Previous page:Define your job identity
If you are short on contacts in your dream industry or location, there is always the cold call. Dan Sheehan, former CIO of ADVO, used this tactic when he was conducting his last job search.
"I used a few databases and got a list of all of the companies that were over $1 billion in annual revenues in New England," he says. "Then I went down the list and cold called the top HR person in each company and inquired about senior IT positions."
That tactic landed Sheehan the CIO role at Dunkin' Brands. "They told me they were looking and they put me in touch with the recruiter who was doing the search," he says.
When job hunting at the VP or C level, be sure to include executive recruiters on your list of contacts, suggests Sheehan.
"When you are working and employed, recruiters call you all the time," says Sheehan. "Every time a recruiter called me, I would update my Rolodex with notes about who called me and for what. When it was my turn to look, I brought up all of those contacts and called them with specifics about what we had talked about before."
All of his diligence through the years allowed Sheehan to tap into a network of recruiters exactly at the moment when he needed to utilize it.
If you haven't been quite as diligent as that, you'll need to rely on your contacts to introduce you to recruiters. But as in golf, it is all in the follow-through. And speaking of which...
Step Five: Follow through.
When Mark Goetze, former director of enterprise applications at ITT Industries, conducted his search for a new job, he contacted several recruiters who had been referred to him by a former colleague. After an initial contact, Goetze stayed on their radar screen. "Recruiters essentially have this huge pile of rC)sumC)s on their desk," he says. "The only way to stay on top of the pile is regular contact."
However, you want to stop short of being a burden to the recruiter, cautions Goetze, who recently landed a role as VP of IT for the medication delivery division of Baxter International. "But you want to follow up every two weeks," he says. "It's all about staying current."
Step Six: Close the deal.
Let me offer a few words about conducting a good interview. Obviously, you need to study up on the company. Sheehan, for instance, talked with Dunkin' Brands' franchisees about their IT needs before his interview. But during the interview, here are some thoughts you should keep in mind:
- Talk more about why you want the new job than about why you want to leave the old one.
- Never bring up money.
- Prepare five major accomplishments to discuss - in detail, with bullet points - when asked.
- Make eye contact with everyone in the room.
- Listen as much as you talk.
- Prepare a ton of really smart questions.
And if you don't get the job, proceed immediately to...
Step Seven: Convince yourself that you never really wanted it in the first place.
Martha Heller is managing director of the IT Leadership Practice at ZRG, an executive recruiting firm based in Boston. Contact her at mheller@zrgroup.com.
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