C-Suite

Four Reasons for an Extended Job Search

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In a recent phone conversation with a prospective CFO client, he asked me how long a job search might take. It’s a firebomb question, and the truth can be discouraging. It might take 3 months, 6 months, or more than a year. Because I want my clients to be reasonable in their expectations of what is ahead in that land mine known as “job search,” I am truthful with them.

My expertise is in creating a cohesive value message and giving my clients the tools to conduct an effective job search. However, the job market is the job market and the hiring process is incredibly flawed. That said, there are a few reasons why a job search can take longer than it should. These are my top 4 reasons why a job search may be extended … and age is not one of them.

Position you are seeking

There are limited Chief Financial Officer opportunities. In fact, opportunities are limited across the board in the C-suite. Add to that fact that hopefully you are seeking the right-fitting opportunity and not just any opportunity, and you can reasonably expect that your job search may be longer than you would like.

At the risk of beating a dead horse …

Lack of planning

Failing to plan is planning to fail. Because it can take time to secure that next right-fitting opportunity, it is incumbent upon a serious executive candidate to create and execute a job search plan in anticipation of a move well in advance of actually needing or wanting to move.

Keep in mind that the passive candidate (one who is open to new opportunities AND employed) has much more power (to negotiate a compensation package) than does the unemployed candidate. I am not saying that is right or fair; merely, that is the case more often than not.

One mitigating factor to my last statement is …

Strength of your network

I’ve covered this in my prior blog post. I find one of two things typical with my finance leaders. Either they have no network or they are not using their network effectively. If you truly want that next, right opportunity … the strength of your network and the effective use of your network matters.

Geographic area

You miss 100% of the opportunities that never cross your path. When you throw too narrow of a net in your job search, i.e., too small of a geographic area, the pool for those limited opportunities shrinks even further.

Two things happen when a geographic area is expanded. You may hear about …

– a dream opportunity in a location you just might be open to considering; or

– an opportunity right smack dab (that is a southern term of precision) in your preferred geographic area.

If you want to discuss how I can help you maximize your unique value in order to leverage your power positioning, give me a call.

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

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Ethics in the C-suite

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A quote by Sallie Krawcheck made its rounds in meme form on Linkedin this week. It says … “If it comes down to your ethics vs. a job, choose ethics. You can always find another job.” Such truth … especially for Chief Financial Officers.

On a personal note …

Violating your ethics or values will eventually catch up with you … and whether it eats away at you until you are miserable on the job and your health is in jeopardy – or – you begin to blur the lines of what is ethical and what is not … neither of those endings are ideal. The blight of a poor ethical decision can stain the outcome of a future job search.

Always keep your marketing documents up-to-date and understand and act on the premise that you really are always in job (opportunity) search mode. Those two career management strategies can go a long way to ensure that should you ever be asked to violate your ethics and won’t / can’t, you are in a much stronger position to find another opportunity much more quickly.

From a corporate perspective …

The buck often stops with the CFO when ethical violations hit the press. And that … can have a huge negative impact on your ability to find a new opportunity even if you exercise the above two strategies.

May you never be faced with such a situation!

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

Dude … Sir … or, Name?

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Does it matter what your employees call you … as long as they are calling you?

Life in general seems to have become very casual, and that attitude has definitely transcended the workplace at many companies. Personal responsibility, respect for positions of authority, and general courtesy and professionalism seem atypical these days.

Or, maybe I am just old school and jaded … at least by today’s standards. However, I live in the south and still appreciate hearing people respond with “mam and sir.” I use those terms of respect all the time. I wasn’t raised in the south, but living here for 30 years has had an impact on how I address people. I just don’t see respect, as a foundational value, in the world at large. Maybe, culture simply trumps professionalism and respect for authority and most people accept that fact.

This blog post came about as a discussion by one of my networking colleagues on Linkedin talking about being called “dude” by one of his team members. Most people who commented were okay with that address by a direct report. On the other hand, I would be shocked to hear a CFO call his CEO or board members or investors “dude” when addressing them. Or, has this also become the norm?

What about the outside perspective? If your employees call you “dude” or whatever, and you are okay with that causal address in the workplace, what happens when those same employees call you that in front of your clients and/or customers –or- call your clients and/or customers by that same name? How does it, or would it, affect their perspective of you and your company? Would it impact your branded positioning? Is this pattern so common place that it just does not matter?

Am I simply making much ado about nothing? I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Disagreeing – respectfully – is one of the wonderful things about living in the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

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Cindy Kraft is the CFO-Coach and America’s leading Career & Personal Brand Strategist for Corporate Finance Executives helping clients understand their marketability, articulate their value, and position themselves as the clear and compelling choice. She is a Certified Reach Personal Brand Strategist, Certified Reach Online Identity Strategist, Certified Career Management Coach, Credentialed Career Master, Certified Professional Resume Writer, and Job & Career Transition Coach. Cindy can be reached via email Cindy@CFO-Coach.com, by phone 813-727-3037, or through her website at www.CFO-Coach.com.

Recruiter Relationships

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A few months ago, the C-Suite Career Catalysts asked C-level and Senior Executives a few questions about their experiences working with recruiters. One of the fascinating responses came from a question about what they (Executives) value in recruiter relationships.

Among both C-suite and Senior Executives, the #1 most-valued response was “Solid Leads / Opportunities.” I believe a few of the comments helped to clarify that selection …

– Match skill set and management philosophy with prospective company
– Knows / understands the company, CEO, opportunity, risks of company and position
– Corporate culture knowledge

What a waste of time for all concerned when recruiters contact CFOs for opportunities that are obviously not a good fit. Which begs the question, who is responsible for ensuring that recruiters can make an assessment based on a crystal clear value proposition and fit for culture?

The rest of the responses were pretty similar with the exception that reputation of the recruiter was much more important to the C-suite than to Senior Executives at large … 58% vs. 38%.

Here’s the breakdown of all the responses to the question “what do you most value in a recruiter relationship.”

ValueC-SuiteSenior Executives
Confidentiality
Reputation
Accessibility/Responsiveness
Solids Leads/Opportunities
Landing a Great Position		70%
58%
79%
86%
42%		73%
38%
65%
81%
31%

One other consistent comment from the C-suite was around “honesty and integrity” in their relationships. While probably somewhat tied to the “confidentiality” answer, the list of comments that were added around this issue raises the importance of it in the eyes of Senior Executives and the C-suite.

The “best of the best” are looking to work with recruiters who tell them the truth, keep them informed, and contact them for opportunities that are a good fit.

Branded Differentiation & Value

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Whenever I come across the same theme multiple times within a short amount of time, I feel the need to write a blog post. That happened yesterday.

First, the Fractional CFO blogged about “differentiation.” Now his post was focused on differentiation within retailers … Bed, Bath, and Beyond and Linens n’ Things; Best Buy and Circuit City; Home Depot and Hechinger’s … but there's a definite pattern. Only one lives on.

“Without a strong differentiation from competitors, a business is much more vulnerable and therefore more likely to suffer from pricing pressures, loss of market share, and eventual failure.”

The word “candidate” could just as easily be inserted in place of “business” in the above quote. 

Then, my good friend and C-Suite Colleague Deb Dib summed up branded value in this tweet …

How good hires happen: 

Brand+value = interview 

Brand+value+ROI = short list 

Brand+value+ROI+chemistry = fit = hired! 

A visible, branded, and differentiated ROI is the key to standing out from the competition while offering something of value that a company is more than happy to pay to get. Whether you live on as a high-value CFO target, get bested by the competition, or disappear in the masses … is a choice.

Top Finance Concerns

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The CFO Rising conference yesterday morning was right up my alley with sessions on Creating Alignment in the C-Suite, A New Dynamic in the Boardroom, and … particularly … Finance Skills for a New Decade. My next few blog posts will talk about what I heard, but I’ll start with some interesting stats that opened the morning.

The CFOs in attendance were polled around critical issues they are facing, and here are some of the results …

–89% felt the worst was over but do not anticipate a turn around anytime soon

–Only 4% felt growth was likely to happen in the next several months

–70% were concerned and VERY concerned (35%) around the cost effectiveness of proposed government regulations

–When asked about the proposed health care legislation, 69% were very concerned about the tax impacts and 62% were very concerned about the quality of care

Conversely, the attendees felt there was some good that came out of the economic downturn … it has forced finance to go back to basics.

–32% said they now had a core business focus

–25% were focused on increasing productivity

–3 out of 4 indicated they would be preserving cash as a hedge against economic uncertainty

–77% indicated their focus would be on organic growth … which means …

–Only 10% indicated M&A was a core business focus

CFOs – Do You Have a Career Bailout Mentality?

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If you answer yes to any of these questions, you might have  a bailout mentality …

–Have you given up control of your career to someone else?

–Job searching is nothing more then the stars aligning and that next position magically appearing at the right time?

–Are you walking around with a sense of entitlement, annoyed or even indignant that no one is noticing how brilliant you are?

–Do you believe you are secure in your position so managing your career isn’t something you think about, ever?

–The investment of a couple hours a week (while I’m unemployed) SHOULD be more then enough time on my search.

Now some of these are obviously said tongue-in-cheek, but the reality is these are some tough times and the squeeze is on for everybody – including the C-suite. Never, seriously, NEVER has it been more important to take back control of your career, rather then leaving it to the whim of others. Those others might be the CEO, shareholders, or board of directors. The moment CFOs don’t deliver on projections, their career is in jeopardy. Maybe not right away, but the foundation has cracked. Better to be prepared and not need to be then to be caught totally unprepared and suddenly find yourself spending 8 hours a day searching for a job.

Your highest value and marketability are while you are still employed. You have the most leverage to get what you want in that next position when you still hold a position of power (employment). You can choose what you want and when you want it, rather then being forced to take what’s offered … if and when it is finally offered. 

You might be the greatest thing since sliced bread (most CFOs don’t get to the top of the ladder if they aren’t) and a company may very well need your help, but without a clear visible presence, a compelling MVP, and positioning as the answer to their problems, they may never see your brilliance. 

Don’t wait to be bailed out … be proactive!

Say on Pay

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Executive compensation legislated and regulated. Is it the final nail in the coffin of public companies?

Pretty important read for the C–suite in CFO.com today … in case you missed it

Say What? The Battle over Executive Comp
Big investors and compensation consultants, both with much to gain and lose, dig in and defend their ground over "Say on Pay."

What are your thoughts on this issue?