It’s Summertime Again and the Landing is Easy

With apologies to George Gershwin, it is summer in the northern hemisphere (again) and while many executives think finding their next executive opportunity must wait until the fall, our clients know better—and they make it look easy.  In fact, almost three dozen of them landed employment contracts or attractive offers during the past month! 

They earned exciting titles such as

• Chief Financial Officer (Automotive)
• Chief Financial Officer (Hospitals, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals)
• Medical Director and Physician (Hospitals, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals)
• Sales Director of Europe Global Accounts (Manufacturing), as well as

Intriguing titles such as

• Director of Real Estate Partnerships (Information Technology & Services),
• Associate General Counsel (Finance & Financial Services),
• Commercial Facility Site Head (Hospitals, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals),
• Vice President (Restaurants, Food & Beverage), and of course

Mundane but lucrative titles such as

• Managing Director (Conglomerate),
• Director of Management Control (Finance & Financial Services),
• Senior Director of Merchandising (Retail), and
• Executive (Information Technology & Services).

Note that in many cases a “Director” or “Head” level position actually pays more than a Vice President or even C-level role—depending on the size of the company, the industry, and the complexity of the task.  So we encourage clients to remain open-minded.

Of course, our clients did the actual work required to achieve these successes (supported by their Barrett Group account teams) by following our tried-and-true methodology that has been vetted now over more than 30 years—an approach that has earned us repeated recognition by none other than Forbes as one of the best in the business.  Still, in many cases, that work was not “easy.”  Clients often progress through multiple interviews before landing the dream job.  But the work was rewarding.

Here is how one client summarized his experience:

I recently completed The Barrett Group’s career management program and had the pleasure of working with Robert Wicker as my career consultant and program manager. Robert was absolutely amazing—knowledgeable, articulate, and highly effective in guiding me through the entire process. His expertise and personalized approach were invaluable.  [Christopher, Read more.]

Most of these clients landed through unpublished opportunities that we helped them uncover  (Read more.) and this does not surprise us as we follow a cohort of some 9 million executives across 12 time zones that typically turns over 450,000 executive positions each year.  (Please refer to our Industry Updates for more information.)  Of course, sectors go up and down based on market and other influences, but we find that there are essentially always opportunities if you know how to look for them.  As you see from the list above, we cover most sectors and roles because our method simply works—regardless of industry.

Virtually all of the clients under discussion improved their initial offers, too, at least in part due to the offer negotiation step in our program.  Here are a few examples of their compensation packages—after applying the Barrett Group leverage:

• $200K plus $50K bonus
• $215K plus a 25% bonus
• $254K
• $260K plus 30% bonus
• $275K plus vesting options
• $275K plus a bonus of $125K
• $314K
• $314K
• $350K
• $500K

We are so sure of our methods and so proud of our clients’ successes that we publish them (anonymously) every week on our Hiring Line.  See for yourself.

Our clients often hit the ground running and then perhaps do not have the time or focus to provide references endlessly to potential new clients because landed clients are too busy driving their new careers.  This is why we also publish numerous Success Studies and Testimonials readers may find useful on our website.

So, if you are waiting for something to happen in your career, please consider that you could actually make progress proactively instead—regardless of the season. 

Get in touch if you’re ready for a change.