Look Who’s Landing!

It is so easy to be distracted by all the doom and gloom in the world, but there is one bright spot: our clients are landing executive positions at a prodigious rate! And not just any positions, but worthy ones and well rewarded.

Even in the supposedly slow days of summer in the northern hemisphere, 18 of our clients have landed in the last few weeks.

We are so confident in our tried and true career change process that we publish the results our clients achieve every week in our Frontline Report.

Here’s how one recently landed executive client summarized his Barrett Group experience:

“I cannot stress enough how important it was to me that The Barrett Group helped me present myself as an equal partner to employers in this job search. I didn’t leave my former job because I was unhappy; I left because I wanted a new challenge. An executive needs to exude confidence that is commensurate with the leadership position. That is what I learned from Dan [his career consultant], and that helped me in all my interactions. I can’t thank him enough.” [Marijo Prodanic – Read more.]

Some executives ask us whether we are experts in their industry. The answer is that they are typically the experts in that particular industry.

We are experts in helping executives change careers, whether by transferring to a new company, a new role, a new country, or a completely new sector—because our process, developed and perfected over more than three decades, works across all industries. Want proof? See the Landed Clients’ Industries Chart.

Certainly there are trends in which industries are downsizing, or growing.

We report on these regularly in our Industry Updates, which trace trends in a population of about 9 million executives over multiple continents. At the moment, the Health Care sector has been very active, hiring our clients into exciting positions such as COO, CFO, and multiple SVP, VP and Director roles.

Finance & Financial Services is almost evergreen as a landing industry in part because there is always so much movement (much of it invisible in the so-called Unpublished Market). In this sector so far this year our clients have also landed multiple C-level, General Counsel, SVP and VP, Consultant, Director, and Manager roles.

Other industry segments are also very active as you can see from the chart, particularly Information Technology, but also Manufacturing, Management Consulting, and many others.

The “Other” cohort includes Law Firms, Aerospace, Real Estate, Associations, and a number of other niche segments also hiring our clients as senior execs.

It is important to remember that title and compensation do not necessarily follow a linear logic. Sometimes a Director in one organization will earn more than a CEO in another. This is why our decades of experience in helping executives negotiate the best possible package are so critical to our clients. But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what one landed client had to say:

“I tend to downplay myself during negotiations and George [her career consultant] showed me how to position myself for a better offer. He used the visual of a scale to explain how employers have more leverage during the hiring process, but once they give you an offer, you now have more leverage to ask for what you want. We also went over a list of negotiation questions I should ask during the process. Thanks to George, I got a better package than I otherwise would have.” [Samantha – Read more.]

Typically, we find that we can almost always add $10,000, $20,000, $30,000 or more in total compensation simply because we have a better understanding after assisting thousands of clients to negotiate their compensation packages as to what will work in each situation.

The Landed Executive Clients’ Base Compensation chart provides an overview of what this year’s cohort of clients has achieved. The additional perks are simply too diverse to include in the chart ranging as they do from bonus plans to relocation and education benefits, health care, cars, travel, stock, and, of course, equity.

Another question we often hear is whether we serve the top of the market or mid-level managers. About 45% of our clients so far this year are clearly senior management, being either C-level, VP of one flavor or another, Heads of functions, Managing Directors, General Counsels, or General Managers. [See the Landed Executive Clients’ Titles chart.]

Directors and Managers make up another 37%, again with the caveat that some of these roles are actually more highly remunerated that other C-suite roles. The “Other” cohort here includes titles that are harder to categorize hierarchically such as Engineer, Advisor, Analyst, Expert, Professor, Specialist, Technician, and Trader—each constituting a particular target our clients aspired to and achieved.

Executives often brood over their dissatisfaction with their professional lives for months or even years and often tell us that they simply do not know how to pursue an effective career search. If those are your concerns, or indeed, if you feel that you are doing the work but not receiving the compensation, we can help you as we are helping executives every week, every month, every year.

By the way, Forbes magazine’s says we are among the best in the business.

Why not add yourself to our next summary of Look Who’s Landing? Give us a call and let’s get started!