Career Change Lessons
By Dan Resendes, Chief Consulting Officer at The Barrett Group
The vast majority (around 80%) of our clients are unhappily employed. The remaining 20% are out of work for one reason or another. Here are several career change lessons garnered from 15 plus years of experience in the career management field.
Most of our clients are looking to leave their current job… but many are looking for relief in their current situation due to: the boss from hell; political negativities; uncertainty resulting from a merger or acquisition; a glass ceiling with zero room for advancement; lack of raises beyond cost of living adjustments; feeling underutilized or undervalued; looking to telecommute when it is not the norm; and various more unsustainable challenges with no relief in sight.
Those who are out of work feel quite alone in their search. They may feel embarrassed due to their situation and lack of financial contribution to their families. Many sit at home applying to endless jobs on the internet and getting nowhere. They reach to third party recruiters who treat them terribly, or totally ignore them.
About 25% of The Barrett Group’s (TBG) clients achieve success by learing how to deal with third party recruiters and better respond to job postings.
The truth is that recruiters receive dozens of calls from job seekers (yes dozens) who want to take them out for coffee or expect them to spend their time helping them to find a job. Those job seekers mistakenly think it is the recruiter’s job to place them. Many of TBG’s employees are former recruiters or executives who have hired recruiters in the past to fill open positions. This allows us to expertly coach our clients on how to motivate a recruiter to work set up interviews on your behalf.
Many individuals spend hours applying to job postings. Not only is it frustrating, but is ineffective. We know how to make sure your application is read by an actual human being and not just a computer. TBG’s career consultants know how to customize each resume and cover letter so the system or person in charge of screening applications will be highly motivated to speak with each and every client. We help our clients to build a library of different resume and cover letter versions so that the reader will perceive each client as deserving of an interview.
Some 25% of our clients achieve success by leveraging their reputation to gain advocacy, political referrals and nomination for unpublished opportunities through their LinkedIn social networks.
Most new clients have LinkedIn profiles, but severely lack understanding on how to tap into the unpublished market via LinkedIn. (Also read: 12 Ways to Maximize LinkedIn During a Career Change)
Most new clients also spend the majority of their time on LinkedIn’s job board. They fail to realize that 90% of the hiring on LinkedIn is covert. These people leverage their reputation and people looking to hire them do not post jobs, they search for individuals with the background and skills they need.
Every year, dozens of our clients land the perfect job due to the learnings we provide. It is amazing.
Another 25% of our clients achieve success because we help them to grow their network with very little effort on their part.
We know our clients are busy so we identify and send introductions to individuals working at specific companies in target geographic areas and industries.
In addition, TBG’s research team identifies the individuals, author the introductions, print, sign and process introductions. We send a confidential packet to each approved recipient. We coach our clients on the nuances of how to make a two-minute phone call to inquire about the recipients interest in networking or employment. Even the busiest person has time for a short phone call.
These career change lessons and many more insights into executive career management are the focus of The Barrett Group.
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