to assist our clients in negotiating better final compensation packages than they would on their own, as most have never, or only rarely, negotiated their compensation in the past (and a large proportion of these clients haven’t done so in years).  Again, in many instances, the difference we help bring about between initial offers and what is finally negotiated more than pays for a SoftOneIT program.

Third, if an individual is seeking a position that is substantially similar to their prior position, their job search costs are tax deductible in the year they are incurred. For most of our clients that means that 28% – 33% of the cost of their SoftOneIT program can be written off their federal return — see http://www.irs.gov/uac/Job-Search-Expenses-Can-be-Tax-Deductible (2012) and further reference IRS Publication 529.

Fourth, and similar to the point above, most clients may be eligible to receive unemployment benefits. They and their companies have paid for these benefits and there should be no hesitancy in filing for them when needed. These benefits, while certainly not of a level to completely replace an executive salary, can bring real cash into the household. In Pennsylvania, for example, the Department of Labor website says “Unemployment Compensation is for people who lost a job because of something that wasn’t their fault. If you’re out of work because your employer had to make cutbacks, close an office, went out of business or something you couldn’t control, it’s possible that you will be eligible to collect unemployment compensation.”

Finally, a candidate for our services can consider a low cost bank loan.  Currently, a good credit score can qualify an individual for an unsecured $10,000 personal loan for a 9% -10% APR, and perhaps an even better interest rate depending on one’s credit score.  The loan can be paid back over 60 months or once a new position is secured, without penalty. There are a large number of online loan resources as well as conventional brick and mortar banks that offer these loans. And if the client has a good personal banking relationship, the terms negotiated might be even more favorable. Moreover, any interest paid while the loan is outstanding is also tax deductible. So, again, the cost of the loan can be reduced by 28% – 33% depending on the individual’s tax bracket.

A rational business analysis, rather than an emotional reaction to an untimely and often unexpected job loss situation, strongly favors the purchase of a SoftOneIT Executive Career Transition Program from which a client derives substantial professional expertise, a proven methodology, key connections, and crucial negotiation support during a very challenging time in an executive’s career.

Beyond the clear financial benefits, the ROI for investing in a customized career transition program from SoftOneIT Associates is a directed, successful and efficient executive job search campaign with the process knowledge providing significant and lasting benefit over the course of an executive career.

The post A Significant Return on Investment: Cost of a Career Transition Program appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

There is no question that LinkedIn has become an essential tool for anyone conducting a job search, from a C-Suite executive looking to change companies to a recent college graduate seeking his or her first position.

It’s not my purpose here to survey the many capabilities of Linkedin. Rather, my key point is that while many executives have created a LinkedIn profile sometime in their career, usually years ago, few of them understand the real power of this continuously evolving site and most of them have a LinkedIn profile that is inadequate for contributing to a first rate job search.

To help SoftOneIT Associates’ clients get the most from LinkedIn, we take a number of steps:

• After we create or recreate the client’s resume so it has a strong positioning and objective statement with a rich array of relevant supporting accomplishments, one of our LinkedIn coaches helps the client translate it into a revitalized client LinkedIn profile.
• We recommend that the client create a unique LinkedIn URL which is shown on the client’s resume and all other key documents.
• Additionally, twice a month we conduct an in-depth two hour small group seminar entitled “LinkedIn for Job Seekers”, where one of our LinkedIn coaches teaches clients, whether they are novices or reasonably skilled at using the tool, how to best employ LinkedIn for search purposes and how to find and target companies.  We also show them how to search engine optimize their profile to raise their chances of being “found” by a recruiter.
• Finally, on an as needed basis, we provide one-on-one coaching so clients understand and are making the most productive use of LinkedIn.

We view LinkedIn as an important networking and job search site that is here to stay.  That is why, at SoftOneIT Associates, it is part of an array of tools and techniques our clients utilize to maximize their chances of securing a job that is well matched to their experience, capabilities, and interests

The post The Importance of Using LinkedIn in your Job Search appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

At SoftOneIT Associates, we view client networking meetings and interviews as the most critical interactions of the entire search process. Doing well at a hard earned networking meeting with an influential person can open doors and create connections that you would have never thought possible. Strong interview performances will likely lead to being in the small select set of favored candidates and, ultimately, the candidate of choice.

We believe it’s as important to prepare well for a networking meeting as it is for an interview.  Before having that meeting, you need to be able to answer the following questions:

• How are you connected to the person with whom you’re meeting, how is your contact connected to this new contact, and how strong is that connection?
• What are your objectives for the meeting? Do you want an introduction to someone; are you seeking industry or company information; do you want information from a subject matter expert; do you want to use your new contact as a sounding board or some combination of these and other objectives?
• Where will you be meeting and how long will the meeting likely run?
• How will you open the discussion to establish some chemistry and likeability?
• How will you position yourself? What do you say to establish credibility?
• What will you ask to elicit the information or connection you’re seeking?
• What are you prepared to offer in return?
• What are your next steps? What has your contact committed to doing?
• How will you diplomatically follow-up?

When hiring decisions are made, the most critical part of the search process, is the interview. Interviews for recruiter led searches normally come in two flavors – recruiter interviews themselves and interviews with executives of the hiring firm. Both types of interviews need to be taken seriously.

These days recruiter interviews are of two types. The first interview type, often done by a “screener”, is typically designed to have the candidate for the role (our client) walk through their background and sometimes, though not always, review their compensation history. Search firms do this to try to ensure that potential candidates fit a range of criteria they’ve worked out with their client (the hiring organization) so as not to waste anyone’s time in the interview process if the candidate is “out of spec”.  The screener may seem to be using a script of questions when conducting this type of interview.

The second type of interview is usually much more substantive and gets into the range of experience, personal characteristics, and key accomplishments demonstrated by the candidate. The questions asked by the recruiter in this interview round are often similar to what a hiring company would normally ask, and are really designed to assess the degree of fit with the position description. It also helps the recruiter (who clearly wants to do well for his client) determine whether the candidate will be brought in for face-to-face interviews at the hiring company, an often time consuming and expensive proposition and a genuine reflection on the recruiter’s professional prowess.

We follow a series of steps in preparing clients for interviews. In real interview conditions, we complete a video-captured “mock” interview with clients who, depending on timing, is centered on one of their preferred current opportunities. We carefully evaluate what I like to call the “cosmetics” and the content of the client’s answers and questions. The “cosmetics” include making eye contact, smiling at appropriate junctures, nodding to show understanding, not staring at the ceiling, not waving hands in a way that’s distracting, keeping answers crisp and delivered with confidence, and being very mindful of the progress and pace of the interview in the time allotted to be sure there is an opportunity for clients to ask questions, as well.

Content of course has everything to do with our client’s ability to readily invoke critical skills, experience, talents and passions through well placed verbal stories which highlight key accomplishments that have substance, drama, and humor and are relevant to the challenges of the new position. At the same time, we want to be sure our clients are prepared to ask what we like to call “elevating” questions to which the client wants real answers, but also reveal deep preparation, penetrating insight, and a synthesis of the problems, opportunities and challenges faced by the organization and its executive team. It’s virtually axiomatic that a senior level candidate will be evaluated as much by what they ask as well as how they answer.

One of the tools we use with clients at SoftOneIT Associates to develop those verbal stories is what we call a SARs (Situation-Action-Result) exercise. The exercise consists of the client looking back at the last 10-12 years of his career and summarizing in writing the most significant 10 or more achievements that they either drove or with which they were associated. Invariably, we review these stories with clients. They are real stories with a beginning, middle, and end and they become essential ingredients for a successful interview. The act of writing the stories, analyzing them, and then sorting them by type gives our clients a powerful platform from which to talk about themselves in a persuasive and polished manner that genuinely differentiates them from other candidates.

We also strongly encourage our clients to do their homework on the people with whom they will be interviewing. What are their roles, what accomplishments are they known for, what are their reputations, how long have they been with the company, what do their career trajectories look like, where were they previously, are they quoted in the public domain, do they have LinkedIn profiles, are they active in professional or industry associations, and do they have a common acquaintance or an intersecting background with our client? Certainly, the more our clients know about each of their interviewers in advance of the interview, and the more commonality we can uncover, the better chance they have of putting this “intelligence” to work on their behalf.

We also ensure that our clients have done their homework on the company and its industry. We want our clients to be well versed in the following: What are the challenges, opportunities and problems facing the company, or the division, or the department? What forces are acting on the industry and what changes are they causing or likely to cause? What are themes of the company’s press releases over the last 12-18 months? What information is on the company’s website, and is the site well done and informative? What is being said on the internet about the company and the people with whom our client is interviewing?  If the company is public, what is being published in the annual report, what key pieces of information are in the company’s SEC filings (and filings with other regulatory agencies such as the FDA, FCC, or EPA), what are analysts writing about the company, are their presentations or analyses about the company or the industry on the internet?

If the client has a consumer facing or retail presence, we encourage the client to visit the store, or call the 800 number, or enroll as a customer, etc. to get a first-hand feel for what it’s like to interact with the company or one of its major functions.

Beyond “prebriefing” clients for their interviews, and customizing their preparation for each interview, we also invest a great deal of time debriefing clients after the interview. We want to know the following about each interview: what was asked and what was answered, was there apparent chemistry between our client and the interviewer, what questions may have caused  our clients to stumble, were there difficult or sticky questions for which  we didn’t prepare, what was the nature and substance of the responses to our client’s questions (and did our clients get a chance to ask them), what are the next steps in the process, and does our client have any obligation or commitment in coming out of the interview? We are also looking for any feedback our client receives from the executive recruiter if one is involved as well as references later in the process.

We always encourage our clients to send thank you notes on a timely basis (within a day or two of the interview), either by email or in hard copy, to everyone that has interviewed them. We generally want the thank you notes to be customized to each interviewer and include a “thank you” to the interviewer for taking the time, a reinforcement of the client’s interest and excitement in the position, a recap of the top 3-4 reasons why the client is a strong fit for the position, and, in some cases, an amplification on or a completely new answer to a tough question that arose during the interview.

In summary, at SoftOneIT Associates we clearly devote the time and attention to ensuring that our clients are prepared for key networking meetings and interviews and review in-depth their results from these encounters.

The post Preparing for Networking Meetings and Interviews appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

Without thinking much about it, all of us are exposed to product or service choices that are positioned to appeal to one type of audience or another. Automobiles are luxurious or practical, gas powered or electric, SUVs or sedans. Soaps are fragrant or creamy, soft on the skin or effective on hard to remove soils. Hotels are simple, self-serve and inexpensive or elegant, exclusive and self-contained.

In looking for a new role, job seekers also need to carefully position themselves in terms of what they emphasize about their experience, skills, talents, abilities and passions, and what sort of role in what type of business situation are they seeking to secure.

Let me illustrate with an example – Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple and Jack Welch as CEO of GE are two former executives most people of a certain age recognize by name. Both executives were very successful (Jobs twice at Apple). Each of the companies under their leadership reached the top of the S&P 500 in terms of market capitalization (stock price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding).

Yet nobody would classify them as being clones of each other in terms of leadership style and on-the-job attributes. Jobs was described as an industry visionary and a marketing genius, but also a mean spirited micro-manager who threw tantrums and often harshly criticized rather than motivated the employees closest to him.

Welch has often been described as strategic, process driven, hyper-competitive and capable of managing enormous complexity and scale. At the same time, he was seen as ruthless (“Neutron Jack”), impersonal, and provocative.

While they were both highly successful at what they did, and had some similarities in personality, nobody would confuse one with the other. I would assert that Jobs would not have fared very well as the CEO of GE, an industrial and financial services colossus, and Welch would have struggled to lead an inventive, groundbreaking technology company. The point of this comparison is to reinforce the idea that to do a successful search, you need to appropriately position yourself to networking contacts, executive recruiters, and hiring company executives.

At SoftOneIT Associates we employ what we call a SARs (Situation-Action-Result) exercise to help clients shape their positioning. The exercise consists of the client looking back at the last ten to twelve years of his career and summarizing, in writing, the most significant ten or more achievements that they either drove or with which they were associated. Invariably, when we review these stories with clients (and they are real stories with a beginning, middle, and end which become essential ingredients for a successful interview), we can pick out what a client likes to do on the job because she’s good at it. And she’s good at it because she has identifiable skills, experience, talents, and passions that we can capture and help her package into an accurate self-description which, applied repeatedly in the right circumstances, becomes a powerful positioning.

So, as one example, we might determine that a client with a financial background can and should be positioned as a CFO whose best fit is one where accounting, receivables management, and cost control are paramount rather than a position where M&A experience and analyst and investor presentations are especially prized.

We also help clients think through, based on their strengths and backgrounds, what type of situation is the best match for them. Are they better at working in startups or early stage companies; do they thrive in high pressure, turnaround situations where the risks of failure are high but the potential rewards for success are outsized; do they do best in large companies with a global footprint where change is more incremental and less sudden; or are they best suited for situations where technical expertise is essential and a generalist background is less essential.

We may also have an even more extreme situation where a client wants to completely reinvent himself in terms of his next position. This requires going through all of the steps noted above along with an intense discovery and exploration process that entails conceptualizing, examining and assessing a variety of possible career paths and seeking outside validation from professionals who are already working in those types of positions and may have made the same career journey themselves.

There are rarely “right” answers to any of these questions at the outset of a client engagement, but we do know that at SoftOneIT Associates, following these steps and engaging deeply and interactively with our clients, we can develop a clear positioning that strongly matches our client’s interests, skills, and experience and resonates well in the marketplace.

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An often daunting aspect of the search process, and one that is generally done haphazardly or not at all by people seeking their next role, is thinking through what industries they want to target, what companies within those industries are of interest, and what to do once these industries and companies have been identified.

At SoftOneIT we think this is a critical step in the search process.  We take the time to work interactively with clients on this as doing it well proves to be a catalyst in securing important input and connections from networking contacts.

At SoftOneIT , we first consider the client’s current industry as a primary target unless he’s barred from working in that industry for a period of time because of a non-competition agreement. Working together, we also examine some of the key characteristics of her most recent industry (and perhaps the one before that depending on how long she’s been in her current industry), and determine what other industries have similar characteristics. Among the characteristics we examine, and this list isn’t exhaustive, are product versus service; domestic versus global; business-to-business versus business-to-consumer; retail or online oriented; technology and marketing intensity; mode of distribution and sales; distribution versus manufacturing; public or private; for profit or non-profit as well as other critical characteristics. By systematically doing this, we are able to identify other industries where our client’s skills and experience may be a fit.

We also look at industries that are undergoing major changes, often creating unique entry opportunities for our clients. Among the disruptive changes we look for are major changes in the competitive set, technology advances, new regulation, increased foreign competition, and alterations in industry structure. One or more of these disruptive changes occurring in an industry can often create opportunities for people with very different profiles and capabilities than have been heretofore common in the industry.

Once the target industries have been identified, and we usually limit the universe to 3-4 industries at the outset, the next step is to identify target companies. A key consideration in taking this step is determining the geographic preferences of the client. Is she tied to the Delaware Valley? Is she willing to commute beyond the Delaware Valley to Princeton or New York City to the north, or Baltimore or Washington to the south? From a personal standpoint, is she flexible enough to move to another city, perhaps Atlanta, or Chicago, or Dallas?

Once the locus of employment is determined, our next step is helping our client to determine the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and/or North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes for the target industries, which are then plugged into two databases (Reference USA and OneSource/Avention) and the  Philadelphia Business Journal Book of Lists which, along with geography and company size parameters, yield a list of potential target companies which our client will then prioritize based on a variety of preference factors.

Some common factors to consider, and to match against our client’s skills, experience and preferences include whether the company

• is growing, declining or flat from a revenue or share perspective;
• has seen the management of the company turned over recently and, if so, why;
• has a history of hiring from the outside and, if so, in which functions or divisions;
• has seen the core functional emphasis changing from sales to marketing or operations to finance, for example;
• is launching a slew of new products or services;
• has a distinctive set of controlling owners; or
• has been publicly recognized for some positive aspect, such as being one of the best places to work, or being innovative in key operational areas.

We also encourage our clients to ask their contacts – former colleagues; professional service providers, such as accountants, lawyers, management consultants, investment bankers, and executive search professionals; customers; vendors; and executives within professional or trade associations — for their suggestions on worthwhile target companies within the industries and geography selected.

Once the client has a minimum of 5-6 target companies per industry, using a document we call a Senior Executive Profile, she can then start to obtain valuable information from networking contacts. Specifically,

• do the networking contacts know if any of the target companies are seeking to hire someone with our client’s background, experience, skills, and credentials;
• do the networking contacts know anyone within one or more of the target companies, relevant to the search, to whom they can make an introduction for our client;
• do the networking contacts know a professional service provider who knows anyone within the company and would they meet with the client and, if impressed, make an introduction to a key contact within the company;
• do the networking contacts have ideas on additional target companies now that they’ve seen an initial list;  and
• do the networking contacts have ideas on another industry or industry segment our client should consider targeting.

At SoftOneIT Associates we believe that developing the list of target industries and companies is absolutely critical in allowing our clients to proactively seek their next position with well considered objectives in mind and a tool that enables them to secure the maximum amount of value from key networking contacts–in effect, asking for and collecting what these contacts know and who they know, while positioning themselves as systematic, directed, confident, and professional as they seek their next position and support in identifying and penetrating target companies.

The post Determining Target Industry and Company Criteria appeared first on SoftOneIT Associates.

One of the challenging aspects of searching for a new position is the sense that you’re isolated and alone. As an antidote to this situation, at SoftOneIT Associates we have developed a concept we use with our clients called a “Personal Board of Directors”. This Board, selected well and used wisely, provides an invaluable support system and “force multiplier” for our clients.

Here’s how it works. As we start the engagement, we ask our client to identify six people whom they really trust and would open up to in terms of what is going on in their search – warts and all. In turn, each of these people are big supporters of our client and would be willing to regularly spend time in-person or on the phone for the duration of the search. We suggest to our client that he meet with or speak to each of his Board members once per month for an hour. We recognize, of course, that our client will develop a rhythm and routine with each of her Board members – she’ll meet with some every 4 weeks; some she’ll speak with every 2 weeks; some she’ll meet with every 6 weeks; and some she’ll talk with on an as-needed basis.

It should be noted that although we call this group a “Board”, they don’t meet together and our client doesn’t “report” to them. Instead, our client meets or speaks with each of them on a one‑on‑one basis. The differing roles each of the Board members fill is as follows:

Role 1 – Proofreader of “last resort”

In this role, the Board member reviews and proofreads all of the client’s written materials – her resume, cover letters, Senior Executive Profile, LinkedIn profile, and presentations – for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and syntax. We want all of these materials to be impeccable.

Role 2 – Content checker

In this role, the Board member reviews our client’s resume for content – Are the best accomplishments being included? Is an accomplishment being overstated or understated? Is there unnecessary repetition among the accomplishments cited?

If our client chooses a Board member who is also an excellent proofreader and knows the client’s career well, Roles 1a and 1b can be handled by one person, not two.

Role 3 – Brainstormer

This Board member is a creative asset to our client. He helps our client think through the appropriate role or roles (sometimes our client is a good fit for two roles based on experience and career history), target industries, and target companies. This creative support is especially important for clients who are thinking of making a significant change in career path, those who are attempting to switch industries, or those who need help in identifying companies that would be a good fit for their talents, skills, experience, and passions.

Role 4 – Networker

This Board member (and two Board members doing this is twice as good as one) helps our client by introducing him to valuable new contacts – industry experts, C-Level executives, Board members, investors, professional service providers, such as commercial and investment bankers, accountants, management consultants, lawyers, and wealth advisors. These Board members know a lot of people to whom they can introduce our client. Having 1-2 people playing this role is often essential to a successful search process.

Role 5 – Psychologist/Cheerleader

The search process is like a “rollercoaster” with significant highs and lows. A notable high is being in a search process for a role that is a great fit.  A low, of course, is going through a lengthy search process and then not getting the job. This Board member can help our client express serious disappointment and/or ventilate strong emotions after a search setback.  At the same time, they can remind our client how well he has done over the course of his career despite this most recent frustration.  This will help the client stay focused, prevent him from allowing a particular setback to color or affect how he competes for other roles, and to demonstrate proper demeanor to the key decision makers of these new, and perhaps better, opportunities. The Psychologist/Cheerleader also works to tamp down our client’s excessive highs if they become too fixated on a given role that is not guaranteed to go to the offer stage.  This will help cushion a potential disappointment if the process ends short of an offer.

Role 6 – Analyst/Diagnostician

In this final role, the Board member “prebriefs” our client, preparing the client for major networking meetings and interviews in a very granular way. The Board member then helps the client “debrief”, or dissect and analyze those meetings and interviews, and provides our client with guidance on what might be an appropriate next step with the networking contact or interviewers.

In working with clients, SoftOneIT coaches play all of these roles and do it quite effectively, of course. But, we have discovered that having a separate group of supporters, this Personal Board of Directors, acting on our client’s behalf and really investing time and effort into the search, pays very big dividends both psychologically and practically, and accelerates the time it takes our client to secure a desirable new position.

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