Success Studies

Client:

Jocelyn Hirschfeld was senior director of sales and business development at a mid-size provider of medical supplies, services, and support.

Industry:

Healthcare, Hospitals, Medical Devices

Function:

Sales, Business Development

Challenge:

After 16 years with the same company where she played multiple roles, Jocelyn thought it was time for a change, but she wanted help thinking through her next move and how to make it.

Process:

Reconnecting with people in her network revealed numerous, exciting career pathways for Jocelyn, and overhauling her LinkedIn profile drove recruiter attention her way.

Landing:

Jocelyn landed a job with a medical device startup that values the experience she brings and offers ample opportunities to keep her challenged.

Study:

Jocelyn Hirschfeld played many roles during the 16 years she worked for a private provider of medical supplies, services, and support. Starting with the company back when it was struggling, Jocelyn worked her way up from account manager to regional manager, then to VP of sales, and finally to senior director of sales and business development. She took pride in the role she played in turning the organization into the billion-dollar company it became.

During her tenure, Jocelyn saw the company make acquisitions and, ultimately, get acquired. It was that final acquisition that triggered Jocelyn to sit back and think about her career and consider whether it was time for a change. 

“I had zero anticipation of being at my company as long as I had been. I wasn’t unhappy in my job, but I like to be challenged. I had taken it upon myself to understand every single department in the organization over the years and then…I hit the ceiling,” said Jocelyn. “I didn’t see myself continuing on as I was for another 15 years until retirement.”

The decision to change careers did not come lightly to Jocelyn, though. She did her job well, she was well paid to do it, and she questioned the sense of rocking the boat.

“It’s hard to get serious about changing jobs when you’re in a very lucrative position that you’re comfortable with. I did a lot of second-guessing. Do I really want to do this or is this a mid-life crisis?” said Jocelyn.

Jocelyn also felt naïve about how to approach a job change after so long with the same company. She knew she would need help. She did some research and pulled the trigger when she came across The Barrett Group (TBG). TBG, she felt, offered the range of services she needed to make the necessary mental shift and prepare for a major career transition.

“Working with David Black, my Clarity coach, was good because he set up our calls and kept me on task. That was important because I was still thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m actually doing this!’ I would have dragged my feet as much as I could have,” said Jocelyn.

Although she didn’t think she needed to bother with them initially, Jocelyn found the personality profile tests that she took during the Clarity Program to be great.

“I hadn’t had one of those tests done on me in a while and the results were enlightening,” said Jocelyn. “I realized that things that used to be important to me are less important to me now, like titles.”

In the next stage of the TBG Program, Jocelyn began meeting with executive career consultant, Paula Nordhoff. Paula assigned Jocelyn various tasks to do. Jocelyn didn’t always find the tasks easy to do, but the process was an awakening. That is when she began to get excited about changing jobs. 

“Paula told me to reach out to anyone and everyone – by phone only. I kept thinking, ‘What’s the point?’ At first, I considered it just more work when I was already working so many hours as it was. I secretly wanted to outsource it to someone else but, of course, that wouldn’t have made any sense. So, I started to do it,” said Jocelyn. 

“Reaching out to my network turned out to be extremely useful and a lot of fun. People were shocked that I would consider leaving my company, but they were happy to connect me with other people that they thought I should speak to. I soon realized that the grass was greener on the other side – and that I could do this! Building social capital ended up being extremely instrumental to the entire process of my job search.”

Jocelyn couldn’t believe that she’d allowed life to get so busy that she had lost contact with people to whom she had once been so close. She really enjoyed it and, the more she talked to people, the more excited she got about her career prospects. It became very clear to her that she was doing the right thing. She realized that she no longer had to limit herself to a highly corporate environment. She was drawn now to the high-risk, high-reward challenges of the startup world. 

Several promising job opportunities resulted from Jocelyn’s efforts to build social capital, but her company’s stringent two-year noncompete agreement was a deal breaker in many cases. Jocelyn was unvexed. She was in no rush and, anyway, the intense interest she got from some hiring managers to bring her on board was invigorating. When she did successfully land, she gave credit to the work she and the TGB team did to re-brand her.

“I had my resume updated, which was very well received,” said Jocelyn. “And we did a lot of revisions on my LinkedIn profile. That was very helpful. My profile before was poorly done, but now it’s great. There are so many different components of LinkedIn that can capture the attention of people, and I had none of it activated. Reverse engineering was also important. I actually landed through a recruiter, and I think that he found me thanks to all the work we did on LinkedIn.”

The company was a brand-new, medical device startup with an exciting new product to launch. When they met Jocelyn, they knew she was the right person to bring it to market. The interview process spanned nearly six months, but the slow timing gelled perfectly with Jocelyn’s own timing. She relished the challenge of doing something totally different. She also thought the CEO would be a great leader and mentor for her. 

“As I reflected on the opportunity, I became increasingly interested. I feel that it could be the greatest success I will ever have. Plus, I wouldn’t have to worry about my noncompete,” said Jocelyn. “When they finally asked me to give a presentation on how I would launch the product into market, I was excited by the prospect because the new role would incorporate all my previous expertise in leading teams, developing marketing strategies, maintaining manufacturing relationship, and many other of my talents.”

Soon after, Jocelyn found herself in negotiations for a VP of market access position. She is thrilled about her new career and appreciates the help Paula gave her during the job search process.

“Paula was always very helpful. It’s extremely hard to work and job search. It’s two full-time jobs! But Paula is very task oriented. I really valued the work we did on social networking and LinkedIn, as well as Paula’s ability and patience to keep me on track!”

Client:

Vincent Capodicci was a longtime foreign service officer at the U.S. Department of State and a director of operations and security of several high-risk embassies and consulates.

Industry:

Federal Government, Nonprofit, Government Contracting, Technology

Function:

Operations, Security, Management, Training, Compliance

Challenge:

After spending more than 30 years in the federal government, most of it overseas, Vincent wanted to be a full-time husband and father to his young family, which required leaving government for the private sector.

Process:

Vincent learned how to brand himself, then a resume and LinkedIn profile overhaul and a lot of work to develop his network helped him garner abundant recruiter attention.

Landing:

Vincent landed an exciting position as security program manager for a large government contractor at a compensation level that exceeded his expectations.

Study:

Vincent Capodicci had a long, rich, and exciting career in the U.S. government. After 10 years of military service, he spent the better part of two decades in the U.S. State Department where he worked as a foreign service officer in high-risk posts. He rose to the level of director of operations and security in the U.S. embassies and consulates of Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Over that time, Vincent became an expert in the greater Middle East region and in security and protective operations – and he loved it.

As a foreign service officer, however, Vincent moved to a different country every three to four years, which is hard on a family. To maintain stability for his children, his family remained in Connecticut where Vincent would visit them every few months. Ultimately, Vincent wanted to find a balance that enabled him to pursue work about which he was passionate while living full-time with his family.

“I’ve always been overseas for months and visiting home for a couple of weeks at time. I missed my family, and they missed me. About a year ago I decided that I wanted to be closer to them, and that meant leaving the State Department for the private sector,” said Vincent.

Soon after, Vincent resigned from full-time employment with the State Department. But he was able to line up a consulting contract with their Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, which enabled him to keep his security clearance and draw a paycheck as he looked for work. Then he dusted off his resume and began job seeking. 

“I hired a resume writing service to redo my resume and help me create a LinkedIn profile. I began sending resumes through a service recommended to me, but I wasn’t getting the jobs leads I wanted,” said Vincent. 

Fortunately, Vincent had time on his side. He began researching career management services and found The Barrett Group [TBG]. On the recommendation of a friend, he hired them and, before long, was meeting with David Black, a coach in TBG’s Clarity Program.

“I really liked Clarity and I enjoyed working with David. I didn’t feel pressure to hurry, so I went through the program at my own pace,” said Vincent. 

Vincent learned a lot about his work and leadership styles thanks to the activities he did in the Clarity program, and he was able to easily identify his goals.

“You benefit the most from the personality assessments if you are honest and truthful. When I got the results, it was scary how spot on they were! They gave me specifics about my personality and work ethic that helped me design my LinkedIn profile and my approach to networking.”

Vincent determined that he wanted to stay within the world of security because he liked the challenges. He also wanted to work for a company that enabled him to maintain his sense of service to the bigger picture.

“Clarity helped me think beyond ground-level, physical security, which had been my focus before, to a higher-level, more overall, management of security. It broadened my horizon under the security umbrella.”

Just as Vincent began working with his career consultant, Larry DiBoni, next, he scored an interview for a great role with a renowned defense contractor. He told Larry that he wanted to pivot.

“Before I even got my first updated resume from the TBG team, I got an interview for a director position. Larry was essentially introducing himself and I told him, ‘We need to change the plan and focus on that!’ So, he juggled things around to help me prep for it.”

That hiring process took two months. Vincent was disappointed when he was turned down for the job, but he chalked it up to bad timing.

“I learned a lot from Larry and The Barrett Group program that I applied later in my job search, but I didn’t know how to sell myself well yet at that stage. If that opportunity had come later, I think I would have gotten the position.”

Undeterred, Vincent re-focused on job searching. He and the TBG writing team restructured his resume, stripping out unnecessary details and making important elements eye-catching. At Larry’s suggestion, he highlighted skills that are in greater demand in the private sector, like cyber and tech security, which opened a new range of opportunities to him. He learned from Larry about the power of social capital and how to use LinkedIn to develop it, and, within a month, he had lined up more interviews.

“I used the unpublished market in my prior line of work, but the foreign service community is tight knit. The private sector is a much larger scale. So, Larry taught me how to set up lines with people and follow up with them – he helped me map out a networking strategy. Because I knew few people in the private sector, the key was to get referrals from someone who knew someone who knew my reputation. That required a lot more research and connecting, which took time.”

Vincent was happy to find organizations that wanted to recruit veterans or former federal workers for the experience they bring to the table. But he also faced skepticism by some hiring managers that he could adapt to a private sector environment.

“I struggled with that attitude, but Larry and I worked on developing a good counterpoint response.” 

After taking his time to find the right job, Vincent was thrilled to land a role as the security program manager for a large government contractor in what he describes as a “textbook” case of unpublished market success. 

“Several months ago, I got an email from a person who was searching for a candidate with my skillset for a role at a major government contractor. He saw that I was connected on LinkedIn to someone they had recently hired that had previously worked at the State Department and he wanted to schedule a time to talk about the position.”

After several weeks of interviewing, Vincent was offered the position, in which he would oversee all security aspects of the organization’s government defense contracts. The compensation package was everything he had wanted and more. 

Three weeks into his new job, Vincent couldn’t be happier – and he gives large credit for his success to his career consultant.

“The most valuable aspect of the TBG program for me was the interaction I had with my coach. Larry and I got along really well. Even after talking business, we’d talk about hobbies. I felt that he was personally invested in me, and that helped him guide me in the right direction.”

Thanks to that guidance, Vincent anticipates an exciting, new career in the private sector.

“The way TBG broke everything down was phenomenal – not just Larry, but the whole support team behind him. They show you how to find the cracks and back doors into an organization by leveraging the thousands of people that are connected to you in some way. And if you have any problems with recruiters, TBG can give you the point of contact for the position you want so you can follow up with the hiring manager directly. That opened a lot of doors!” said Vincent. “And even though I’m no longer looking for a job, I’m still networking with people. My network has exploded in multiple directions. These are opportunities that will continue to grow.”

Client:

Laura was a long-time employee of a financial institution in Silicon Valley. By any measure, her tenure was a success. She appreciated her company, and her company appreciated her.

Industry:

Banking

Challenge:

When her superior left, she asked for a promotion to his open position. She was told something vague and discouraging, like, “You’re not quite ready.”

Process:

Laura made improvements to how she presented herself to the marketplace, particularly LinkedIn, and became a dedicated and effective networker.

Landing:

Laura became a director and then a global director. Her new employer allowed her to grow and, to this day, encourages her to grow.

Study:

In some cases, our focus is on protecting already maximized value, like when The Barrett Group helps a c-level client who has been downsized as part of a merger find a similarly lucrative and powerful role with another company. In other cases, our focus is on helping a client unlock their value, like when The Barrett Group helps a client who is a high-level manager move from a company that undervalues her to a company that recognizes her potential and true value. This is such a story, told at the client’s request without names to protect employer and employee alike.

Our client was a long-time employee of a financial institution in Silicon Valley. By any measure, her tenure was a success. She appreciated her company, and her company appreciated her. She received raises and promotions through the years. Beginning as a project manager, she was promoted to a full management position overseeing the project managers and then promoted again, this time to a senior manager position.

After becoming a senior manager, she did as she had always done—she sought out added responsibilities, something her employer no longer encouraged. And when her superior left, she asked for a promotion to his open position. She was told something vague and discouraging, like, “You’re not quite ready.” or “You’re not there quite yet.” She decided that she needed to find somewhere else to work if she was to grow, somewhere with more light and less shade. What good is the potential for growth in a place without the room or resources to grow?

Initially, our client tried to find a new position entirely on her own. It didn’t work. She decided she might need some help. Like most clients of The Barrett Group, she did not simply rush to us for help. She looked around, talking to a number of firms, and she shopped around. And only then did she decide that The Barrett Group would be the best bet for helping her unlock her value.

The Barrett Group does not sell magic. It sells a process that works. That process, especially the beginning of that process, can be difficult, as The Barrett Group and clients work, as partners, to build the foundation of a successful search. In this case, the beginning of the process was helped by something worthy of relief and elation. Our client discovered that she was not alone in her valuation of herself. In finding The Barrett Group, she found not only an ally, but a team of allies, who, unlike her current employer, agreed with her valuation and were determined to get the marketplace to recognize that valuation.

Our client went to work to prove the truth of her valuation, and The Barrett Group to prove that their encouragement of her valuation was not bluster. Together, they revised her resume and her LinkedIn profile, The Barrett Group persuading her that her LinkedIn image shouldn’t be an online version of her resume—that the two serve different purposes. And they convinced her that she had even undervalued herself in a few specific ways. For example, when accounting for her implementation experience, she should count not only her years in charge of implementation projects, but also her years working as part of implementation teams. And so, she began making subtle improvements to the way she presented herself to the marketplace.

Perhaps most importantly, The Barrett Group convinced her to become a dedicated and effective networker. They explained to her that they would be willing to network on her behalf—but only as a last resort, that for her job search to be the very best job search she needed to try networking herself. And she did. Because she engaged The Barrett Group, she networked in ways she would not have networked without them and with a previously unimaginable level of dedication, in part inspired by the financial commitment she had made to her search.

In the process, she not only became an effective networker, but a zealous convert. When she reached out to former colleagues, with the encouragement of The Barrett Group, she was pleasantly surprised. And when she contacted a former supervisor, who she hadn’t talked to in 15 years, she was also pleasantly surprised. She discovered that people were not only willing to help her, but that they were happy to help her. She had a nice lunch with her former supervisor. And, with the help of and a little bit of pushing by The Barrett Group, she discovered that networking isn’t so bad.

During her job search, her employer, perhaps sensing something, offered further evidence that it did value her, as she was offered a retention bonus. She accepted, as the bonus required her to stay with her employer until a specified date but in no way prohibited her continuing her search for a better place to grow. And she continued to search as before, with energy, intelligence, and the help of The Barrett Group.

Soon, she had a number of interviews and multiple offers. When a hoped-for offer didn’t materialize, The Barrett Group supported her. When a good offer materialized and she decided she should decline, The Barrett Group supported her—fully, as The Barrett Group recognizes that the goal of a job search is not job offers, but the right job for their client. Despite her present situation, working for an employer who did not recognize her true value, she remained patient.

And then, something—something so fortuitous that a reasonable person would not even dare to wish for it—happened. An offer began to materialize as the date for her retention bonus approached. One day, she received her retention bonus, having fully honored its terms. The next day, she left.

In the end, she had not only a retention bonus, but a better salary, a better title, a better employer, and, bottom line, a better job. And so, what began as a story of one manager believing in her valuation of herself, continued as a story of her finding someone else who believed in and supported that valuation. And it ended as a story of a third party, her new employer, recognizing both her present value as an executive and her growth potential. Together, the three of them, the client, The Barrett Group, and the client’s new employer, succeeded in unlocking her value.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Photo: 123rf.com

Client:

Kia Banisadre served as an acute care consultant for a large healthcare platform based in Dallas that develops value-based healthcare payment programs. 

Industry:

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Hospitals, Veterinary 

Function:

Optimization, Operations, Consulting, Sales & Marketing, Business Development

Challenge:

After getting laid off for the third time, Kia wanted to learn how to gain more control over his career.

Process:

During the exercise of “paying it forward” to people in his network, one professional contact proposed an unusual opportunity to Kia that was a great match for his skillset – and one he never imagined doing.

Landing:

Kia was invited to develop a new division, as VP of sales and business development, for an accounting firm that had identified a lucrative new market in the veterinary services world.

Study:

As an acute care consultant for a large healthcare platform based in Dallas, Kia Banisadre consulted with hospital groups and post-acute care facilities on how to get better patient outcomes while saving money. During a reorganization, which involved a mass layoff, however, Kia found himself out of a job. 

“This is the third time in a row for me to get laid off,” said Kia. “I decided then that I needed to have more control over my career.”

For Kia, there was a silver lining to getting laid off. He’d come to realize that many of the responsibilities he had been tasked to do didn’t play to his strengths. He’d spent most of his career doing sales and business development or running entire sales divisions, and he resolved to get back to his roots. 

To Kia’s surprise, it didn’t go well.

“It was interesting. I couldn’t land a sales job in pharma. All the hiring managers told me that I was up against people with 10-15 years of experience. By comparison, I had four years running entire sales divisions and a decade of selling deals worth millions of dollars in the healthcare field. That kind of work involves selling products to doctors that cost a lot of money and present a far greater risk to them than asking them to try a new medication for their patients. Yet, despite my success in far more challenging sales environments with the same customer base, the hiring managers couldn’t seem to appreciate that and never considered me a serious candidate for pharma sales. It was really frustrating to be considered under-qualified for jobs that I was more than qualified to do.” 

Four months into his job search, Kia still didn’t have a job. Initially, he hadn’t been interested in pursuing executive jobs because he had gotten burned out by them earlier in his career. However, when a few recruiters began reaching out to him about executive opportunities, he had a change of heart. 

“That is what led me to The Barrett Group [TBG]. Once I realized I still have a passion for leading a team and shaping business strategy, I decided to partner with someone who would look out for me and my interests in my job search,” said Kia.

Kia started his TBG experience with the Clarity Program and enjoyed it enormously.

“Clarity was incredibly eye-opening to me. I loved it! My coach, Lisa Levesque, had very positive energy and was so helpful. I had never taken the time to do a deep dive into myself and explore what I am really looking for. Things are so much easier after that,” said Kia. “The Clarity exercises focused me. Before I started the program, I was considering numerous things that I might do. By the time I finished, it was really clear to me what I wanted to do.” 

Kia’s focus was to get an executive role in sales or business development, one that allowed him to be in a hybrid working environment, and one that allowed him to talk to people versus being behind a screen all day. Within two weeks, he was ready to begin work toward that goal with his career consultant, George Schulz.

“George has been wonderful. He really gets to know you and what you’re looking for, and he is always responsive.”

With George, Kia worked a lot on interviewing skills.

“Working with George was super helpful. I gave answers to sample interview questions and George gave great feedback, saying whether they were too short or long, good or bad, and how best to respond to tricky questions.”

The two also covered a lot of information about LinkedIn.

“My opinion of LinkedIn has changed so much after doing these Barrett Group exercises. I didn’t used to think much of LinkedIn, but now I think that if you’re not on LinkedIn, you’re not serious!”

When it came to social capital building exercises, Kia initially had doubts. Not only was it more work than he expected, but also, he questioned their value. 

“One exercise was to call people I know and trust and offer my expertise to them. I asked George, ‘Is this a mistake?’ Everyone I know well already knows what I do, and they know that I’m always willing to help them. So why would I call them to tell them something they already know?”

Kia did what he was asked, though, and he soon learned two important lessons. First, his assumptions about his friends were not necessarily correct. Second, the point of the exercise was as much to trigger fresh conversations with his friends as it was to offer them help.

“I was surprised to find that my friends didn’t really know what my expertise is. I assumed they knew what I do, but they didn’t!” said Kia. “We ended up having some really good conversations.”

One discussion with a close friend turned out to be Kia’s ticket to a brand-new career in an industry he never imagined working in.

“My friend told me he wanted to expand his business and needed accounting help. So, I told him I would refer him to a former colleague who runs an accounting firm. When I reached out to the colleague, he and I started catching up. Then he told me about some interesting market trends in the veterinary industry that his firm had benefited from. He had gotten several referrals for some high-margin business deals and wanted my advice about whether hiring a salesperson might help him to get more.”

Kia offered his perspective and, before long, Kia’s colleague asked whether Kia would consider helping him build out a sales program for his firm and, eventually, a department to capitalize on this attractive new market opportunity. Ultimately, Kia was hired as VP of sales and business development.

“I didn’t think of my conversation with my accounting friend as an interview, but that is the power of being well prepared. An interview feels like a conversation. Next thing you know, I have a job that I love that plays to my strengths! I have a leadership and administrative role, building out a department and processes, and I also get to be in the field, talking to people. I could not have asked for a better fit! The only difference is that I am in veterinary healthcare, not human healthcare. I’m really enjoying it!”

After landing, Kia thought that his TBG program was finished, but he was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise.

“Even though I’ve landed, it hasn’t been the end of my TBG services. George has been great about suggesting ways that TBG can be helpful even now that I have a job. I feel like I still have someone in my corner.” 

Because Kia is in sales, George offered to provide him with a TBG-generated lead list of veterinary practices.

“Within three days, The Barrett Group provided me with a list of veterinary practices with owner names and phone numbers throughout all the states that I requested. It was amazing! I’m soon going to have a client meeting with a guy in Florida that I never would have reached out to without these lists. Having that information is creating so much efficiency for me. I can’t emphasize enough how important that is for someone who is brand new to an executive leadership role.”

Within two months of joining TBG, Kia had landed a brand-new career, and he couldn’t be happier. 

“Engaging The Barrett Group has been well worth it. I wanted to find the exact job I wanted but I didn’t even know what the exact job might be. I certainly never considered that it would be in a completely different industry!” said Kia. “How much you put behind your slogan ‘We are here to help’ is not just lip service – the value you give back to clients is probably more than clients anticipate they will get.”

Client:

Elizabeth was national director of patient experience for the healthcare division of a global provider of food and facilities management services.

Industry:

Hospitality, Healthcare, Hospitals

Challenge:

After working more than a decade with the same employer, Elizabeth wanted a change, but her job search was not yielding results.

Process:

Elizabeth overhauled her resume and LinkedIn profile, built up social capital among her contacts, and capitalized on interview opportunities to highlight her professional successes.

Landing:

Elizabeth accepted a senior patient experience role with a large, private healthcare system that enables her to directly impact patient experience.

Study:

Elizabeth was a national director of patient experience for the healthcare division of a global provider of food and facilities management. Her job was to standardize programs across the enterprise that would improve patient experience and drive improved patient satisfaction in food and housekeeping services. 

After nearly 11 years with the company, Elizabeth was ready for a change. Specifically, she wanted a position that would allow her to have a greater influence on the patient community that she serves.

“As a service provider, I felt a part of the healthcare community, but also not part of it. I feel passionate about the service I provide to patients, and I wanted to find a job where I could have a more direct impact on their experience.”

In early 2020, Elizabeth began looking at job postings and getting the word out about her interest in a career transition. Although she got some interviews, they didn’t go anywhere. Then, when the pandemic hit, her job search took a backseat to new demands within her current role. It wasn’t until the new year that she decided to accelerate her job search efforts. She found The Barrett Group (TBG) and allowed them to guide her career search.

“I know how to work and drive results in my field, but I didn’t know the job market or how to market myself,” said Elizabeth. “I had been out of the job market for 10 years, and I felt like I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to structure my resume and have my competencies stand out or create a value proposition for myself.”

Elizabeth began with the Clarity component of TBG’s program, finding it fun and helpful, but it was working with her career consultant, Julie Mathern, in the next stage that she reaped the biggest rewards, beginning with revamping her resume and LinkedIn profile.

“My LinkedIn profile has never gotten so many views since Julie and I reworked it. At every interview I was told that my resume looks great. The metrics just popped from the page!” said Elizabeth. “I was impressed with the results even before the revision was complete. I used a draft resume to apply for a job in Philadelphia and landed an interview. Wow! And when the final draft was finished, the interviews starting rolling in.”

Elizabeth’s branding campaign electrified her confidence and affirmed her belief that good self-marketing was essential in drawing attention to her candidacy.

“Rebranding myself made my expertise in patient experiences much more visible. It was a real self-esteem booster to see employer interest in me grow after that,” said Elizabeth. 

Next, Elizabeth’s career consultant had Elizabeth develop her network of contacts.

“It was challenging to reach out to people because I didn’t think they would want to talk to me. But I came to realize how important it is. Julie impressed on me how crucial relationships are – not just now while I’m job seeking, but throughout my career. The resources that The Barrett Group provided me were really helpful. They detailed the standard things to do and say when engaging with people, which made me feel less awkward.” 

When it came to interviewing, Elizabeth credits her career consultant and the resume team with making the process easier. 

“Because my resume spoke for itself, I didn’t have to exert myself a lot during the interview process. All I had to do was give examples of how the metrics tied to my professional experience.”

Still, Elizabeth was well-prepared for interviews. 

“Julie and I spent time going through sample questions and we laughed when, in one of my first interviews, I was asked four questions from TBG’s guide,” said Elizabeth. “I give a gold star to The Barrett Group for preparing me so well for interviews.”

When Elizabeth received a rejection one day, her consultant coached her to send a gracious response back to the hiring manager. To Elizabeth’s surprise, the hiring manager followed up with a different opportunity that turned into a job offer. 

“I ended up turning that job down, but I give The Barrett Group another gold star for coaching me to reply to a rejection email that yielded a job offer!” said Elizabeth.

Throughout the program, Elizabeth valued very much how comprehensive TBG’s approach is to job seeking. 

“The TBG program doesn’t just target job postings, it shows clients how to leverage a resume and LinkedIn profile to create a brand and market themselves, it teaches them to create new contacts and develop relationships so that hiring managers know what they bring to the table.”

Most valuable for Elizabeth were the discipline acquired via the career consultant weekly meetings, and the support rendered by her consultant that pushed Elizabeth beyond her comfort zone.

“Julie told me to get in touch with an executive that I’d formerly worked with who is now the CEO of a company. I was nervous, but I did it. He then connected me with someone who is now serving as my mentor. I’m not sure I would have done that on my own. Julie was the push I needed.”

When it comes to landing her new job, Elizabeth gives significant credit to her career consultant, too. 

“During the initial screening, I learned that the job’s salary range was significantly lower than my minimum requirements. Julie counseled me to continue the process, saying that ‘everything is negotiable.’ In the end, they offered me the job at the compensation level I wanted. I even asked for relocation assistance, and they were happy to do it.” 

Elizabeth is now the System Director of Patient Experience at a large, private healthcare system where she will oversee the entire patient experience for 24 hospitals and 200 satellite sites. In this role, she will have a direct impact on patient experience.

“I’m excited to have more of an influence. At this point in my career, it was time to make an investment in myself – and this was an investment well worth making. I felt that the coaching was so directed. I don’t mind telling anyone that The Barrett Group got me results!”

Most clients give TBG permission to use their first and last names and their photo with their success study. In some cases, however, clients are not at liberty to disclose this information publicly, therefore, some identifying details must be omitted or changed to protect the privacy of the client and/or their organization.

Client:

Justin Kinney was senior manager of robotics at an American multinational that provides equipment, technologies, and expertise to oil and gas industry customers.

Industry:

Energy, Industrial, Oil & Gas, Utilities, Manufacturing, Robotics, Supply Chain, Distribution

Function:

Robotics, Software, Industrial Controls, Management

Challenge:

Justin felt that his team was neither supported nor valued as much as it deserved by management, and he wanted a more fulfilling career.

Process:

Learning how to align his resume and his interviewing skills perfectly to each opportunity was critical in helping Justin land his new role.

Landing:

Justin not only landed a higher-level role, but also in a new industry – and at a higher compensation level.

Study:

Justin Kinney was senior manager of robotics at an American multinational that provides equipment, technology, and expertise to oil & gas industry customers. For four and a half years, he grew and led a team that invented and developed robotics for oil & gas applications, becoming a leader in that space. He was proud of the work, but he felt as though management was not providing the professional development, support, nor rewards that the team merited. So, Justin took measures to advance his career into his own hands.

“I thought my career wasn’t going anywhere. So, I decided to take the next step, myself,” said Justin.

Justin launched a covert job search while he continued working. Although he had spent the bulk of his career in the oil & gas industry, he wanted to get out of it. 

“Most robotics development is in the manufacturing and distribution industries, so that was my focus. But it was hard to break out of oil & gas. I have spent so much of my career there that hiring managers in other industries didn’t see how I could do any other kind of work. That was my biggest hurdle,” said Justin. 

For three months, Justin job searched, using LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Indeed, but he had little success. He got a few interviews, but none of them resulted in an offer. On one occasion, he made it all the way to the final round of interviews for a director-level position only to be informed that he didn’t get the job. 

Four days later, he hired The Barrett Group.

“When I lost that opportunity, I decided I needed help. Robotics is a competitive market, and my oil & gas experience was hurting me,” said Justin.

When he began the Clarity Program, Justin tried to learn everything he could. 

“I started by having weekly meetings with Stacy Ballinger, my Clarity coach, for a few weeks. I liked working with Stacy. She was always available, and we had good conversations,” said Justin. “Clarity confirmed that I was headed in the right direction, and it highlighted things I needed to work on.”

Clarity also helped Justin think through parameters of his job search, such as salary, and geography. 

In the next part of the program, Justin worked through elements as quickly as possible, starting with the social capital building exercises. 

“I struggled with the social capital component at first, but I knew I needed to make all those calls. My network was really weak in my target industry. My contacts were mostly in oil & gas. In the end, I did expand my network to a lot of people in robotics and automation and grew it in a way that I wanted to grow it,” said Justin. “I really see the value in it, and I enjoy those conversations. I plan to continue reaching out to people going forward.”

Justin found his career consultant, Joan Sebring, to be responsive to his questions and needs as she took him through the program, but also firm.

“Joan was good, but she didn’t coddle me. I can be hard-headed and sometimes I didn’t want to do what she asked me to do. She would sometimes tell me to stop doing something and do something else. I had to keep telling myself, ‘I need to just listen to what TBG is telling me to do, even if I think I know better, because what I was doing before didn’t work for me!’” said Justin.

Justin determined to have faith in his career coach and everything that she requested of him. Some of the tasks she assigned him, Justin found easy. Others were challenging.

“I did not have a good resume, and updating it was hard because the resume writing team asked me to give metrics for everything on it. That information is hard to track down! But the writing team and I went back and forth on it, which was helpful because now I know how to manage my resume for the future. “Now,” Justin added, “My resume is really good!”

Justin learned a lot of good interviewing skills, too.

“I didn’t interview well, but I thought I did! That was a problem I had to work on as I went through the program. At one company I had three interviews. The hiring manager narrowed the candidates down to me and another guy – and then chose the other guy.” 

Accepting that there was a lot he could learn about job seeking – and making a concerted effort to improve in those areas – made all the difference in Justin’s job search journey. Although he still faced some rejections, Justin found that with his new resume and his interview skills, he got much farther along in the hiring process. 

“Before, I would apply to jobs and get few responses. After working with The Barrett Group, though, I made sure to align my resume with the job description and consistently got past the screening interview. That became almost automatic.” 

In the end, Justin credits his improvements in exactly the areas where he was weakest with his eventual landing. He saw a job posting on LinkedIn for a director-level position that, ironically, was at the same company where he had been an unsuccessful finalist just prior to engaging The Barrett Group. The company, a developer of innovative robotics and software for the supply chain, offered Justin fantastic career growth.

“I kept following this company because I knew they would grow. Six months after failing to get a job there, they posted another job that lined up with my experience and was an even better role than the one I didn’t get. I applied through LinkedIn – this time, with a better resume, because I aligned it perfectly with the role.” 

Justin sailed past all the normal obstacles.

“The hiring manager was the same person as before! Then I met with managers I hadn’t met before, including the CTO. I nailed the interviews because I went into them understanding what they needed for the role. For every question they asked, I aligned my answers with the position. I didn’t make anything up – I just focused on things that were important to the role.

When the job offer came in, Justin got everything he wanted and more.

“I didn’t even try to negotiate because I thought the offer was so good. They even gave me a sign-on bonus!” 

Justin is delighted to have transitioned not only to a director position, but also to an exciting new industry.

“The job I got positions me well for future career growth. It was hard to both move up and into another industry, where I didn’t know anyone, simultaneously. But practicing how to frame my experiences properly helped me. For me, the best value of The Barrett Group program was in the resume writing and interview coaching. I didn’t know what I didn’t know! Aligning yourself perfectly with the role – it all comes down to that.”

Client:

Heather worked 15 years overseeing multi-billion-dollar projects as a construction scheduler for a major developer of resorts in Las Vegas.

Industry:

Construction

Challenge:

Heather wanted a change of both corporate environment and geography, but her job search efforts failed to gain traction.

Process:

Plumbing her LinkedIn profile revealed valuable connections to an ideal job at a major construction firm in the unpublished market.

Landing:

Before she even completed the TBG program, Heather was offered, at a whirlwind pace, a position as scheduling executive in Seattle.

Study:

As the director of corporate scheduling at a world-class developer of resorts in Las Vegas, Heather successfully managed upwards of 50 construction projects at a time, spanning multiple locations, each worth millions or even billions of dollars. She loved being a scheduler, but after 15 years with the same company she started to feel that her values were no longer aligned with the values of the company. She craved a change.

Heather started her job search by using Indeed, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and many other job search tools. But her search went nowhere. She just knew there had to be a firm out there that could help skilled, experienced executives transition to new positions, and she scoured the internet looking for it. Finally, she found The Barrett Group (TBG).

“It was obvious that I would not be able to find a new position doing what I wanted to do without help. I had never heard of The Barrett Group before, and I was so happy that I found it,” said Heather. “The Barrett Group process is incredible.”

Heather derived a lot of benefit from the Clarity program at the outset, not least of which was a realization that she wanted to move someplace with trees.

“The personality testing was wonderful. It was amazing to see how I’m perceived by others, and it has helped me be more cognizant of my strengths and weaknesses,” said Heather. “It was clear to me that the TBG team was using the information they gleaned from the test to tailor the program to me.”

A steps-driven person, Heather valued the very logical methodology of the TBG program. She appreciated that it was flexible enough to enable her to work through it at a pace that suited her. She learned a lot about how to manage LinkedIn, and spent much of her time working with it. And she was delighted by her resume makeover.

“The TBG team did an incredible job with my resume. My new resume makes me look like a million bucks!” said Heather.

Before Heather had even finished Phase 1 of the program, an opportunity popped up on LinkedIn that she thought would be ideal for her. To her delight, Heather found that 10 of her close connections had direct connections to the company in question. She started making phone calls and, though the Covid pandemic was in full swing, found herself, within a day, interviewing for the position. Within two weeks the hiring manager asked her how soon she could start.

Heather credits The Barrett Group for channeling the special kismet that produced such a rapid, successful career transition.

“It was thanks to the coaching I got that made this job opportunity come to fruition,” said Heather. “Before I hired The Barrett Group I would have seen the job ad, applied, not gotten it, and moved on instead of first reaching out to my network, asking them to talk to their connections, and have them put me in touch with the right people. That’s what The Barrett Group did for me.”

Some identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Photo: 123rf.com

Client:

Alisa Preston simultaneously juggled two careers: manager and engineer at a Canadian electric utility and COO and co-owner of a family-owned, adventure tourism diving business.

Industry:

Marine Services

Challenge:

As a result of family circumstances, Alisa felt compelled to resign from her salaried job and her family-owned diving business and start fresh elsewhere, but she wasn’t sure how to get started. 

Process:

Finding her dream job felt like finding a unicorn, so Alisa leveraged her network to set up dozens of informational interviews with various entities to explore her options.

Landing:

One company that offered guidance to Alisa grew enamored with her ideas and invited her to pitch, and ultimately to run, a new program for them as director of marine technology.

Study:

For several years Alisa Preston maintained two demanding, full-time jobs. Her “day job,” where she worked as a high-level engineer and manager at a Canadian utility company, provided her a paycheck. Her “fun job,” at which she was chief operating officer for a family-owned diving business, was an acclaimed, educational, diving expedition business that fulfilled her personal and professional passions. Alisa ended both jobs, however, when a family emergency arose that threatened the diving business. 

“I was burning myself out. My “day job” didn’t excite me and my entrepreneurial business, which could have been a success, was stymied by family circumstances,” said Alisa.

Still passionate about operating a diving business, Alisa partnered with a colleague to explore starting a brand new one. 

“The concept wasn’t just dive travel, it was integrated with education, science, conservation, environmentalism, and tourism,” said Alisa. “We planned trips to Fiji, Cuba, and Kenya…it had the potential to be amazing. Unfortunately, we could not have launched the business at a worse time. The pandemic hit and we had to postpone all our trips until it was safe. 

Alisa found herself at a crossroads. She wanted a fresh start and was focusing on opportunities in the United States but didn’t know where to start. She had a wealth of experience in so many unique fields and wanted to find a job that allowed her to combine all her expertise into one position that was also intellectually challenging, but she didn’t know what it would be. After her challenging year, she also wrestled with serious self-doubts about her ability to take a professional leap successfully.

“It seemed like a fantasy. I wanted to pursue a job in a different country that I didn’t think even existed,” said Alisa.

In late 2019, on the recommendation of a good friend, Alisa began working with The Barrett Group. It was exactly the catalyst she needed to start an exciting next chapter of her career. 

“Finding a position that aligned perfectly with me felt like a pipedream, but the people at The Barrett Group seemed to recognize the unique package of skills I have,” said Alisa. “I realized that sometimes you have to invest in something to move forward. That’s true in education, so why not in your professional life?”

With her Clarity coach, Stacy, Alisa considered her long-term vision, evaluated her value proposition, and explored her options. She learned that, in addition to using her engineering, diving, robotics, science, tech and research backgrounds, she wanted to be in the Pacific Northwest near the ocean.

Next, with Lori, her career consultant, Alisa learned to rework her LinkedIn profile, leverage her network and social media, and tailor her resume in different ways. 

“Applications were the hard part because of the complexity of my resume. I leaned heavily on Lori initially, but eventually I became more independent in my job search.” 

Alisa appreciated all that she learned from Lori. 

“Signing on with The Barrett Group didn’t mean letting someone else find me a job. It meant acquiring the tools to do the work myself,” said Alisa. “Sure, it’s nice to have someone else do the work, but I think we all know that the easy path is not usually the best path.” 

When Alisa launched her job search, she initially got a huge response from recruiters, but the pandemic soon hit its peak and things went quiet. Ironically, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I was really nervous, and I probably would have jumped at the first job offer I got instead of waiting for the best job for me,” said Alisa. “Lori encouraged me to hold off and fine tune my search,” said Alisa.

Alisa narrowed her focus and resolved to find to a job that would marry all her talents. If not, she would pursue a PhD that would do the same and then start a company to realize her dream job. Using what she called “the TBG approach,” Alisa reached out to companies that seemed out of her league to get guidance on industry trends and how to design a practicable PhD program. 

It was the perfect strategy.

“I had over 30 informational interviews with a number of companies,” said Alisa. “What started as a request for guidance on an educational program at one of those companies, a commercial diving and salvage company based in Seattle, became the initial steps in creating the job that I now have.”

“They gave me a blank slate and asked me to make a proposal out of high-level ideas and needs they had that incorporated technology into diving. I was invited to present it to senior executives at the parent company and, ultimately, to design the job I’ve been hired into.”

Alisa is thrilled with her new career. 

“The job I have now includes everything I wanted – every aspect! The diversity of what they do is top-notch, and their integrity aligns with mine. I found the unicorn!” said Alisa. 

For Alisa, the most valuable part of the TBG program was learning to believe in herself and seeing the value that she brought to the table. 

“The incredible support of Stacy, my Clarity coach, and Lori, my career consultant, really helped me. They made me realize that my dreams were possible,” said Alisa. “There wasn’t a single meeting that I didn’t walk away from feeling uplifted. This wasn’t just career coaching; it was so much more.”

Client:

Ross David Ray was manager of decision support at a large public healthcare organization in Ohio. 

Industry:

Healthcare, Hospitals

Function:

Strategic Decision-Making, Financial Management

Challenge:

A company reorganization resulted in Ross’s role being eliminated and he wanted help finding a new job.

Process:

Overhauling his resume and LinkedIn profile and learning how to utilize LinkedIn was enormously helpful in driving attention and attractive opportunities to Ross.

Landing:

Within about four weeks, Ross was offered a role as decision support finance manager for a major medical center on the East Coast with better overall compensation than he previously had.

Study:

Ross David Ray had spent four years as manager of decision support at a large public healthcare center in Ohio when his organization undertook, in response to growing market pressures, a major financial restructuring. In the process, it forced many people into early retirement, eliminated a host of positions, and reduced the salaries of those who stayed.

Ross was luckier than some. Although his position was eliminated, he was offered a junior role as a senior financial analyst, albeit with a $20,000 reduction in salary. Ross took the job, glad to stave off sudden unemployment, but he knew it was temporary. He immediately set about looking for a new job.

For two months, Ross job hunted on his own. He was able to line up interviews for a few opportunities, but none of them yielded a job offer. Then he saw an advertisement for The Barrett Group (TBG). 

“The program seemed expensive, but if working with The Barrett Group sped up the process of finding a job, I thought I should give it a try,” said Ross.

The first thing Ross did was to explore with his Clarity coach, Laura Leaton, what he wanted from his career.

“My Clarity coach, Laura, was very professional and very good. She asked a lot of probing questions to get me to think deeply about my career preferences,” said Ross. “The Clarity process is informative because it is a whole life snapshot where you look at the health, career, social, and financial aspects of your life altogether and then you decide what you want to prioritize. I also wrote a summary of what my ideal life looks like. That allowed me to identify what I did NOT want to do as much as what I wanted to do. I did not want to stay in that senior financial analyst role. It was lower compensation than I had been getting and it was not work-life balance friendly.” 

Ross decided that he wanted to work for about three to six more years, which meant finding a role at a hospital that was financially stable enough that he would not face layoffs again before retirement. He was also partial to working in Florida because it would be closer to family. 

After a few weeks, Ross was ready to begin Phase 1 of TBG’s career management program. 

“I worked with Barbara Limmer next. She had me do exercises to build social capital in which I was to contact people not to ask for a job, but to ask them how I could help them and provide value to them. Out of those discussions I was able to make more connections and broaden my LinkedIn network,” said Ross. “I hadn’t really understood the importance of social capital before then. The first place people go to hire someone is their social capital, so the more people you are connected to – even at the second or third level – the better your chances for job opportunities.”

Ross had never done this kind of activity before – and he did find he had to work at it. But he enjoyed developing this new skill because he found that trying to find ways to help others kept conversations going and produced richer interactions with people.

Ross also appreciated the overhaul of his resume and LinkedIn profile by the writing team, too.

“The TBG writing team changed the focus of my resume and had me quantify my achievements as opposed to just stating what I had done. They also gave me good recommendations on how to revise my LinkedIn employment and skills sections.” 

The biggest benefit to Ross in his job search was, he said, marrying efforts to build his social capital with using the new techniques he’d learned for utilizing LinkedIn. 

“Barbara was great about teaching me all that LinkedIn can do. She provided a lot of good documentation on LinkedIn Analytics, and she taught me how to create effective job alerts and use filters to search my connections second and third-level deep. That is what helped me the most. My job search started to gain traction after that.”

Within a few short weeks, Ross had interviews lined up at two different organizations. Prior to engaging TBG, Ross had prepared for interviews using a guide that he had created for himself. Barbara offered valuable feedback on that guide and coached him on how to interview even better. 

“Barbara advised me to dial back some of my statements in areas and we discussed effective interview strategies,” said Ross. 

The two positions Ross was pursuing were in Maryland and Florida. He interviewed at both places and, to his surprise, found that he preferred the opportunity in Maryland over the one in Florida, despite his desire to be close to family. 

“When I asked the CFO at the hospital in Florida what the greatest challenge to the company was, he said that they didn’t have enough resources to complete the work that need to get done. That was a red flag. I didn’t want to go into another unstable environment,” said Ross. “My research on the company in Maryland, however, showed it was in a stable financial position. I knew I ‘d have a better chance to work there for a full three to six years.” 

When the organization in Maryland offered him a role as decision support finance manager soon afterwards, Ross canceled his remaining interviews at the company in Florida. He and Barbara reviewed the offer line by line. The compensation structure was different from his previous job, but the overall value turned out to be even better than his previous job, so accepting it was easy. The company even gave him money to relocate.

After taking a month to move, Ross happily kicked off his new career, delighted that it took only four weeks to land.

“The people here are really nice, and they have a good work-life balance,” said Ross. “The TBG program is expensive, but the money is well worth it! Getting a full understanding of how to combine LinkedIn Analytics and your social capital, alone, is so helpful. If, for some reason, this job doesn’t work out, I will definitely call Barbara again.”

Client:

Lindsay was senior territory sales manager for south Florida for a global manufacturer of dental and orthodontic solutions.

Industry:

Health Care, Medical Devices, Hospitals, Pharmaceuticals, Sales

Challenge:

After 13 years in the industry, Lindsay aspired to new challenges that were unreachable without making major career changes and enlisting professional help.

Process:

The interconnection of various job search activities, plus a strong coach keeping the process moving forward, was the perfect recipe for Lindsay’s success.

Landing:

Lindsay is director of business development for a startup dental management company, an opportunity that marries the career advancement she sought with her dental industry experience.

Study:

As the south Florida senior territory manager for a global manufacturer of dental and orthodontic solutions, Lindsay was responsible for sales and strategic planning for a $2.9 million, top North American territory. She worked with existing customers, sought new business, and streamlined workflow efficiencies – in short, she was the “CEO of the territory.” After 13 years in the industry, she was ready to take her career to the next level. The problem was that her company offered no opportunities for career advancement to people in her position, even top performers like her. Lindsay had little hope that other companies in the industry would offer her them, either. 

“Two years ago, I asked about internal programs to cross-train for other job opportunities, but they had nothing in place and weren’t willing to help me grow. It was clear there were few options for advancement there and, frankly, it would have been the same situation at another company. To move out of sales and make a big career change I knew I would need to advance my skills,” said Lindsay. 

That’s when Lindsay decided to get an MBA. Continuing at her job full time, she spent 18 months taking classes. Driven with ambition to kickstart her new career, Lindsay enlisted The Barrett Group to start job hunting even before she’d completed her MBA program. 

“Going back to school for my MBA is the best decision I ever made. You learn so many different aspects of business, how to think like an executive, and how everything connects together,” said Lindsay. “It’s also how I found The Barrett Group. One of the guys in my cohort recommended them to me.” 

Lindsay’s MBA program contracted the services of a well-known recruitment firm, but after six months she realized that they were too narrow in scope for her needs. She hoped The Barrett Group (TBG) would provide her more support and help her create a solid career strategy. 

“I needed help with all aspects of a job search, including rebuilding my resume, using LinkedIn, interview prep, as well as sorting out what it is I wanted to do,” said Lindsay. 

Lindsay knew she wanted change, more challenges and better compensation, but she didn’t have a clear idea of what her ideal job looked like. She considered leaving the healthcare industry entirely but saw the difficulty of shifting job type and industry simultaneously. 

Lindsay spent the first few weeks of the TBG Program working with Scott Henderson, her Clarity coach.

“He was very, very good! We had great conversations. We really clicked and he really helped me work through a lot when I was reeling from Covid stuff,” said Lindsay. “Scott gave me confidence in knowing what my strengths are, the management style and culture of the company I’m looking for, and that I need opportunities for leadership and stretch projects. He brought it all together.” 

When Lindsay, who was the first client to use TBG’s new service delivery system, Asana, started working with her career consultant, Julie Mathern, she found it a seamless shifting of gears from the internal work of figuring out what she wants to finding a job. 

“Reworking my resume was the first thing to tackle. Julie had me start by putting numbers to my achievements. Working with her and TBG’s resume writers took my resume to a whole new level. The way they word or position something I did in my job was really thoughtful and creative,” said Lindsay. 

The next task was to redo Lindsay’s LinkedIn profile. 

“We worked on reaching out to people and building up my social capital. I’m pretty good at networking already, but Julie challenged me to do more and get out of my comfort zone. You never know what will lead to a job opportunity. If nothing else, it’s great practice!” said Lindsay. 

Lindsay already felt confident with interviewing, but the work she did on her resume improved her interviewing skills, too. 

“I had to get very specific about the metrics I wrote on my resume, which I then used in my interviews,” said Lindsay. “Julie also helped me prepare for the types of questions I might get.” 

The pandemic created some challenges in Lindsay’s job search – she was hard pressed to find companies that were hiring – but an unanticipated benefit was that it gave Lindsay time to finish her MBA and work on her career strategy. 

“Covid was actually the best thing to happen to me because I focused,” said Lindsay. “I never lost my job, but all my clients shut down for two months. I spent that time working with The Barrett Group. No one was hiring between October and December, but people were willing to talk. I had great exploratory conversations. Julie helped me with that.”

When companies started hiring in January, Lindsay knew it was just a matter of time before opportunities would emerge for her. And they did.

In quick succession, Lindsay found herself interviewing with four different companies, all in the dental/healthcare space. 

“People told me all along to stick within dental, but, at first, I didn’t want to hear that. Julie never told me that. She just kept guiding me so I could realize my own path,” said Lindsay. “Had the hiring manager of the job I took approached me last summer, I probably wouldn’t have responded. Since then, however, my thinking has evolved, and I am very glad it did!” 

Lindsay’s great opportunity found her thanks to her revamped LinkedIn profile – and a bit of good timing.  

“My new company is a dental management startup that provides nonclinical support to dental practices and wants to expand into Florida. I’ll be the director of business development handling the M&A new market development work in Florida, and leveraging the relationships I’ve built with dental owners to help them make their businesses more efficient. It is a brand-new business role for me in an industry where I have 13 years of experience. This is a perfect fit for me! The stars have aligned!”

Lindsay has no doubt that she will be successful in her new position and credits The Barrett Group a lot for her successful landing. 

“The services The Barrett Group provided were so thorough, and Julie helped keep it all together and moving forward,” said Lindsay. “I’m a very motivated person, but it was the interconnection of all these services that helped me get the job. I realize how important it is to work with experts sometimes!”  

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. Photo: 123rf.com