Many Happy Returns Again

Sometimes our clients are surprised at first to hear about paid search.  They ask us, why should I pay for career management services? What is my return on investment?

Let me answer this with examples from my own life.  All of the numbers are exactly true.  The timing and the circumstances I will keep to myself if you don’t mind.

At one point in my life, I was eager to move up and earn more. But my employer felt they couldn’t afford it. So I hired a career management firm and paid them $4,500 (a lot of money for me back then).  They taught me about myself using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. They helped me write a resume and provided me with a mailing list. It took about two months until I had a job offer in my targeted industry at a substantial premium. 

In That Instance, I Increased My Compensation Over The Next Three Years By $150,000 Cumulatively, A 33-Fold Return On My Investment.

The next time, I was in Europe.  I wanted to change countries and industries.  I had no time due to the demands of my role.  So, again, I hired a firm to help me research the unpublished market and write a strong resume. They took me to market.  In that case, it took about three months until I had two solid offers in my target market.  The return was also good.  For $5,000, I added $200,000 in compensation over four years, a 40-fold return.

It gets more difficult sometimes as you get older, so the last time I hired a career management firm in Europe, I actually paid them €20,000.  Their process was analogous to our process at the Barrett Group. It included a thorough targeting exercise, psychographic analysis of behaviors to improve my self-knowledge, professional photos, handsome, snail-mail packages, and a hand-selected list of board chairmen (and women) in my targeted industries and geographies.  We launched the campaign in September.  I accepted a job in December. 

Over The Next Three Years, I Received $600,000 In Compensation, Again, A 30-Fold Return.

Then there is the Barrett Group whom I hired in 2014 when I came back to the US.  They helped me through a complicated set of career adventures until I realized that I actually did not want another corporate job, but would rather be in business for myself.  Today we use the Clarity Program© (our “Targeting” process step) to help our clients clarify their targets up front partly because of my experience in 2014.  Ultimately, I bought and built a business in California and the cash return (excluding equity) over five years is again 30-fold.

Are You Seeing A Trend Here?

Yes, I may be unusual, but of the five times I used career management services, they were successful 80% of the time and returned 30-40 fold on my investment.

At the Barrett Group we offer a highly sophisticated, five-step process including our unique targeting step (the Clarity Program©), thirty years of professional experience in career management, and hundreds of testimonials.  Each full program client is supported by a six-member team, one of whom is a negotiation coach.  We help clients maximize the offers they receive by leveraging the experience of all of our historical clients to look under every stone and winkle out additional compensation elements before they accept a final offer.  Typically this will add $10,000-$20,000 per client, easily offsetting our fees.

The career market has become more complicated and your time is valuable.  Think about the opportunity cost you are incurring by not employing a career management firm yourself.  Maybe it’s time you explored your options.   We look forward to hearing from you so you, too, can enjoy many happy returns.

Peter Irish, Chairman
The Barrett Group