The Lazy Days of Summer: Procrastinate at Your Own Risk

Let’s face it: summer in the northern hemisphere can be a pleasant time to procrastinate and enjoy life. 

Feel free to do this, as long as you understand the risk, because the executive job market does not sleep—ever. 

Even during the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, companies continued to hire as their needs changed dramatically. They found themselves with the wrong people or organization to deal with the crisis.  A swing back to a form of normalcy and a resurgence in industries hit hard by the pandemic is fueling a counterbalancing upswing even now.  Until mid-June commodity prices, particularly computer chips and lumber, continued to surge. These industries bet on increased spending on infrastructure and the recovery of vast swaths of the economy as new infections declined.

The Advantage of the Inside Track in Today’s Job Market

Our clients benefit from the inside track regardless of economic conditions.  Of client job landings in Q1 2021, for example, clients following our proven methodology landed jobs on average within 27 weeks.  This means that if you want to change careers or find a different job, you need to START, and you need to expect that good things take time. If you sign on with the Barrett Group in July 2021, for example, and diligently follow our methodologies, you can reasonably expect interviews and offers in Q4. This can lead to a possible job start late in that quarter or early in Q1.  Experience shows that without us, this process may take much longer and be much less lucrative.

Nonetheless, some executives procrastinate due to economic predictions.  Fears of inflation rising and denting economic activity are not unreasonable. The US consumer price index rose from 2% in February to 5% in May (Economist, June 26, 2021). The Federal Reserve accordingly spooked the markets in mid-June. The job market report that followed, however, sparked another rally on Wall Street and other exchanges to close the first half at near-record levels.

That US job market report (850,000 new jobs in May) supports the idea that major economies have more room for growth in the short term.  The US Federal Reserve has recently cited 7% as their expectation for GDP growth by year end (New York Times). The EU expects 4.2% in 2021 and 4.4.% for 2022.  Note, all of those new jobs will require managers.  And the managers will require executives.  But if you never start looking, you will never find that dream job and someone else will get it.

In other words, in this job market if you snooze, you lose.

Demand for Top Executives Expected to Rise

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tells us that there will be robust demand, for example, for CEOs over the period 2019-2029.  “About 218,300 openings for top executives are projected each year, on average, over the decade…” in the US alone. This suggests that CEO  opportunities in industrial sectors will all grow by more than 7% over that period. These sectors include services for the elderly, couriers/messenger services, mining support services, individual/family support services, and various health services.

Top executive positions in general of which the BLS numbers 2.8 million in the US are also expected to grow by about 4% during the decade. General and operations managers will grow even faster at 6% or 143,800 positions.

In Europe the recovery is also clearly identifiable, but may be quite different in character as a new McKinsey Study points out. The study cites zones of economic activity such as “dynamic growth hubs,” “stable economies,” and “shrinking regions.”  The study goes on to suggest specific industries that may suffer in the wake of Covid-19 amid demographic adjustments that are affecting all major markets as labor pools shrink due to aging.

EURES (an EU government employment portal) reports four sectors where demand is expected to increase significantly. These sectors are health care, science and innovation, information technology, and digital communication.

Our own client experience in 2021 so far highlights these sectors as the most important hiring opportunities:

How Our Five-Step System Works

During the Targeting stage of our five-step career change system, we help executives rethink their career trajectories to discover new areas of focus. This may be taking advantage of emerging industrial trends or relocating geographically. Other areas of focus may be to increase compensation, to improve work/life balance, or simply to restore more joy to the executive’s life. 

We then help the client repackage him- or herself in the Personal Branding step.

Our Market Access step helps clients understand and enter the recruiter market (about 10% of client landings), the published market (15%), and the vast unpublished market (75%).

The Preparation step helps clients excel in interviews and increase their compensation substantially at the offer negotiation stage.

On-boarding, the last step, aids clients in avoiding missteps as they enter their new employment. In this step, clients obtain raises and promotions faster, and generally enhance their success.

But don’t take our word for it.  Here’s what one recent client has to say about our services:

“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.” [David Ludwig, VP Channel Sales, 2020 – Read More]

Enjoy the summer AND progress your career.  Put the Barrett Group to work and you will be able to accomplish both.  Give us a call.

Peter Irish
CEO
The Barrett Group