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| Senior and Executive Transition Challenges and Strategies |
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| By William Golden Welcome to the challenge of transitioning as a senior performer or as an executive from one career to your next. Are you a senior performer or an executive? You probably qualify for one or both of these career categories if you have been with your current employer 10 or more years, hold the military rank of E-7 or 0-4 or higher, hold the civil service grade of GS-13 or higher, or have a management position where it has been at least 2-3 years since your technical proficiency figured prominently in your job description. Perhaps one of the most important aspects in developing a successful career transition strategy is to realize that you are not just changing jobs, you are changing your entire career and perhaps even your lifestyle. Regardless of your current status in the realms of business, government or the military, I recommend that you inform yourself with a fundamental understanding of some basic realities:
Falling Off Your Pedestal Within any industry, many circumstances beyond even your boss’s reach can adversely affect your job. In the defense industry, you may encounter: buy-outs and consolidations; failure to pass a defense budget (a common occurrence in the late 1990s); layoffs due to diversion of funds for national security purposes; program cancellations (the prime contractor gets in trouble and your subcontract suffers); changes in technology; defeat in the marketplace; or changes in the marketplace -- doesn’t happen often but there are an amazing number of companies in the defense market that do just one thing well. Bad things happen often enough to good people. You need to be prepared because falling off your pedestal will happen at the most inopportune moment. IntelligenceCareers.com (ICi) actually got its start this way. Funding for the defense program that I was working on did not get renewed. I started ICi on a part-time basis, but then was snagged by another defense company with an offer I couldn’t refuse. Things went well until shortly after winning a multi-year defense R&D contract. Within 30 days of winning the contract, program funding was cut for the next quarter, thus a pink slip. The extra time was used to ramp up ICi to a full-time endeavor and I’ve never looked back. The pitfall of being a leader, manager, subject matter expert is that you need to find someone who cares. Regardless of how good you are at something, you must be able to relate your value to a new employer. Employers most often hire for the specific, not the generic. If you are departing the government or military, realize that your status will not transfer with you, guru or not -- unless you bring a Rolodex of contacts within your new organization. If you have a Rolodex and knowledge of the acquisition system, there are any number of enterprises that are willing to transition you into a position to use that knowledge. And while you may not be allowed to directly take part in the process, revolving door and all, your knowledge as an internal consultant will help you maintain your former status … for a while, until your Rolodex gets outdated and you have to use the phone book like everybody else to figure out who to call. The overwhelming majority of senior performers and executives need to define opportunities based upon having a portfolio and finding career possibilities that can make good use of your portfolio. Your portfolio should include:
The portfolio is primarily for your own use. It should grow and become a living document that transitions with you so that every time you find a great job, you will be prepared to immediately begin looking for your next great job. A key piece of your portfolio is your economic/compensation worksheet. Things to consider on this worksheet:
The above portfolio worksheet is essential to helping you determine where you need to be in the marketplace when it comes to seeking minimally acceptable compensation. Dealing with Marketplace Darwinism There have been significant changes in the commercial marketplace since the New Economy debuted in the late 1990s. One of the most important major changes for you is that companies and organizations are intensely focused on efficiency by outsourcing non-core functions and creating as flat an organization as possible. Flat organizations can pose a unique challenge to former government and military members -- where organizations are pyramidal and highly structured in terms of status, compensation, benefits and functionality. Flat organizations prize initiative in thought, product or service marketing concepts, and the ability of individual team members to bring home the bacon. Ultimately, flat organizations thrive and succeed because most of its members are part of the marketing team and are rewarded (or not) accordingly. “Job growth -- is this it? Everyone's been waiting for the sluggish job market to break out; that may not happen any time soon” heralds a February 14, 2005 CNN/Money article by Steven Radwell. Radwell notes, “… rather than strengthening anytime soon, the labor market may not pick up much, or at all, at least for the foreseeable future, a growing number of labor market experts and Wall Street economists are saying.” A reasonable question is that if the labor market appears stalled, then why isn’t there greater unemployment? The answer really has two aspects. (1) Per the Department of Labor, there are 132.6 million Americans working and another 7.7 million unemployed. People who quit looking because they couldn't find jobs jumped 20 percent since January 2004. (2) There has been a greater shift to people essentially outsourcing their own skills as 1099 independent contractors and self-employed workers. The Household Survey, the index that tracks traditional employment as well as self-outsourced folks, indicates that 140.2 million folks are employed in the economy, with 7.2 million holding two or more jobs. Regardless, both sources indicate limited growth in the levels of employment and little overall change from a year ago. Obviously you are already a success, so why talk about unemployment levels? Simple answer: you are changing your career, not just your job. Opportunities for senior performers and executives are predicated upon the ability to answer the questions: how do you bring value to the marketplace, to which marketplace, and what will be your entry point into a particular market?If the number of jobs isn’t growing, you should expect industry to constantly seek out ways to get more for less just like the government, which outsources non-core functions that will be serviced by the lowest bidder for contracts that can be recompeted as the need arises. This is Darwinism at its simplest level: fewer retirement plans to manage, fewer life-long employees to train and to retrain, and more services for less money with the benefit of self-terminating contracts (as opposed to employees that can only be terminated for cause). Exercise: Answer these Questions:
Industry is not seeking managers, leaders or folks to take charge. Industry is looking for people who can manage the production/marketing of a product or service, who can lead their team into the marketplace and actually market products and services, and then seek reward with honorary title of leader and manager because they did in fact take charge. A leader in industry is usually just the best-paid worker bee. The Changing Marketplace You will not be what you are. It’s all about supply and demand. Recent Department of Labor research indicates that those in the prime of their career should expect to change careers another 3-6 times before retirement. Younger workers should expect to change careers 6-10 times. What this means is that you should expect career change in your life on a recurring basis of every 4.5 years (worst case) to 15 years (best case) for someone in the workforce from age 20-65.Your marketplace value is relative to the need for the skills and expertise that you have. Your primary challenge as a senior performer or executive is to avoid having to start over. You need to brainstorm your way to success. If you have never brainstormed, then find a friend who has experienced this concept. Brainstorming is routinely taught in corporate, government and military organizations. Exercise: Brainstorm about:
Next you need to begin a correlation of people, organizations and things (technology, products, services, concepts) that are related to each of the items above. List all associates and friends who are currently working in the industry. Associate them with their organization and locations - their company may not need you but they could be knowledgeable about other opportunities in a geographic region.For example, if your parents live in Dallas, Texas and there is a possibility that you may be caring for them in the next five years, identify whether companies operate in the vicinity - Raytheon in Greenville, Texas comes to mind. Identify associates in the area. Perhaps your best friend from Germany just happens to live in the central Texas area and thus would make a great point of contact.The power of brainstorming is the ability to identify the many opportunities that you never realized existed. Networking and the Internet Personal networking and the Internet will find you the right job -- if you know how to network and to use the Internet.Companies use networking to find as many as 80 percent of their employees through employee referral plans. Obviously you need to let your friends, associates and even coworkers know that you are considering a career change -- so that they can refer you.Personal networking is extremely important at the executive level where hires are often made for unique needs of the organization. For example, an organization may have no shortage of fully qualified technologists but what it really needs is someone capable of herding cats. The key to success in this situation would be to find someone technically conversant yet flexible and capable of managing egos. Exercise: Identify:
The Pain of Career Change Changing careers is a life event. It will create significant stress upon you and your family. Heart attacks happen.Some time ago, research was done into what are called life events. A correlation was made between certain events in life and the probability that they would negatively impact your health. The study assigned Life Crisis Unit (LCU) values to different life events.Some of the critical life events relevant to career transition include:
Depending upon how many LCUs you accumulate, then you have an X% probability of illness in your immediate future.
Success Takes Work and a Plan Take a deep breath then take some time to develop your personal battle plan for finding your next great opportunity in the marketplace -- whether it is on the commercial side, in the defense industry, or serving in government.Whatever you do, please do not rush into taking a position just because you have a mortgage to pay and kids to put through college. Your health, family happiness and professional success depend upon you making the best decision you can. Try to get it right the first time -- which may require that you take as long as 1-3 months without being employed to complete your search for your next great career.You’ll profit by taking your time.Please feel free to drop me a line, ask your questions, and to let me know how this advice works for you. |
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