If you’re a Senior Manager in your late 40s or 50s who’s been looking for a role for more than 3 months but find that you’re not getting much traction, you are not alone.
We’ve been seeing a deluge of such cases in recent times, ironically, from those who actually had a sterling career with a string of achievements in their wake.
And they don’t just hail from the Technology Sector which is experiencing one of their worst downturns since the dotcom bust of 2000, but from almost every sector of the market.
These clients come to us with questions, worries, and a lot of self-doubt and today, I’d like to share with you what we shared with them about the current situation.
1. It’s a Pyramid Scheme – There Are Fewer Roles at The Top
The basic fact is that there are fewer roles at Senior Levels, hence your market will NOT be teeming with opportunities with any regularity.
Why?
Think about it…how many CFOs or CMOs could a Regional HQ have? Only one of each!
Multiply this by the number of target companies on your list, there will only be a handful of positions that are potentially available and you would have to wait until the incumbent resigns, gets fired, or drops dead before the role opens up.
Also, given the complexities of the market these days and the increased risk of failures, many companies are more selective over who they hire and will tag on a long string of requirements to their wish-list.
This results in a very high hurdle to cross and many complex organisations may even end up with delayed or prolonged Executive Searches because nobody can decide what type of candidate they want to hire.
Then you will hear excuses from recruiters like “Oh, Senior Management hasn’t decided yet” or “We’re still waiting for the greenlight” or “The process is put on hold at the moment” which makes the situation even more frustrating.
The Solution:
Be patient if you don’t have an opportunity pipeline that is as ‘thick or quick’ as you’d like it to be – it’s just the nature of hiring at these senior levels.
What you can do is to keep networking and most importantly, MAKE EVERY ONE of these rare OPPORTUNITIES COUNT!
Prepare, rehearse, strategise, research, network – go all out to to increase your odds.
2. Senior Leaders Have Forgotten How to Sell Themselves
One thing we find in common with many of our senior clients who are looking for roles, is that they absolutely suck at Job Interviews.
Why?:
Because they’re not used to being interviewed – in fact, many have conducted more interviews in their career than have been interviewed themselves, so when it’s time to come to the table, they freeze up and downplay (or even oversell) themselves.
Add to this, the fact that at the present moment, the market is THICK with competition and companies are spoilt for choice, given the huge numbers of recently retrenched, qualified and excellent candidates in the job market.
Your profile is but one of many similar ones floating out there in the market and to a fatigued Hiring Manager, all these ‘generic’ candidates will start looking the same after a while.
The Solution:
So, the trick is to re-learn how to stand out and sell yourself.
Ask yourself, “What’s my Niche?”
Are you the CFO who stares at spreadsheets all day, or are you the CFO who partners the Leadership Team to ensure they have all the information needed to make the best business decisions?
Are you the COO who ‘oversees smooth operation’, or are you the COO who ‘builds scaleability into the business so the company will be ready for rapid growth in the region’?
What’s your biggest ‘Value-Add’ to the business?
As a Senior Business Leader, you should NOT be interviewing like some junior candidate, answering inane questions like “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?”.
Instead, you need to prepare a set of your “Greatest Hits” Volume I, II and III!!
List all the achievements you’ve made, your Grand Strategies that catapulted the business, the sweeping changes that you’ve implemented, and even the award-winning ideas you’ve initiated!
Bring along your point of view of the Business, where you think your industry is heading, and how you can create value for them.
For Senior folks like you, selling yourself is often a ‘lost art’ that you need time (and some training) to build new muscles around.
Come talk to us as this is a particular area we specialise in!
3. Senior Leaders Don’t Know What They Really Want – Therefore Want Everything, or Nothing at All
A Mentor once told me, “If you don’t know what you want, you’ll never get what you want.”
Why?:
Many Senior Executives we’ve met end up applying blindly for any role with the word “Senior Manager” in it, thinking that just because they’re ‘senior management’, their skills are ‘highly transferable’ and can be ‘lifted-and-shifted‘ to any situation, in any industry, at any time of the day.
So they deploy the ‘Spray and Pray” method of ‘rage applying‘ to every possible job advertisement and get very disillusioned with the poor outcomes.
Moreover, because these individuals are quite well remunerated (in the S$350K and above range), they are either too picky (“I want something in that range or higher!”) or too realistic (“I’m happy to take a 50% pay cut!”) and end up getting neither.
The Solution:
You need to dial the desperation back a little.
Recruiters worry about hiring senior folks because they fear that “you might not fit in”, “you won’t have the drive”, or “you’re too expensive for this role”.
So, focus only on roles where you stand a ‘better than average’ shot at landing – this means you need to do research on the type of role you want, the appropriate level of seniority, and whether or not there will be a CLEAR FIT.
For instance, if you’re a CFO earning S$480K/yr, don’t go applying for a Sr Finance Manager role unless you have a very clear Career Strategy at play and know how to articulate it to the hiring manager.
Be very clear on the level you are targeting and very specific on the outcomes you bring if you landed the role. Focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have.
Build your Job Search Strategy regarding your Positioning, your Pitch, your Package, and Plan, Practice to Perfection!
In conclusion, never let the bad news about how tough it is to find a job affect your Job Search Strategy.
1. There will always be Opportunities out there. You just need to uncover them and learn how to pitch yourself correctly to the right person.
2. Much of the ‘Luck’ Factor depends on Timing, which is often out of your control, so don’t stress yourself too much if you can’t land within your own self-generated timeline. The market will open up when the market opens up.
3. There will be many NOs before that one YES happens – and ultimately, ONE YES IS ALL IT TAKES!
4. It’s ok if things go quiet – enjoy the peace and serenity, because these opportunities come in waves. It’s not unusual for Our Clients to experience 2 months of ‘zero-activity’ before having 5 Opportunities land on their lap and 2 Offers on their table.
5. Don’t go at it alone. Talk to The Career Experts like us to give you an honest perspective on your Unique Situation.