Month: December 2018

Posted on

Job Search In The New Normal: Three Perspectives; Originally Published February 13, 2016

My activity during the last two weeks has included three networking meetings with prospective candidates.  Two of the meetings were face-to-face at Starbucks, and the third was over the phone.  Their experience and individual situations ran the gamut.  The first candidate I met, Matt, is a referral from a solid networking connection which I have known for many years.  Matt had gone to school with my friend and had worked together earlier in his career. He was in town for a few days prior to leaving for a boys-skiing weekend.  Matt is an established Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A) professional employed in a good job with a major company.  He and his wife want to get back to the Atlanta area to be closer to their extended family.  His objective is to find a good job first and then move.   I found Matt to be very affable and professional.  Little surprise as his background included a private school education and Ivy League college degree.  Additionally, he had earned an MBA from a prestigious, top-tier University.  Matt is a very polished guy who knows how to communicate.  His intention was to establish a relationship with me and to explore some options.  Although a preliminary discussion, I enjoyed our visit and will work to help him achieve his goal.  Clearly, Matt is well grounded for a job search in the “new normal.”

My second meeting was not as positive.   John has had a difficult time finding a new job.    Also, a native of the Atlanta, he has been out of work for eighteen months. John has lived out of state for the past 16 years working in a small company.   He moved back to Atlanta to be close to family after the failure of a business venture. After earning an Ivy League Degree, he worked as a manager for established restaurant brands, later transitioning into the small company sector. In his most recent situation, he was in charge of administration for a small company which included the responsibilities of a CFO, a CIO, and Director of Construction. John was not comfortable during our meeting.  He was visibly nervous and a bit awkward.  We discussed options he has considered including consulting and project work. His references were very positive. However, his experience is not resonating with prospective employers.

Mark was my third networking encounter; this meeting was via telephone. Mark was referred to me by a CEO contact who had to terminate his employment as part of a company restructure.  Mark is a middle manager who has worked his way up the ladder to middle management without a college degree.  He has not had to look for a job for a very long time as he has been recruited from one job to the next by people who know him. Mark is well spoken, and his resume is solid.  Now unemployed, he really does not know how to look for a job in the new normal.  I suspect his network needs to be rebuilt as well.  We scheduled a phone call to trade information, but he made little effort to prepare for that call.  He did not review my background by visiting my website or checking out my LinkedIn profile.  As a result, we spent too much time on fundamental issues without learning how I could be helpful to him.  After our conversation, I made one referral on his behalf.  I need to follow up with Mark to more fully understand his needs and aspirations.

There are interesting similarities between these gentlemen.  They are all about the same age and have enjoyed success in their chosen fields.  Their circumstances are very different, however.  Matt is in the best position as he begins the process to understand his options.  John is in a difficult position as the time between situations is taking a toll on his psyche.  He must reboot his search.  Mark will be fine.  He will need to rebuild his network, but his skills and experience are highly marketable.  I suspect that he has a suitable severance package.  He can ramp up his job search quickly and will likely be reconnected by summer.

The one thing they have in common is that they are learning to adapt to job search in the new normal.  Their ultimate destinations will take them down different paths, but each will need to engage in the same activities.  Matt and Dave will have more options to consider than Mark whose background is exclusive to restaurant operations.  Nevertheless, each must assemble and nurture an effective network, their team, to identify appropriate opportunities.  They must craft a viable personal positioning strategy to evaluate opportunities presented.  They must be able to convince hiring managers and recruiters that their experience and skills match the job requirements and that they are a cultural fit for the enterprise.  And, when employed again, they must get off to an effective start by taking ownership of the onboarding process.

Of the three, which represents the situation you would aspire to?  Matt’s of course!  He is proactively directing his career, building from a position of strength.  He is working on a plan to make a career move before circumstances force the need.  More than ever before, one must be vigilant in the management of their career.  Nurturing an effective network is the starting point.

Thank you for visiting our blog.

I hope you enjoyed my point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox.  Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read.  Your input is very important to me so; please leave a comment.



Jim Weber, Managing Partner

ITB PARTNERS

Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com



Posted on

The Middle-aged Salesman

A friend recently contacted me regarding her husband’s need for help finding his next job. Jerry, (not his real name) is an accomplished sales manager in his own right whose experience has been in the commercial printing industry. Now in middle age, he has become sidelined in a dead-end job. Jerry is someone I have spent time with over the years and found him to be affable and witty. I had no reason to doubt his networking abilities. He is a salesman after all. Networking is about building relationships, the most fundamental part of sales.

 So, I happily arranged a coffee meeting with Wendy, a friend who has a business helping companies find optimal solutions to their print marketing needs. Since they were both professionals from the Printing Industry I thought this meeting would be a natural. Wendy is an excellent net-worker with very strong connections in Jerry’s target market. I could not have arranged a better connection for Jerry. This meeting looked to have great potential benefit for them both. Well, at least that was my thinking.

We all know that good networking includes the productive use of time. Get to the point. Let me know what you are trying to accomplish. How I can be helpful? The 30-second elevator speech is at the heart of the process. Unfortunately, as the meeting progressed, I saw that Jerry’s goal was to tell Wendy his life story. Jerry’s single-minded intent was to follow through on that objective. Had Wendy been an Executive Recruiter, like me, learning about Jerry’s full history might have been useful. Being a potential networking contact, Wendy’s knowledge of Jerry’s life story was not only irrelevant, it wasn’t a productive use of her time. In the process, Jerry learned absolutely nothing about Wendy. Doubtless, Jerry would not be a very useful networking contact for Wendy.

Frankly, I was astonished. More than once Wendy stopped Jerry to ask him what he was looking to do and how she might be helpful. This irritated Jerry. He did not answer her question but continued on with his story. It was excruciating. Wendy politely cut the meeting short, indicating that she had another meeting to attend. Jerry and I went off to have lunch and debrief.

During our lunch, Jerry expressed his frustration with Wendy. He was completely baffled as to why she continued to interrupt him during his soliloquy. I tried to address his fundamental misunderstanding as to how networking is conducted; i.e. time is of the essence, and the process is meant to be a two-way exchange of information. I explained that Wendy had tried to get Jerry to come to the point, but he refused to budge from his script. I went on to explain that over time, in order to build relationships, it may be useful to reveal more of one’s life story. It is totally inappropriate, however, in an initial networking meeting. My final point was that the message to Wendy was; “it was all about Jerry.” I think Jerry got the message, but I cannot be sure.

 I am still unclear as to why Jerry conducted the meeting as he did. It was not only strange, but it was also a little creepy. At his age and with his experience I expected a focused and productive presentation. I had been with him in a number of social settings and always found his behavior to be appropriate. His meeting with Wendy was totally unexpected. Could it be that Jerry was just a very poor salesman? I was beginning to wonder.

Key Learning: To help facilitate a productive networking meeting I use email to introduce my contacts and exchange their information. Exchanging resumes and LinkedIn profiles is a very useful part of the process to prepare for an effective meeting. This gives the participants the opportunity to learn background information prior to the meeting so the focus of the meeting can be on the present. It puts the meeting in context. A “good networking meeting” is a productive exchange where all parties leave with clear knowledge as to how to help the other.

 In this case, I should not be too hard on myself. I had enough experience with Jerry to expect a good outcome. I did exchange biographical information in advance. Jerry, Wendy, and I are all about the same age so there are a lot of similar life experiences which made the connection easier. I was surprised that Jerry did not grasp the fundamental concepts of mutual benefit and the productive use of our time. He learned nothing about Wendy and how he might be able to help her. Sometimes, even with the best of intentions and solid preparation, things don’t go well. That’s life. Suck it up and move on. As with last week’s horror story our efforts to help Jerry ended with that meeting.

My balance sheet with Wendy is very much in the positive so there was minimal damage to my credibility. Life goes on. Fortunately, my failed networking meetings continue to be a very small percentage of the total. Work in Progress:

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope you enjoyed my point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, Managing Partner

ITB PARTNERS

Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com

Posted on

A Tale Of Two Holiday Networking Events

In last week’s post I spoke about maximizing one’s effectiveness at holiday networking events. The primary message was as follows:

  • Time is short. Be strategic! The objective is to meet influential people, gain their interest, and schedule a follow-on meeting. 
  •  If the event is for business networking, stay focused on business. If the event is a social gathering, be sociable.
  • Remember to thank the host before leaving, and later, send a thank you note. 

This week I had an opportunity to take my own advice as I holiday networking events on Tuesday and Thursday.  Both were scheduled between at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.  They were open house come-and-go-as-you-please events.  On Tuesday I attended the CFO Round Table event.  Thursday’s event was hosted by an Investment Advisor who hosts a monthly Lunch With Four Interesting People, (LW4IP). I wrote about the latter group in September.  Of course, each event reflected the host’s personality and networking strategy.

There were many similarities between the two events.  Neither required a cover charge, and both provided an ample selection of luscious hors-d’oeuvres. Beer and wine were served at one, and the other was wine only, a Cabernet and a Chardonnay. Of course, one could enjoy sparkling water if preferred.  They were held in different types of venues and included a different mix of people.  

The CFO group was overtly business-related. The members of this group pay an annual fee and meet periodically throughout the year.  Although I let my membership lapse, I was invited as a guest of the moderator.  The attendees were coming from work, so they were dressed appropriately for their respective work environments, mostly business casual. Few neckties were observed.  It was an older crowd, as it takes significant career-development time to become aChief Financial Officer.  At least three were people looking for a new job. 

The LW4IP event was meant to be more social than overtly professional.  The attendees were a more diverse group, both by gender and age, sporting a wider range of attire.  I must say, the ladies were much more stylish. The gentlemen, on the other hand, ranged from very casual to professional business attire. As I am more old-school, I decided to dress more businesslike. For the event with the CFOs, I wore traditional gray flannel slacks and a blue camel hair blazer. No tie, however.  For the event on Thursday, I went full ‘Brooks Brothers,’ complete with a white pocket square and a popular red necktie. I say popular as I received a few compliments on my tie, including one from a lovely young lady. I wore a white cotton dress shirt with French cuffs for each event. It’s my signature look.  My mother impressed on me as a young man, that it is always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed.  While I wasn’t overdressed, I did make a positive impression.

My plan for the CFO event was focused on my Executive Search Business, as much of that work involves CFO searches. The Thursday event gave me an opportunity to talk about the consulting part of my business, ITB Partners.  Surprisingly, there were a lot of  freelancers attending the LW4IP reception.

As I reflect on these events, I did a  respectable job of taking my own advice.  I had a plan and executed it well.  I focused on getting know others with less talk about me.  I enjoyed the food and beverages in moderation.  I collected a lot of business cards and distributed many of my own.  I expanded my network, and plan to renew my membership with The CFO Round-table.

Each event was well executed and well-attended. The CFO group was impacted somewhat by weather and traffic issues in the Atlanta area, however.  I enjoyed both events.  I knew more of the folks at the Tuesday event as I have been active with that group. I knew only a few people at the Thursday event.  This gave me an opportunity to make new acquaintances and to expand my network. Almost immediately, we arranged to become connected on LinkedIn and began scheduling coffee meetings.  It was fun and productive.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope you enjoyed my point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is important to me so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, Managing Partner

ITB PARTNERS

Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com

Posted on

ITB PARTNERS’ JERRY HEILPERN RESURRECTS ATLANTA MEAL DELIVERY STARTUP

Saige Personal Chef

In a period of roughly 14 months, Jerry Heilpern of ITB Partners successfully decreased Food Cost from 110% of sales to 20% of sales, labor cost from 95% of sales down to 19% of sales, and reduced packaging cost from 65% of sales down to 12% of sales.

Under Heilpern’s guidance, the Saige kitchen was converted from a typical casual dining restaurant kitchen, in which many products are brought in pre-made through the back door, to a kitchen in which every meal is fully made from scratch, even down to the sauces.

Heilpern brought further efficiency to the production process by purchasing and instituting Chef Tech as Saige’s cost of sales management program, which allows Saige to track actual food cost against theoretical food cost and results in more efficient ordering and a significant decrease in food waste. Chef Tech additionally allows Saige to track and flag any allergens within dishes and recipes.

Chicken Dinner

In this time, Saige also instituted standardized recipes for every production cycle and every product and has created a photo catalog of every single menu item to assure consistency in plating and portioning. Since May 2018, with the promotion of a new Head R&D Chef, Chef Joshua Heilpern, over 175 new menu items have been added to Saige’s catalog. The net effect of all of these changes has resulted in a vast improvement of food quality, variety, and flavor.

Pork Schnitzel

Finally, since July 2018, the company has been experiencing a sales increase of 10% week over week. Saige looks ahead to the 2019 year with excitement and confidence under the leadership of Jerry Heilpern, as they continue their individual meal delivery, launch their new catering service, and continue to expand their product catalog.”

About Saige:

“Every Sunday, Saige Chefs delivers fresh, healthy, chef-prepared meals straight to the doors of customers across the Greater Atlanta Area, offering dishes catering to a variety of diet types, including vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, and gluten-free. Meals arrive fresh, ready to be stored in the refrigerator and reheated in the oven or microwave whenever convenient! Quality meals with impeccable flavor start at $11.99/meal for adults and $6.99/kids.

Saige Chefs has additionally recently launched corporate and private catering services, and will soon be introducing fully prepared and delivered meals for four at just $9.99/serving. Learn more at saigechefs.com or contact help@heysaige.com with inquiries.

For more information about ITB Partners and how we can help you, contact -Jim Weber at (770) 649-7051  or  Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com


Posted on

Holiday Networking Tips

It is Prime Time! The end of 2022 is upon us, and the celebration is beginning. You may be attending a lot of parties and networking events. In keeping with the season, it makes sense to offer some advice and guidance to ensure you have a productive month.

The Holiday Season is all about bringing people together. It is a time of celebration, reflection, and anticipation for the New Year. It’s a time for networking groups to schedule events to close the year. This month, you can meet people you want to add to your business network or social circle. These events are target-rich environments to identify and connect with influencers. Although each event will have a specific focus, you can exercise some leverage. In other words, social events can generate proper job-search connections, while professional networking events may result in social opportunities.

As you contemplate your calendar for December, begin with a plan. Determine what you want to accomplish this month. If you are between situations or looking to move, you may be looking for people to help you locate your next job. In this case, you should try to attend as many events as possible. Of course, you will necessarily want to prioritize your time for friends and family. Religious activities are an essential consideration. If there is a conflict, all things being equal, opt for the event that best supports your objectives for the month. In some cases, you may be able to attend multiple events, dividing your time between them on the same day.

Set a goal for each party! Begin with the guest list. Who do you want to meet? Plan to meet specific people who may be helpful. Learn who will attend each event and determine who you want to meet. Researching guests is a lot easier today, as more and more event planners are using online applications to manage attendance. Those applications will notify you as others accept the invitation, so you will know who plans to attend. Then, you can cross-reference individuals to their LinkedIn profiles.

Time is short. Be strategic! The objective is to meet influential people, gain their interest, and schedule a follow-on meeting. Make a good impression, so they will want to help you. Leverage your friends, family, and acquaintances to help identify these influencers. Ensure your elevator pitch and appropriate variations are well-honed and committed to memory. Bring business cards to distribute. Make notes on the back of each card you receive to send a personalized message. Remember, ask to schedule a meeting. Additionally, become connected to these folks on LinkedIn. Everyone is a potential lead to a job, so introduce yourself to someone new.

Stay focused on your objective. Your approach will differ depending on whether the event is business-related networking or more of a social event. If the event is for business networking, stay focused on business. If the event is a social gathering, be sociable. As you get to know the other party, there is nothing wrong with learning about their occupation, whether in a social setting or their interests, if at a networking event. Begin with casual conversation. Ask questions, including advice. Listen with interest. Stay away from religion, politics, or other potentially sensitive issues, unless you are talking with like-minded friends or associates

Here are some parting thoughts. Maintain a friendly, positive attitude and smile. You will attract more interesting people. Dress appropriately. You don’t want to stand out negatively. Eventually, most people will migrate in your direction. Don’t overindulge in food or alcohol. Remember to thank the host before leaving, and later, send a thank you note. Enjoy yourself; the Holiday Season can be a lot of fun!

Thank you for visiting my blog.  I hope you enjoyed my point of view and would like to receive regular posts directly to your email inbox. Toward this end, put your contact information on my mailing list.

Your feedback helps me continue to publish articles that you want to read. Your input is important to me, so; please leave a comment.

Jim Weber, Managing Partner

ITB PARTNERS

Jim.Weber@itbpartners.com