Success Studies

Client:

Hugo Vereeken was global OEM segment manager for a large multinational provider of power and industrial automation technologies.

Industry:

Manufacturing, Industrial Engineering, Electronics, Sales

Challenge:

When Covid hit, Hugo’s employer shut down his department and terminated many senior executives, leaving Hugo unemployed after more than a decade with the company.

Process:

Learning how to handle third-party recruiters and building up his social capital helped Hugo overcome the stigma he faced from being a 60-something year old job seeker.

Landing:

Hugo ultimately received three job offers and opted for a position as regional sales manager for a private manufacturer of industrial connectors and power distributors that seemed made for him.

Study:

For 11 years Hugo Vereeken was global OEM segment manager for a large multinational provider of power and industrial automation technologies based in Zurich. He managed a portfolio of 22 global accounts and business development efforts for international OEMs in three segments: cooling and ventilation, food and beverage, and diverse machinery, and he oversaw 15 global key account managers and a multimillion-dollar sales budget. When Covid swept the globe in early 2020, however, the company, anticipating decreasing market demand, shut down the entire business unit and laid off many of the senior executives, including Hugo. 

Hugo was very motivated to find a new job and immediately started looking for a position with responsibilities and compensation commensurate with the decades of experience he brought to the table. He had every reason to feel confident about his prospects. 

“I thought, ‘I have 38 years of professional experience as an engineer, program manager, business development manager, general manager and global sales leader. I have 24 years of direct exposure to customers. I have a master’s degree in electrical engineering, an MBA, a killer CV, international experience, and I speak five languages. Let the jobs come!’” said Hugo. 

But the jobs didn’t come. 

For nearly a year he scoured online job boards, sending hundreds of applications. Despite casting the net widely across most of Europe, responses were scarce, and interviews were even more scarce. 

“In the rare interview I got, which was usually with a third-party recruiter, I didn’t get past the first stage,” said Hugo. 

The easy reason to finger for his struggle was Covid. Everyone was reluctant to hire. But Hugo, age 62, saw something more pernicious at work: The silent rejection of people of a certain age.

“Age discrimination is against the law, but they never say you’re too old. They say, ‘Are you digital enough? Will you fit in with our dynamic team? Are you aware of the latest technological developments?’ These are all hidden reasons for rejections on the basis of age,” said Hugo. “I heard 25 different ways to say, “Hugo, you’re too old! Go and retire!’ That’s when I decided there has to be another way.” 

Soon after, Hugo stumbled across The Barrett Group during a LinkedIn search and enlisted their help in his career change. 

Hugo moved through the Clarity program quickly. The results of his self-assessments confirmed that he was on the right path in his pursuit of a customer-oriented job that required strength in math, creativity, and technical sales. 

In the next chapter of his program, with the help of several career consultants, Hugo overhauled his CV and LinkedIn profile to garner more attention among hiring managers.

“My original CV was everything it should NOT be: chronological, long, and boring. With Greg Emslie and The Barrett Group writing team, we made a wonderful new version,” said Hugo. “My LinkedIn profile was also boring and incomplete, but with the help of Greg and Dan Resendes, my new profile attracted a lot more people, sometimes over 20-30 people per week. I started getting calls from people that were not even looking to hire, even some CEOs. That gave me hope!”

Even more valuable to Hugo were the techniques he learned for managing his career change and the perspective he got from his career consultants about navigating the modern job market. 

“Greg taught me a lot of things. He told me about social capital – how to increase it and leverage it – and news ways to approach people. All these techniques were very handy,” said Hugo. “And the conversations I had with Greg and Anne Lipsitz helped me see through the attitudes and behaviors of third-party recruiters. I learned that third-party recruiters aren’t there to give me a job. Their money comes from the company that wants to fill a position, and recruiters couldn’t care less whether it’s you or someone else that gets hired.”

“I will no longer let a third-party recruiter tell me what to do and what not to do. It’s my job search. The direction I got from my Barrett Group consultants gave me strength to face the daily job search and never lose confidence in myself.”

As Hugo worked through TBG’s processes he increasingly succeeded in getting past third-party recruiters to land second interviews within the hiring organization. 

“That’s where you want to be because then you’re talking to an HR person or the manager responsible for hiring,” said Hugo.

Although many of these interviews were unsuccessful, Hugo saw progress in his job search campaign. By mid-summer, three of his leads had turned into solid job offers with companies based in France, Quebec, and Germany, and Hugo found himself in the enviable position of being able to choose from three options. 

In the end, Hugo accepted the position of regional sales manager and business development for the German company, a private manufacturer of industrial connectors and power distributors. It was a job requiring someone with many of Hugo’s strengths and talents.

“The opportunity came about from a job ad I’d responded to several weeks earlier. I had almost forgotten about them by the time the CEO contacted me,” said Hugo. “They wanted someone with a tech background, with lots of sales experience, and who speaks German, to manage their French subsidiary and oversee sales in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It seemed like it was made for me!”

The company offered Hugo an attractive salary, healthcare and pension plan, and a brand-new company car. 

“It’s exciting! I have had strategic marketing and sales meetings with the company heads in Germany and will be doing product training over the next few weeks.”

Hugo credits The Barrett Group with infusing his job search with crucial practical as well as emotional support.

“Before I began working with The Barrett Group, I had been out of a job for ten months with nothing to show for it except frustrating experiences and a feeling that I was too old. I learned a lot from Greg and Anne. Thanks to them, I felt better able to handle recruiters, and I developed the confidence that, even at my age, I can expect great opportunities.”

Client:

Hans Wessel was director of EMEA accounting at an international IT company based in Silicon Valley.

Industry:

Accounting, Business Services, Information Technology

Challenge:

Hans spent 18 years helping the company build up its shared service center, but when new management moved the back office to India, Hans found himself out of a job in a market he no longer recognized.

Process:

By building his network of contacts, Hans saw opportunities materialize in the unpublished market that didn’t exist in the published market.

Landing:

Hans landed as director of accounting for another international, California-based, IT company where he looks forward to a great, long career.

Study:

Hans Wessel was director of EMEA accounting for an international company based in Silicon Valley that provides a wide range of printing solutions for signage, packaging, textiles, and ceramic tiles. An 18-year veteran, Hans worked his way up to his position from accounting manager by helping the company build up and out its shared service center and he loved his job. As the company quickly grew from $350 million to a $1 billion, Hans oversaw the European general ledger and the European payroll from his office in the Netherlands. In 2019, however, trouble hit, resulting in the company’s being acquired by a private equity firm. To make the company profitable again, the new management transferred all the back-office jobs from the Netherlands to India. Hans was asked to help with the transition with the understanding that he should also seek other employment.

“For two years I worked hard to get them up to speed, the whole time preparing myself for a job change,” said Hans. “It was a tough challenge. The job market had dramatically changed in 18 years. I felt like I’d been living under a stone.”

The prevalence of LinkedIn in a modern job search was his first eye-opener.

“I had a LinkedIn profile, but I’d never spent much time developing my profile or relationships within it. That turns out to be very important. You can’t get a job if you don’t have good contacts,” said Hans.

With his level of experience, Hans hadn’t thought he’d need help finding a new job. But as his old job wound down, Hans searched with little success. After a year of no opportunities, Hans started to worry; his confidence waned. One day he stumbled across The Barrett Group on LinkedIn and decided to enlist their help.

“I kicked things off with the Clarity Program. My coach, Stacey Ballinger, had me do various personality tests. I had done tests before, but not like these. You learn a lot about yourself in a different context than in a working environment. The Clarity Program is very serious because your life depends on it! It forces you to take a step back and examine everything about your life,” said Hans. 

Hans really valued his Clarity experience. It made him realize that he was happy with his career path and would be happy to do more of the same kind of work, and he was also open to change. His only requirement was to continue to work in an international environment.  

After Clarity Hans was handed off to his career consultant, Rebeca Gelencser, who taught him how to maximize the potential of LinkedIn. She also helped him overcome his discomfort with reaching out to people and cultivating relationships.

“Rebeca had me build up my network and made me aware of all the benefits of using LinkedIn. That was good because if you casually use LinkedIn, you don’t see all the possibilities,” said Hans. “It turned out great. By the time my old job ended, people in my network were already reaching out to tell me that they knew of opportunities for me.”

The TBG writing team re-wrote Han’s CV, and Hans learned the importance of tweaking his CV for each job application to ensure it contained the key words in the job description.

“I reworded my CV for every application because your CV is alive, so to speak. You have to tailor it to the job post.”

Hans found it very helpful to work on his interview skills with his coach, too, because, while he had conducted plenty of interviews, he had little experience sitting in the interviewee’s chair.

“The interview practice helped me be prepared for strange questions and understand better what goes through the head of an HR person,” said Hans.

In the beginning, it was tough going for Hans during his job search. He did a lot of applying and not a lot of interviewing. He tried not to let the lack of responses from companies get him down.  

“The most challenging thing about a job search is when the company doesn’t acknowledge your application. You start to doubt yourself, but you have to accept that during a job search you will interact with impolite people and try not to be too hard on yourself.”

For Hans, the published market yielded few opportunities. The unpublished market, however, was very successful. To his delight, as Hans built up his social capital two great leads materialized. 

“There were two people, a tax advisor and a lawyer, that I had worked with at my old company. When my job ended, my relationship with them essentially ended, too,” said Hans. “After I joined The Barrett Group, however, I reconnected with them. They each told me about an opportunity that they knew of at a company where they did business. These were opportunities where there weren’t even job descriptions!” 

Hans followed up on the opportunities and, after five interviews that happened very quickly over the summer, ended up with an offer to become the new accounting director of another international IT firm based in California. 

“I have been in my new role for two months already and I like it very much! It’s just what I was looking for. Some aspects are similar to my old job, but there are also different responsibilities and opportunities to learn new things. All in all, it is a good fit!”

Hans sees himself at his new company for a long time and feels very gratified with his TBG experience.

“The program really works. It quickly got me from no responses to many responses – and all in the unpublished market. This job was published nowhere,” said Hans. “Once I started with The Barrett Group it was a smooth process. I’m very happy in my new role.”

Client:

Dennis Green was an accounting manager for a large distributor of automotive replacement parts.

Industry:

Accounting, Auditing, Automotive, Business Consulting

Challenge:

Corporate staff changes limited Dennis’ growth potential and spurred him to seek better opportunities elsewhere, but he felt he was getting little traction in his search.

Process:

Dennis plumbed his contacts and learned the importance of always framing his accomplishments as a value-add for the company. 

Landing:

Within a few months, Dennis had two job offers, and accepted one that offered him great growth opportunities and a 50% improvement in his base salary. 

Study:

As a transactional accounting manager for a large distributor of automotive and industrial replacement parts in Georgia, Dennis Green led and managed a team of 25. He had come to the position two years earlier with an MBA and impressive experience, including working for one of the Big Four accounting firms. Dennis was keen to keep his career momentum going, so, when his company made some major staff changes that limited opportunities for upward mobility and stretch assignments, he decided to leave. 

“The staff changes made the work blow up, and I was doing work that staff would normally do, which was not work that would allow me to grow,” said Dennis. “They also started encouraging early retirement for senior positions and they were not backfilling them. In the next two years I thought my growth opportunities would dwindle. I’ve invested a lot into my career, and I don’t want to stay somewhere if there are better opportunities elsewhere.”

Dennis reached out to recruiters for help, as he had done in the past, and job searched on his own. After two months, however, his search was not going the way he wanted it to, and he turned to The Barrett Group.

“I felt that I’d risen to a level where I needed more information about how to be seen as an executive, including job search methods, interviewing, executive presence, and exposure, said Dennis. “If I continued down the road I was on, I knew I might accept less than I was worth.”

Dennis first spent two to three weeks reflecting on himself and his goals in the Clarity Program. 

“Clarity was good. It confirmed what I knew about myself, but it also made me sit down and ask myself, ‘What do I want out of my career, and where do I want to be longer-term?’ It was very informative and made me think more deeply about what I am doing and where I am going than I ever have. In the past, my job searches were reactionary, but this time I felt I was being proactive in my decisions.”

After the Clarity Program, Dennis began working with his career consultant, Greg Emslie.

“Working with Greg was good – very informational,” said Dennis. “He told me things I didn’t know about LinkedIn. We did a full-on interview prep, which I found very helpful. Greg coached me to answer interview questions differently than I would have in the past – in a more positive, constructive way.”

Dennis also learned useful tips about executive presence, which he was quick to implement, and how to put metrics to all his achievements.

“Translating things I’d done into a value-add for the company and figuring out how the things I do impact the company financially (Greg called this ‘being a profit center’) – I found that perspective and way of thinking very valuable,” said Dennis.

Ultimately, the most beneficial aspect of the TBG Program for Dennis was learning how to connect with people better.

“The way I landed my new position is basically thanks to one step: Putting awareness out there. In the past, if I reached out to anyone it was recruiters, not family, friends, or former colleagues, unless I needed a reference. This time I reached out to people on a much higher level than I’ve ever done.”

Dennis admits that it was sometimes uncomfortable – even difficult. But Greg laid out the steps to follow and he coached Dennis weekly on the process, discussing missed opportunities and what more he could do to improve. 

“Greg made it simple. He coached me through it and told me things I could say and how to present myself,” said Dennis. “It was really good to connect with people I hadn’t talked to in a while. I realize now I should keep doing it!

Not only did the process turn out to be a good experience for Dennis, but also it yielded considerably more interviews than he’d been getting, two of which turned into competing job offers.

“I spoke to a woman I know that is an internal recruiter at a small business consulting firm in my area and told her I was looking for my next opportunity,” said Dennis. “About a month later, one of the principals of the company left, so she sent my resume to the CEO of the company. I had actually worked with him eight years earlier, so he called me right away to ask if we could talk about the open position at his company.”

Just before receiving an offer from this firm, Dennis received an offer for a role as an assistant controller at another company. He very much appreciated having Greg as a resource to negotiate the terms of the two opportunities before making his decision. 

“Things moved so fast. We went over both offers and Greg coached me on how best to handle the situation,” said Dennis. 

Ultimately, Dennis opted for the role at the consulting company because it was a new industry with new experiences to explore and better long-term opportunities. 

“Consulting is a different industry for me. I’ll be doing things I haven’t done in the past and working with a lot of different types of people, so there is better growth potential. I like to try new stuff, so I feel really good about this new position.”

Dennis was also delighted to get a significant improvement in his compensation. His base salary, alone, is 50% more than it was previously, and he will be making seven times as much in bonus, not to mention a sales commission.

“I learned a lot from The Barrett Group. I felt more confident in this job search and appreciated the support I got from Greg. With his help, I ended up exceeding my compensation target. The Barrett Group program is an investment, but I will now make five times that, thanks to their help. It was a short-term investment with a long-term gain. The Barrett Group Program was a great experience overall.”

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. Photo: 123rf.com

Client:

Advik was senior director of manufacturing engineering at a San Francisco-based consumer electronics company.

Industry:

Consumer Electronics, Manufacturing, Supply Chain Management

Challenge:

Although Advik had a job he liked, he wanted a VP level role and one that he could do fully remotely.

Process:

Advik honed his interview and negotiation skills and practiced strategies for developing and leveraging his social network.  

Landing:

About a year after launching his job search, Advik was promoted to a VP role at his own company with an agreement that he could work fully remotely.

Study:

As senior director of manufacturing engineering at a San Francisco-based consumer electronics company, Advik managed the engineering and quality & compliance groups. Although he liked his job, there were two aspects of his professional life that he wanted to change. The first is that he wanted a higher-level position. He’d progressed normally in his career, but he saw more and more of his peers assuming VP and CEO positions, and Advik felt that he was ready for a VP level role, too. 

The second aspect was geography. Advik’s company was located in San Francisco, but his “home base” was Houston, Texas. To do his job, Advik was renting an apartment in the Bay Area and traveling back and forth between the two cities. When Covid hit and Advik was able to work full-time from home, the heavy toll of the long-distance commute on him became very apparent. He decided that he no longer wanted to work in the Bay Area. 

“At the onset of Covid is when I signed on with The Barrett Group. With everyone working from home, I thought it was a good opportunity for me to look for something different,” said Advik. “I figured I could interview from home and find another position that I could do remotely so that I wouldn’t have to return to the Bay Area.” 

Advik wanted to find a better opportunity without going through standard channels, like browsing the internet for job postings, so TBG’s focus on the unpublished market appealed to him. He also appreciated that The Barrett Group understood his unique skillset and wanted to help him find the right position for him.

Advik started with the Clarity Program and appreciated the chance to step back and reflect on his goals.

“I liked the Clarity sessions. They were good. I have taken those assessments before and I always value taking the time to figure out what kind of person I am and what I’m looking for,” said Advik. 

After Clarity, Advik transitioned into working with his career consultant, with whom he revised his resume, worked on interview skills, and created a job search plan. 

“The Barrett Group is very helpful when it comes to helping you set your goal objectives and organizing your job search. They are good at helping you to revise your resume, practice interview skills, and market yourself through various channels, like LinkedIn. All that creates a great foundation,” said Advik. 

Next Advik learned strategies and tools for developing and leveraging social connections. 

“The Barrett Group is very good at teaching you to navigate LinkedIn to find primary and secondary contacts. If you want to apply for a job and you can identify someone at the company that you know and have worked with in the past, that will strengthen your position during the application process. You will have a much better chance of pushing your candidacy forward,” said Advik. “That’s the key. The Barrett Group is good with identifying and employing these strategies.”

It was in these latter steps, however, that Advik encountered challenges. 

“Barrett Group clients really need to have drive. I’m more of an introverted person. I am not talkative and have never been one for going out in social gatherings. If those things don’t happen, people sometimes don’t remember you when you reach out to them,” said Advik.  

After nine months, Advik decided to step away from job searching for personal reasons. Ironically, however, not long afterwards, Advik found exactly what he was looking for – right in his own company.

“I got promoted to VP of global supply chain and manufacturing at my company. I was managing the engineering and quality & compliance groups before. I still have the same function, but now I am also overseeing planning & purchasing, global supply, management, logistics and trade compliance,” said Advik. “I’m doing pretty well!”

That’s not all. Advik is also now working fully remotely, just as he’d wanted.

“When I was offered the promotion, I made it clear to my company that I could not move back to the Bay Area, so they agreed to write into the offer letter that I will be formally based in Houston.”

Ultimately, although Advik’s journey did not go at all as he’d planned, he ended up with everything he wanted. 

“Obviously, the whole thing is a process – it takes time. I came away feeling that The Barrett Group genuinely watches out for their clients’ best interests.”

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

Client:

Martha (Marti) Anderson was senior manager for HR Learning and Development at a large management and IT consulting firm. 

Industry:

Consulting, Human Resources, Change Management

Challenge:

Marti’s skills were poorly employed at her firm and her efforts to advance were unsuccessful, so she sought a better job and wanted professional guidance to optimize her efforts.

Process:

Marti reassessed the direction she wanted to go, maximized LinkedIn tools to job search, and utilized her career coach as a sounding board as she fielded opportunities that arose.

Landing:

Marti landed as a senior consultant at a small consulting firm where her work and compensation properly reflect the value she offers the organization

Study:

As senior manager of human resources learning and development at a large management and IT consulting company, Martha (Marti) Anderson spent two years leading ethics, security, and compliance training. Although her tenure in the position was short, Marti had a long history at the company, having worked eight years at the company earlier in her career. Her second tour, however, proved to be unsatisfying. Marti found that the job she was hired to do was different from advertised and sought an internal transfer within months of starting it. She applied for a position with the firm’s leadership team and got it. Just then, however, the pandemic hit, and the firm froze all internal transfers. When it was clear that leadership was not going to honor the original transfer position, which she had competitively landed, Marti decided ten months later to apply for another position in leadership development. The second time, she did not get the position, a decision that Marti found unacceptable. 

Marti resolved to find another job that would better align with her talents and ambitions. She started job searching and, this time, decided to enlist professional help. 

“I was not energized about any aspect of my work. I started wondering why I had taken the role in the first place. I wanted to find a new job where I could thrive, do great work for clients, and see an impact,” said Marti. “At the same time, I also had a lot on my plate personally and professionally and wanted help. As we all know, it’s a lot of work to job search.”

Marti had never used a career coach before, but she knew others did to great success. So, why not her? She felt she’d sold herself short during her two previous job transitions and wanted to find her true value. She also wanted help reassessing which direction to go. After some research, she hired The Barrett Group (TBG) and was immediately gratified at their willingness to rearrange the standard program for her specific needs.

“My experience was a little different. When I signed on with The Barrett Group I had already been looking for jobs and had an interview lined up,” said Marti. “So, before I started the Clarity Program I requested a coach to help me prepare for that interview. TBG’s responsiveness and flexibility to go out of order from their normal processes to accommodate me was great.”

Soon afterwards, Marti followed up with her assigned Clarity Coach, Justin Hellman, and was equally impressed by the grounding he gave her. 

“All of the Clarity Program resonated with me. Doing the personality assessments and crafting a strategic plan was extremely useful in helping me articulate what opportunities would fulfill me and how I could bring value to an organization. My experience is of especial note because I have a background in leadership development coaching and am usually the person administering assessments. It was really nice to be on the receiving side of the benefits for a change.”

When Marti began working with her career coach, she found the experience even more valuable.

“Sue [Mitchell] taught me about LinkedIn filtering – there is so much more to it than I had realized! She also helped me improve my LinkedIn profile, how to get endorsements and recommendation stories on my page. I thought my LinkedIn profile was already good, but we definitely elevated it.” said Marti. “We did practice interviews, which were terrific. She coached me to rephrase things in a way that tied in buzz words from a job posting.” 

Marti was delighted with the revisions the TBG team made on her resume, too. 

“We restructured my resume in a way that made my top skills clear and easy to tailor to whatever job I applied for. It was an efficient way to market myself and I definitely noticed an uptick in responses to my applications afterwards,” said Marti.

Above all, Marti valued the relationship she developed with Sue – who was an excellent resource on Marti’s job search journey. 

“Sue was phenomenal! Extremely helpful! She never led me to a decision, but it was a relief to have her there as a sounding board. I was grateful to be able to talk to her during the recruitment process for one particular role that was right in my strike zone, but my intuition was telling me that the company’s culture would not be a good fit,” said Marti. (She ultimately withdrew from the process.)

After three months of constant interviewing and job searching, Marti found the opportunity that she had been looking for when she connected with a former colleague at a webinar. The colleague recommended her to a small, women-owned consulting firm that specialized in change management. Intrigued, Marti reached out directly to the CEO of the firm and was immediately struck by the achievements of the company and by the CEO’s warmth and approachability.

“It was so apparent from our initial conversations that I belonged and that I could thrive. It was a place where I sensed I could feel joy and reward and know that I could add value for clients.”

Within two and a half weeks, Marti was hired as a senior consultant in change management with a government contract where she could build a leadership effectiveness program directly with and for their executives. The compensation is a significant raise, and Marti was assigned to lead a 5-year federal contract in Organizational Effectiveness.

“I never thought I’d want to do contract work again, but it was an easy decision to accept this job offer. I love the work I’m doing now. Within my first two weeks I designed a whole new leadership program that was approved by the CIO.”

Marti says the job is a strong resume builder, too, so if she wants to jump back into a salaried position in the future, she will be able to do so at an executive level. 

“It was worth every penny I paid to The Barrett Group to have someone look out for me, help me with my search, and finetune what matters to me. I knew a job like this could exist and Barrett Group helped me find it.”

Client:

Cameron Carnegie was the senior technical advisor specializing in aircraft conceptual design at Safran, a French multinational aerospace company. 

Industry:

Airline, Aerospace, Entrepreneur, Consulting

Challenge:

When the pandemic forced major layoffs at Cameron’s company and devastated his industry, he sought help finding an executive position commensurate with his experience. 

Process:

Through the Clarity Program, Cameron realized he would find the greatest fulfillment not by finding an executive position at a large firm but by starting his own consulting business.

Landing:

Cameron has launched an aerospace engineering & consulting business, Carnegie Aerospace LLC, and keeps busy with one client while he explores with his TBG consultant how to grow his company.

Study:

Cameron Carnegie was a senior technical fellow specializing in aircraft conceptual design for a multinational systems supplier of airlines, Safran based in Paris. Consulting at the executive level on state-of-the-art design and prototyping methods and reporting to the chief technology officer, Cameron was midway through an exciting 3-year assignment when the global pandemic hit. 

Cameron’s employer, along with the global airline industry, was devastated. Not only was Cameron one of many who were laid off, he was one of the many who caught Covid. After several tough weeks, Cameron recovered, but he and his wife, who are dual U.S. and Canadian citizens, wanted to move back to North America. Although his company offered temporary financial support, Cameron faced bleak employment prospects. 

“I started my job search in July and landed several interviews, but the situation was bleak,” said Cameron. “Boeing, alone, laid off 30,000 to 40,000 people. The amount of talent going out the door was shocking.” 

Cameron started looking at aerospace startups, but he had little luck. 

“In general, I found I was overqualified,” said Cameron. “Even though I don’t put my age on my resume, people can tell when I interview that I have a lot of experience and that I am older. Startups want poor, starving graduates. They don’t understand the challenges ahead of them, and they don’t have the money to hire experts with experience to guide them.”

Cameron looked for several months on his own before deciding to enlist professional help.

“I had done well with LinkedIn in the past, but I knew from observing how executives move around that a lot of them are using a back channel,” said Cameron. “So, I hired The Barrett Group to better understand how that works.” 

Cameron had little time, initially, to devote to the tasks assigned him by The Barrett Group. His job search was complicated by a pressing need to find a place to settle with his wife and to move his possessions out of storage, which were spread across three countries.

“My former French employer was willing to store our stuff in Paris for six months, but we also had stuff in Seattle, and we were staying in Canada until we could sort things out,” said Cameron. “We had to choose a place to live or else take on the cost of storage, so the clock was ticking. We wanted to live in Florida, but we worried we would have to move again after I found a job.” 

Fortunately, the Clarity component of TBG’s program was a great help to Cameron at this crossroads in his life. 

“The most valuable part of working with The Barrett Group was figuring out what I want. I’d worked with Boeing Commercial Aircraft for 14 years, rising from a Level 3 engineer to a Chief Engineering position where I had exposure to the executive level. I love engineering, and I saw that being an executive would have taken me too far from the analysis & design,” said Cameron. “At Safran, the bureaucracy wasn’t as bad, but there were other challenges. So, with those two big companies in the back of my mind, I wondered, ‘Sure, I’d be better paid as an executive, but would I be happier?’”

Ultimately, Cameron decided two things. First, he wanted to live in Florida, and, come hell or high water, he’d figure out a way to make that work. Second, he would shift his career objective from becoming an executive at a large company to working for smaller companies where he would have freedom and nimbleness to pursue the kind of engineering work he loved.

Cameron’s new objective dovetailed nicely with a shift in the aviation industry whereby small startups now challenge larger companies. 

“I began thinking about starting up my own company and using my own patents,” said Cameron.

As luck would have it, Cameron had developed a relationship the year before with a startup that had asked for his expertise on a project. He had helped them on a volunteer basis at the time, and when they reached out again during his period of soul-searching, he began doing paid consulting work. It was part-time, at first, then it ramped up to full-time. 

“Our relationship kept growing. By December we discussed whether I should be an employee or a consultant. I decided I’d rather be a contractor on an hourly rate so that I have the time and freedom to pursue my patents,” said Cameron.

Since then, Cameron has registered a new company, Carnegie Aerospace LLC, to focus on consulting and developing aerospace patents. 

Cameron admits that he has a lot to learn about starting up a business.

“It’s risky to have only one client, but I’m fully engaged right now and I don’t know if I’m solid enough to hire employees to take on more work. I’m either on the verge of starvation or a booming business,” noted Cameron. 

Cameron worries how he will balance the work of pursuing his own patents, raising money for his startup, and doing consulting work on top. He looks forward to working with TBG on these concerns.

“Over the past several months, I have figured out where to seek funding and how to write proposals for that funding,” he said. “I helped the startup find its direction and decided to reduce my consulting hours to focus more time on developing my company. It’s a bit of a risk, but I really need to follow my passions and develop the airliner & UAV concepts I envision. I know they will be game changers.”

Cameron has responded to three R&D solicitations from NASA and the U.S. Air Force to develop advanced airliners and VTOL UAV’s. He has also established a network of companies and university consultants to collaborate on the funding proposals and projects.

“I think The Barrett Group will be a great resource for me,” said Cameron. “My consultant, Paula, is quite knowledgeable, and if the company doesn’t have the answers, it can connect me with people who do.”

Cameron is the first to admit that his story is still being written and that he still needs the services of TBG to find his way to success. But he is very appreciative of the counseling he has gotten to date.

“Both Clarity and Paula helped me come to the conclusion to start my own business,” said Cameron. “Running my own company is terrifying, but it gives me the freedom and the lifestyle I want to have.”

Client:

Alhassan was regional manager for Bahrain and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia for an Indian multinational hospitality company. 

Industry:

Hospitality, Travel, Government

Challenge:

Hit hard by the pandemic, the company had to restructure and Alhassan yielded to growing pressure at the company to leave. 

Process:

The Clarity program helped Alhassan develop the right mindset for his search, and his coach helped him handle a delicate compensation negotiation during the hiring process.

Landing:

Alhassan landed an exciting position in the government sector that aligns with his professional goals and offers long-term job stability and growth potential.

Study:

As regional manager for a fast-growing, Indian multinational hospitality company, Alhassan was responsible for all the company’s operations, finance, and business development in Bahrain and the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. In the 18 months he was there, he devised strategies to make the company’s activities more effective in the region and implemented business development plans to open the Bahrain market. When the pandemic hit, however, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain went into lockdown and the company went into survival mode. Alhassan was very creative in keeping his books in the black, nevertheless, the company decided to restructure and initiate layoffs. Feeling the pressure, Alhassan opted to leave the company and search for his next opportunity. 

Anticipating the pandemic’s threat to his job, Alhassan actually had begun job hunting months before he gave notice. He hired a company to rework his resume and upgrade his LinkedIn profile, began using online job search sites, and reached out to recruiters. Despite all his efforts, however, he had no success – not even an interview.

“I understood the situation. Things were tough in 2020 and no one was hiring at the senior level. They were cutting their losses,” said Alhassan. “I figured they would begin hiring again in 2021, though, so in January I started pushing hard in my job search.” 

Alhassan’s challenges weren’t over, though. January yielded no interviews, nor did February. But about the same time, Alhassan came across The Barrett Group and decided to take a leap of faith and enlist their help. 

“I started in mid-February with the Clarity Program. The purpose of Clarity is to make sure you know what you want in your career. It is also really valuable for flipping your mindset from negative to optimistic before you start with the career navigation phase,” said Alhassan. “Clarity really helped me to be forward-thinking.”

For Alhassan, regaining his optimism was very important because job searching unsuccessfully for so long had taken a toll on his spirits. 

When Alhassan began the career navigation phase of the TBG Program, his coach, Isabelita Castilho, gave him a thorough training on the best practices of job hunting. 

“I learned many new methods of hunting and nailing down a job that were different from what I had been doing. I learned a lot about how to use social capital in the job search, what to tell recruiters and what not to tell them, and how to use second- and third-level contacts on LinkedIn. Isabelita gave me so much knowledge about the job-hunting process that I hadn’t known before hiring The Barrett Group.”

Before long, Alhassan began to see some developments. In March, a recruiter helped to connect him to a mining company that interviewed him and extended a provisional offer for a COO role. By then Covid was raging in India, however, preventing him from obtaining hard copies of crucial employment documents from his former India-based employer that the new company required. Although the offer fell through, Alhassan was buoyed to see his job-hunting efforts beginning to fruit. 

After that, another company, a start-up that provides online car service that sought to break into the Saudi market, began to court Alhassan for a role as a regional manager. 

The opportunity that most excited Alhassan, however, was one in the government sector that Alhassan had been nurturing for over a year. In March 2020, a friend and former colleague had broached Alhassan about his interest in doing work for Vision 2030, a major strategic framework of the Saudi government to diversify its economy and develop investment projects in Saudi Arabia. 

“I’ve had a long-standing interest in participating in Vision 2030. The job my friend was proposing to me would be a director-level position helping to attract investments to Saudi Arabia. It would be a big deal,” said Alhassan. 

Alhassan had an initial interview for the role, but his hopes were thwarted when Covid cases soared and hiring shut down as a result. Alhassan’s friend suggested they reconnect in a year. They did, at which point his friend started promoting Alhassan’s candidacy from the inside.

“Two weeks later I got a call from HR for a preliminary interview. More interviews followed and they collected my salary history and other documents. Finally, I received a verbal offer.”

The offer turned out to be much lower than what Alhassan had hoped. Public sector jobs are typically lower paying than private sector jobs, but, even so, Alhassan was dismayed. His first instinct was to come back with a strong defense for a better offer, but his career consultant offered him counsel that helped him navigate the situation perfectly.

“Isabelita told me not to play hard ball because, without a job, I’m in a vulnerable position. She advised me to play it nicely – to tell them that the offer is much lower than my former salary, that it would be a big hit to me, and I would be very thankful if they could meet me in the middle. Isabelita was with me step-by-step.” 

To his delight, the strategy worked. The hiring manager met Alhassan’s proposed number exactly. In addition, Alhassan came to appreciate more fully the significant value of the non-salary perks. The new position offers challenge, job stability, regular salary increases, tuition payments for his children, and, of course, the opportunity to participate in Vision 2030.

“I was even able to design the compensation package with him!” said Alhassan.

Working in the government sector will be a different experience from the private sector, where Alhassan spent nearly 20 years, but he feels this new opportunity is perfect for his current needs. 

“I feel like working on Vision 2030 is the right thing for me to do right now. And if I want to change jobs in the future, I now have the right tools to hunt for the right job. If you take the TBG Program very seriously, you acquire the know-how to do a job hunt very effectively on your own later. I tell people it’s a little like college – but for C-level jobs!”

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

Client:

David Ludwig was executive director of a network of state agencies in Iowa that provide educational support services to schools. 

Industry:

Education, Government Relations, Cybersecurity

Challenge:

David’s position was eliminated when Covid hit, but during the pandemic he struggled to find an appealing new position.

Process:

David reassessed his interests, cultivated his network on LinkedIn, and allowed himself to consider opportunities outside the education world where he’d spent his career.

Landing:

David was hired by a long-standing business contact to be VP of sales and a founding member of a cybersecurity startup company.

Study:

As state executive director of a network of state agencies that provide support services to public and nonpublic schools in Iowa, David Ludwig was charged with establishing and coordinating the equitable distribution of educational support services to all students in the state. The position combined principles that David had spent his career championing, notably the education of children and building efficient and effective organizational systems. He had performed the same role successfully for five years in Nebraska and hoped to continue the same work in his new job in Iowa.

Within a year, however, the Covid-19 pandemic hit and David’s job was eliminated. It proved to be a difficult time to launch a job search. 

“I was looking for a role as a district superintendent. I had a good resume and a lot of experience at the local, state, and national level, but when Covid hit they weren’t hiring for a lot of these positions,” said David. “So, I started to think about transitioning to the business sector.”

That’s when David stumbled across The Barrett Group (TBG) and realized that its services were exactly what he needed at this point in his career.

“That period was a transition for me. The more I learned about The Barrett Group’s services and its team, the more I realized that the company’s goal is to build a system for me to effectively transition my career from education to business. I felt that The Barrett Group’s mission wasn’t just to get me a job, it was to help me find the career I wanted – and to be a partner in my job search.”

David found TBG’s Clarity Program sessions exceedingly valuable both in helping him decompress after a stressful year and in teasing out strengths and interests of his to which he’d previously paid little attention.  

“Laura Leaton and I really hit it off well. Laura got that spark back into me. Working with her, I was able to refocus. I learned from the personality assessments she had me take that technology is one of my fortes. She got me thinking about how I could incorporate it into my life.” 

Although David didn’t have a formal background in technology, he came to see how he’d often incorporated it into his work.

“As state executive of Nebraska, one of my initiatives was to build a database for all the staff and student records in the state and a statewide data ecosystem. We wanted to build a single sign-on system and a portal. We wrote – and won – a grant to get funding for the project,” said David. “Working with Laura, and later Jerry, my career consultant, I started to realize that technology is where my love is even though my background is special education.” 

After the Clarity Program, David worked with Jerry Fronczak to revamp his resume and tailor it for the business world. Then he redid his LinkedIn profile and learned how to use the platform more effectively in a job search.

“I was active on LinkedIn before, but I learned a lot more about the depth and breadth of what you can do with it through Jerry,” said David.

Jerry showed David how to build up his LinkedIn connections, and then they began interview coaching sessions.

“Jerry has such tremendous business background. It was great to be able to pick his brain about how best to set a direction forward.” 

With Jerry as a resource, David applied for dozens of jobs, most of which were in education, but they either went nowhere or were unappealing. He came to realize that he had less and less interest in working with school boards and even within a school system. Although he had little experience and few contacts in the technology space to leverage, he continued to develop his base of contacts and waited for the universe to respond. 

On December 31, 2020, the universe responded.

“I got a call from an entrepreneur I’d known professionally for four or five years. He had started three successful businesses and was launching his fourth– a cybersecurity business,” said David. “The company assesses the cyber health of major organizations and makes recommendations to them on how to improve it. Their target clientele includes businesses, government, health care agencies – and educational organizations. He thought someone with my background could be very helpful in developing the business.”

David was offered the position of VP of sales, a role that sounded perfect…almost. In truth, the commission-based-only compensation gave him pause at first, but David has full confidence in the founder’s ability to create another great company, not only because of his record of success, but also because of the caliber of the team he’s bringing in. David is also very excited about the financial potential and the numerous future opportunities the job offers.

“The services provided by my new company are exactly what I was working on with my initiative in Nebraska. And now I’m in a position to help my former colleagues fulfill the grant we were awarded.” 

Best of all for David is that he now has the greatest office of his career.

“We bought a vacation home on Lake of the Ozarks a few years ago, planning to retire here. Now it is home and I get to start a new career from here.”

David couldn’t be happier to be launching an exciting new career in technology.

“If I didn’t have The Barrett Group, I’d probably still be looking for a state superintendent job somewhere. This transition is exactly what I needed. The Barrett Group has done a phenomenal job for me.”

Client:

Lisa was the office administrator for a regional office of an international law firm and another office that housed all the firm’s back-office support. 

Industry:

Law, Administration

Challenge:

For family reasons, Lisa wanted to relocate from the Midwest to the Northeast, but she was unsuccessful in finding a new position on her own during the pandemic.

Process:

Lisa benefited most by leveraging her network, which included utilizing new technical skills on LinkedIn and robustly growing her LinkedIn connections.

Landing:

Lisa took a position as executive director of a law firm in Massachusetts where she oversees the operations of the firm’s five law offices.

Study:

Lisa spent five years as office administrator for an international law firm, a role in which she was responsible for managing the operations and facilities of a legal office in Kansas City and a second office that housed the firm’s entire back-office support. Lisa loved her job, but in 2020 she had to leave it. The combined catalysts of her children graduating from college and moving outside of Kansas and her growing concerns about her distance from other family members in Connecticut amidst a pandemic compelled Lisa to relocate to the Northeast. Unfortunately, her firm didn’t have any openings for her there. Lisa knew she would have to find a new job, and her firm graciously allowed her to continue working remotely until she did. Between moving and working full-time, though, Lisa was very busy and had little success with her job search. 

“I wasn’t getting anywhere on my own,” said Lisa. “After three months I decided to hire someone to help me.”

She researched professional coaches online and found The Barrett Group (TBG). She liked the company’s unique approach. Its programming seemed extensive, introspective, and educational, services which promised to be relevant both immediately and in the future.

“I thought Clarity was super interesting,” said Lisa. “I learned a lot about the way I handle things in business, what kind of professional personality I have, and where I best fit culture-wise. (It has to be fast-paced and organized!)”

In her career transition, Lisa was open to considering a different sized firm, a new industry, and other changes. For her, the most important factor was location – it had to be close to her family.

When Lisa began working with her career consultant, they reworked her resume and went through other elements of the TBG program. But the area where Lisa had the most to gain was in building up and using her network.

“I had a lot to learn there. For me, that was the hardest task,” said Lisa. “Julie told me to call this person and that person. She coached me to ask them for advice, not a job. I’m not shy, but I thought it was all nonsense at first. I didn’t think networking would work. But it does. I finally came to that realization as I started talking to people. I thought, Wow! This person knows another person who has a job opening that he thinks I should apply for. The seven degrees of separation thing is amazing!”

Lisa ultimately became convinced about the merits of having a good network.

“In the beginning, I kept fighting it, but I finally learned to just follow the program. When I did do the work, I was asked to do, the program worked!” said Lisa.  

Lisa’s coach also taught her a lot about how to utilize LinkedIn. 

“I hadn’t really used LinkedIn a lot and it was a good education,” said Lisa. “I learned a lot about searching for people and positions, and how to connect with people I didn’t already know. When I started, I had only 20 people in my LinkedIn network; now I have over 300 people. I now recognize that LinkedIn is a great career tool – one I can use going forward.”

Three months after signing on with The Barrett Group, Lisa’s job search bore fruit, thanks partly to her newfound skills in building and leveraging her network, and partly to aggressively pursuing a job opening that seemed to be a stretch position.

“I saw a role advertised online for an executive director at a law firm in Massachusetts and I started working it. My resume didn’t match the job description, but I know law firms and what they are looking for. I knew I could do that job,” said Lisa.

As luck would have it, Lisa discovered that she had two solid connections to the firm in her network. The first was a friend at a different law firm who knew the person vacating the advertised role. The second was her cousin, whose boss knew the hiring manager for the open position. In both cases, she was able to garner a good word made on her behalf to the company when she submitted her resume and cover letter.

“Those connections helped me get the job,” said Lisa. 

For Lisa, the new job checks a lot of her boxes, including great salary and benefits, having a decision-making role, advancing from office administrator to an executive director title – an admirable promotion – and, most importantly, the ability to relocate closer to family. 

“Those are all huge. I didn’t believe in the usefulness of networks before, but that is what helped me get in the door. Knowing how to network is now one of my skills, and I feel 100% certain that it will be helpful going forward.”

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals. 

Client:

Bob Meara spent 20 years coordinating and developing advertising and marketing needs for New Jersey auto dealers.

Industry:

Advertising, Digital Retailing, Marketing, Automotive

Challenge:

When new senior leadership made corporate changes Bob disagreed with, he decided to leave. But after 20 years at one company he didn’t know where to start.

Process:

Bob prepped his resume to circumvent ATS filters, cultivated new contacts on LinkedIn, and patiently monitored LinkedIn for his ideal position.

Landing:

Despite the economic toll of the pandemic, Bob hopscotched from one new position to an even better one, now making triple the compensation.

Study:

As an automotive account executive in the advertising sales division of a major cable company, Bob Meara coordinated and developed digital marketing needs and video solutions for local automotive advertisers in New Jersey. He managed a team of marketing experts and a portfolio of over 25 clients. He’d spent 20 years with the company, but when changes from new senior leadership were no longer working for him or his clients, he knew it was time to move on. 

It wasn’t long after Bob first began looking for new opportunities that he decided to hire a professional. 

“I hadn’t written a resume or been on an interview in 20 years,” said Bob. “I wanted help getting my head together and to talk to someone with job market experience.”  

Bob was drawn by the breadth of experience offered by the The Barrett Group (TBG). He launched into the program and started networking, even as he continued to work, and quickly saw some promising leads develop. 

Then the Covid-19 crisis hit.

“All the people I had talked to went on a hiring freeze,” said Bob. 

Consumer purchases for cars plummeted, auto dealers cut their local advertising – in short, the auto industry took a hammering. Bob remained committed to a career change, but he discovered some surprises in the job market. 

“Everything is different. People don’t read resumes, computers read them. And computers weed out resumes by key buzz words,” said Bob. “You’re competing with many more people.”

Bob appreciated that TBG was prepared to help him navigate all these challenges, starting with the Clarity program, which confirmed what he wanted to pursue – digital retail marketing. He launched into the TBG process. Bob found his weekly meetings with George Shultz, his personal career consultant, to be the most valuable part of his experience. 

“George took the time to understand my current business and circumstances. He made the effort to learn what motives me – what makes me tick,” said Bob. “He told me all about the unpublished market. I never thought about that stuff before. It was very instrumental.”

Bob also found the expert help on rewriting his resume and LinkedIn profile to be very helpful.

“I don’t know what people are looking for in a resume or in a LinkedIn profile, but The Barrett Group showcased my attributes in a way that was very appealing to recruiters,” said Bob.

When it came to interviewing, Bob felt totally prepared. 

“They told me all the questions I should expect to be asked so I would never be surprised. Then we rehearsed my answers,” said Bob. “By the time we were done, I had my pitch in my head and nothing felt too hard to answer.”

Five months after beginning the TBG program, Bob responded to a job posting and landed a position in digital retail marketing. At first it seemed like an ideal job. It offered him a great opportunity with potentially limitless compensation, but within a few months he came to feel that his expectations would go unfulfilled. 

“The way it was painted for me was different from how it was. There was no upward mobility and I realized I wouldn’t be able to make the income I’d like,” said Bob.

So, Bob reconnected with his TBG career consultant to explore better opportunities. 

“George and I reviewed how to utilize LinkedIn to the fullest to be sure that I was running on all cylinders. He also coached me how to explain to another potential employer why I had left a job after only four months.”

One day Bob noticed a position open up at a company that he’d been following for a year on LinkedIn. He had been in talks with them about a position a year earlier, but when the pandemic hit the company froze all hiring. Bob was delighted to see that the new position was even better than the original one. Fortunately, Bob had actively maintained his contacts at the company and called them directly.

“They were impressed that I had continued to follow them throughout the pandemic and said, ‘This is the guy we need – someone who is going to create his own luck!’”  

Bob is thrilled to have begun a position as regional sales director for the Northeast for an automotive marketing company – a position at which he now makes three times in compensation what he made a year before. 

“I’m so appreciative of George and The Barrett Group for what they’ve done for me,” said Bob. “With their help, I was able to land two jobs within 12 months. Their program works – the proof is in the pudding!”