Finance Executive

What is Your Value?

by

Nick Corcodilos published a blog post discussing a candidate’s value. It’s very good. Two comments in particular are relevant for my CFO audience.

<<I think the big mistake people make is that they try to view their worth, or value, in absolute terms. That is, they think there’s a number — a certain amount of money, or a money range — that they deserve based on their experience, credentials, knowledge, skills and so on.>>

The vast majority of resumes that cross my desk from Chief Financial Office prospects are focused on duties, responsibilities, skills, and key words. It is so incredibly difficult, if not outright impossible, to compete on those things. And none of those, in and of themselves, establish your value or your worth.

<<I think value and worth are in the eye of the beholder. It’s why sales people exist! Their job is to make something they’re selling seem more valuable to you so that you’ll pay more to get it.>>

While not always easy for Finance Executives, this is actually the key to establishing your marketable value AND differentiation from your competition AND positioning for a top-tier compensation package. Your value lies in your ability to solve problems and deliver tangible impacts.

Establish your value, both in your verbal and written messaging, by first identifying your problem-solving abilities – how have you resolved a company’s issues, situations, challenges – and then detailing the tangible impact that allowed the company to achieve its goal, avoid impending negative outcomes, or mitigate or eliminate potential risks.

Every time you speak from the place of solving problems and delivering impacts, your value – in the eyes of prospective companies – is solidified. It is not about “what” you do … it is about “how” you do what you do.

Want to know how to clearly articulate your value? Give me a call!

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2018

***********************

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.

3 Career Questions for CFOs

by

Recently Forbes published an article on the 10 biggest changes expected in finance this year. The author asked the question …

“Can your business evolve with the trends shaping the industry
 or will it lag behind and suffer the consequences?”

Perhaps the same could be asked for you professionally in your role as a Chief Financial Officer.

– Can you remain solely focused on numbers and be competitive with those CFOs who are also intimately engaged with operational functions?

– Can you rely on duties and responsibilities to move you to your next role to the exclusion of clearly illustrating and articulating your track record of solving problems and delivering tangible impacts?

And finally,

– Can you afford to wait until you need a job before you begin thinking about your next (or first) CFO role?

My professional opinion is that the answer to each of those questions is a resounding “no.” At least, not without suffering consequences … perhaps extending an already agonizingly long job search.

While the average tenure of a Finance Chief is roughly 5 years, the reality is that nothing is guaranteed. Companies come and companies go; they are sold and acquired; and for the most part, the Finance Leader is only loved, and retained, as long as the bottom-line is showing a healthy profit.

With Finance Executive tenure trends in mind, I would encourage you to …

-identify and leverage your differentiating niche,
-hone your problem-solving messaging, and
-get on the radar screen of those organizations who need to know about you.

And, consider doing all three sooner rather than later.

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2018

***********************

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.

Four Reasons for an Extended Job Search

by

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

***********************

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.

SaveSave

The Dog Ate My Homework

by

With that cliché title, I am no doubt dating myself. That’s okay. You already know I’ve been in business for 23 years so I’m definitely not a young pup.

This bit of sage advice from my colleague, Barb Safani, came through my Linkedin newsfeed this morning.

“If recruiters ask you to ‘walk them through your background,’ focus on your core messages of value, not the five positions you held pre-1985.”

This wise counsel is true not only when you are talking with recruiters, but is also critically important when crafting your resume, Linkedin profile, cover letters, leadership brief, and every other written marketing document you use. Not doing your homework, which in this case is not doing the hard work to clearly understand your value so you can articulate your value messaging, won’t result in a 0 grade for homework not done. Rather, it may cause you to miss out on a very lucrative opportunity; maybe even your dream opportunity.

Here area 4 tips for honing your value messaging in the competitive world of CFO job search:

– 10 to 12 are the magic numbers

While a recruiter and/or a company is interested in how you got where you are, what the hiring company most cares about is your ability to solve the kinds of problems they are currently experiencing.

In the fast-changing world of technology, that means your tangible impacts over the last 10-12 years matter much more than what happened in the early years of your career or your degree. Those foundational things matter, but they will not help a company with a problem understand how you can resolve their issue, challenge, or situation.

Which brings me to …

– It is not what, it is how

What you did only matters in the context of how you delivered value as a finance leader who knows how to step in, eliminate or mitigate issues, and make a company stronger and better. That is your track record; that is your core value; and that is what matters to a prospective company.

– Self-identify by value rather than job title or worse, lack thereof

Besides screaming desperation, which shifts the balance of power, identifying by your job title is absent any value to a potential employer. Find your value and then, use it as a neon sign at every opportunity.

– The more you blend in, the less you will be noticed

When I made the decision to work exclusively with CFOs, it was based on two things:

– With whom did I most enjoy working, and
– Where was a gap in the saturated resume writing/job coach market?

The answer was the same for both questions. I loved working with accomplished finance executives and there were no resume writers or job coaches working exclusively with CFOs.

That is true for you as a job search candidate whether you are currently in a search or anticipate a move within the next few years. Identifying how you are different from all your competitors will help to ensure that you stand out from them rather than get lost in the masses.

Your core value and strongest positioning are the most visible when you have identified what you love doing, quantified your track record of success doing those things, clarified your target market, and taken ownership of that space.

If I can help you hone your value messaging, give me a call!

 

Copyright CFO-Coach 2017

***********************

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.

SaveSave

Finance Executive Job Loss

by

John Kogan, CEO of Proformative, relayed a heart-breaking, and all-too-common story in a recent post. These are folks I hear from on a regular basis and without fail they say … I never saw it coming. Even in finance, even a top Finance Executive, can be caught unaware and find himself ill-prepared for the journey he’s now on – through no choice, and most often no fault, of his own.

No Job is Safe Anymore!

I’ve been evangelizing for more years than I know that any “job security” one might think they have is merely an illusion. The ONLY security one has is to be sure – while they are gainfully and happily employed – that they are proactively managing their careers from the driver’s seat. If you aren’t executing good career management habits on a regular basis – while you are gainfully and happily – employed, then you aren’t driving your career and you will find yourself way behind the car, running at full-speed, just trying to catch up.

It is a disadvantaged place to find yourself because it usually means …

– you’ve been too busy in your job to build a network

– you have no (or outdated, maybe even poor) marketing documents

– you’ve ignored your Linkedin profile, if you have one, because after all, you have a job

and, for most men, you’ve now lost your identity because you no longer have a job title. Worse still, is now you are thrown into the train wreck of job searching with desperation as a motivator.

The reality is that 9/11 dealt a blow to the job market that we are still feeling 12 years later.

– Companies are desperate to hire the right top talent -and- so cautious it can take them months to make a decision.

– The job search process is a train wreck, made more so by the illusion that posted positions on job boards will make job hunting easy.

– Streamlined teams mean the CFO and other Finance Executives are holding more and more responsibilities for things outside finance, which means 60-80 hour work weeks are the norm.

The flip side of the last bullet is that those very additional responsibilities, when framed in problem-solving leading to tangible impacts, are the very things that you make the CFO even more marketable. But only, if people know about the great things you’ve done … internally and externally.

If you don’t know your marketable value proposition, and no one else knows it either, and you’re let go unexpectedly – and yes it does happen – it will rock your world in ways you didn’t expect and can’t even fathom on this side of the equation.

Resolve to do one thing today to take control of your career. Just one thing. Today.

Networking-for-a-Job Faux Pas

by

I listened in horror as a friend of mine related this story. The gentleman is not a Finance Chief. He’s not even a finance executive. But he is a director-level professional, which in the world of networking apparently means nothing. He needs a job and that drove his networking faux pas.

John (not his real name) decided to accompany his friend to dinner Saturday night under the guise of getting to meet some movers and shakers within his discipline in the community. Sounds good so far, right?

However, what John did not know  is that …

– only one of the two folks would be present,
– she wasn’t the one he needed to meet, and
– she was working that night.

Nonetheless, after she finished working and introductions were made, he handed her his resume. Really? In a social setting, after having met a person but not the right person, he hands off his resume anyway?

Let’s be clear.

Networking is about giving to get. That concept was noticeably ABSENT from this encounter. John has not made one single deposit into the likability or trust account of these business owners that would warrant the “right” to hand over his resume, let alone to do so in a social setting.

There is a time and a place for business, and a public restaurant on a Saturday night, in an uninvited encounter, is not one of those times or places.

John knows I’m in the business. In fact, we talked numerous times about his resume. Still, rather than seek my counsel, he blindly marched right into one of the most common networking mistakes job seekers make.

What about you? Are you unintentionally executing strategies in your job search that are self-sabotaging? Now you have no excuse to make this one!

A Flawed CFO Social Media Strategy

by

Google is on fire with the headlines about the public company CFO who used Facebook and Twitter to complain about his job. Seriously?

Flawed CFO Social Media Strategy
Flawed CFO Social Media Strategy

Obviously this Finance Chief hasn’t read any of my blog posts on the subject nor the excellent recent post by Jeff Ishamel.

Barrett Peterson (@CFOBP) asked me this: “How does an individual with that level of judgement become a CFO? Clearly old enough to know better.” These headlines just might scare Finance Executives all the way back into the 19th Century.

There are ways Chief Financial Officers CAN use social media to …

— further positioning as a subject matter expert;
— talk about passions and interests around a particular subject; and
— drive brand differentiation

… WITHOUT defaulting to complaining about their company or job or violating corporate confidentiality.

Finance Executives can also choose NOT to Facebook, tweet, or blog … but please don’t pass on having a branded and compelling digital footprint on Linkedin. If you don’t know how, email me … we can effectively navigate the sticky wicket together.

When the Person and the Paper Don’t Align

by

A recent question on Quora asked …

I am constantly contacted by recruiters and I frequently get called for interviews, but I never land the job. What possible causes should I consider?

Does that happen to you?

I responded that who you appear to be on paper may not accurately reflect who you are in person. And that disconnect can be disastrous.

Now there can be other reasons, obviously, but at the CFO level I think it is more often inauthenticity than say, lack of preparation of the interview. So how does that disconnect happen between paper and person?

The resume is not written in your own voice

Perhaps that is the reason so many recruiters feel only YOU, the candidate, can write your own resume. And in some instances, I would agree. If you can be objective and if you are a great writer who understands how to self-market, you can and should write your own marketing documents. Often though, that isn’t the case. And forcing yourself to do something that you don’t do well – especially when it involves your career – can be devastating.

You’re probably wondering how a writer who doesn’t know you can possibly write from your own voice. And it’s a fair question. I can’t speak for others, but I can speak to my process. It is intensive, thorough, detailed, and takes effort (on both our parts). The end result is that I know you, your contributions, how you made them happen, and the challenges along the way. The depth of my process ensures that I am writing from your voice, not creating an image of a CFO who doesn’t exist.

And perhaps even more importantly, I’ve forced YOU to know those contributions, understand them, embrace them, and be able to clearly articulate them. When that happens, there is no disconnect between who you are on paper and who you are in person.

And if you aren’t getting interviews, or interviews for the level of position you deem appropriate, perhaps it is because …

The resume reeks of responsibility, not value.

CFOs, Linked In, and Networking

by

Last week’s blog post focused on offline networking mistakes and fixes. This week, after reading CFO Search expert Samuel Dergel’s two blog posts on Linked In, I decided to chime in with my thoughts on building those online networks.

Samuel’s Linked In policy is a great template for creating your own policy. And like him, I recommend you have a policy or at least some minimal guidelines in place.

There are two schools of thoughts in building Linked In networks. One is “quantity.” The other is “quality.”

Quantity

This philosophy or mindset comes from the perspective that you don’t know who might be in a position to help you, so connect with everyone. It’s one that is often embraced by recruiters and sales people. Other than consulting or CFO contractors, I don’t know many CFOs who embrace the quality viewpoint.

There is nothing wrong with this perspective, but for CFOs (and other executives) it can have a downside. That is, it can negatively impact your brand. For someone who is looking at you beyond just your profile, who comprises your network might impact that first impression.

If you’ve been embracing the “quantity” strategy up to this point, it might be a good idea to take a step back and ask yourself, “who is in my network, and should they be?” And yes, there is a delete button for those that shouldn’t be.

Quality

One of my clients, a very savvy networker, has a policy that he never accepts a connection unless and until he has had a phone call and/or a face-to-face meeting with the person. As a savvy networker, he believes that the benefit of a strong network is relationship, not rolodex. Therefore, quality, not quantity.

His philosophy is reminiscent of the concepts of the great Harvey McKay in his book, “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty” …

“You’ve got to dig thoughtfully, creatively, and with a little class. That’s how the network gets bigger and the well gets deeper. Then there’s the maintenance. Nothing a man or woman ever built stayed in perfect shape without a lot of TLC. Ditto your network. Staying in touch with contact is as important as getting them in the first place.” 

There is no wrong Linked In connection philosophy … only the one that is right for you.

If you are a finance executive or CFO and would like to connect with me, please send me an invitation to connect (customized invitations work really well with me). If you’re a CFO and would like to join the CFO-only careers group, please send your request to join and I’ll see you in the group!

CFO Turnover is on the Rise

by

It seems as though the days, months, and yes, years, of CFOs hunkering down and waiting out the storm are over. This is true for CFOs individually, as well as companies and Boards who were nervous about replacing a finance leader during such tough economic times.

The recruiters I’ve talked with have all seen significant upticks in their CFO assignments. My clients have been telling me they are getting more, and better quality, inquiries from recruiters. And, recruiters are calling me looking for potential candidates.

A recent post from TreasuryandRisk.com points to a study from Liberum Research, which cites the increase in new hires at publicly-traded companies.

During the recession, boards were reluctant to make changes, he says. “Unless there was the need for a really major strategic change, they stuck with the captains they had in place as a general rule,” Jacovitz says. “That trend is beginning to change. There’s pent-up demand, executives who may be unhappy where they are and hoping to go somewhere else, and a recognition by boards that they can make changes.”

If you’ve been biding your time and riding out the stagnant economy, opportunities are available. That said, a few things have NOT changed …

— The Senior Finance Executive positions you want are not going to be found on the job boards;

— The most sought-after candidates are passive … employed and open to hearing about potential opportunities;

— The best time to be networking is long before you need a job; and

— The definition of networking is not who you know, but who knows about you!

If you are attending CFO.com’s Core Concerns conference in Chicago in June, please email me. I’ll be live tweeting and blogging from the event and I’d love the opportunity to meet some of my readers face-to-face!