7 Secrets to Help Accelerate Your Next Career Move

Ted Pryor of Greenwich Harbor Partners offers seven strategic secrets to making a career move that will land you the right job and accelerate your career. Let’s go deep on topic and then listen to a brief podcast.

As executive recruiters and talent acquisition professionals know best from candidates, the last few months of the year are often a time to start thinking about a career move. Bonuses will be paid shortly and companies are making plans for next year. Perhaps major organizational changes are in the works and it makes sense to investigate the market.

But according to Ted Pryor, managing director with Greenwich Harbor Partners, many senior executives have not “job hunted” in a long time – having been hired and promoted several times by people who knew their work – and the prospect of making cold calls for the next position is daunting.

Once upon a time, the primary job hunting technique was to call everyone you knew in a process called “networking,” but a random conversation is not likely to land the best possible position. People have grown tired of networking. You must be strategic, said Mr. Pryor.

Accelerate Your Career

In this brand new episode of ‘Talent Talks,’ we begin a new series called ‘Working Digital’ and will tackle how to ‘Accelerate Your Next Career Move’ with Ted Pryor, Managing Director of Greenwich Harbor Partners. According to Mr. Pryor, technology is transforming the business and recruiting industries by providing an ease of access to unlimited databases, which is allowing boutique firms to have a larger footprint than previous years. “Technology is allowing smaller firms to compete with bigger firms,” said Mr. Pryor. “With the ubiquitous availability of data means that smaller firms can compete in a way they couldn’t compete before, and that’s fantastic.” Listen now.

Here are seven strategic secrets he offers to making a career move that will land you the right job and accelerate your career in the process:

1. First Rest and Recuperate. If you are leaving a high stress, demanding position, step one is to clear your head and recharge your batteries, said Mr. Pryor. Take some time off. Take the family to Costa Rica. Clean the garage. Take a cooking class. Write an article. Start a new exercise regime. Do whatever it takes to get back in balance, get some perspective and away from the pressure and assumptions of the most recent position.

2. Research, Research, Research. Take serious time to consider your industry and your interests. “You may have done this many times for your company – now you need to do it for yourself,” Mr. Pryor said. What are your strengths, likes and dislikes? What are your goals? Where is the industry going? Which are the best companies and why? Who is growing? Who will be the winners? Are there technology threats? Is offshore competition about to land? Is automation going to be a factor? What are up-and-coming industries where your functional skills might be valuable? What is your strategy?

3. Develop a Criteria Template. You must develop your own criteria list for the next job and define the limits of what you will consider, said Mr. Pryor. You must define: 1) the ideal job, 2) an acceptable position with some compromises and 3) the bottom line beyond which you will keep looking. Don’t waste time talking about jobs that don’t meet your bottom line. You can always deal with “blue bird” opportunities as they arise, but you don’t need to hunt for them.

4. Name 10 Great Companies. Based on current knowledge, write down the names of 10 great companies you would like to work for without regard to whether there is a position for you, said Mr. Pryor. This is a “scratch and carry” list that you will modify as you learn. Develop files on the best companies and get to be expert on them. Which ones are growing? Which ones are run by CEOs you admire? Which ones have good reputations as places to work? Which ones are ripe for injection of new technology or new ways of doing business? Look hard at agile, up-and-coming companies rather than bureaucratic legacy companies. Look for a “disruptor,” not a “disruptee.”

5. Concentrate on Personal Growth. Your next job should offer personal growth, Mr. Pryor said. What will you learn in the new position? What new skills and experience can you gain? Can you increase in scope, scale and responsibility? Can you be more entrepreneurial? Can you learn a new industry? What scale do you want: Early stage growth? Large middle market? Multinational? Put money aside at first. Matching salary may not be the top priority. You may be offered equity or the opportunity to build skills that will pay off in the long run.

6. Focus on a 45 Degree Pivot. Look to make a change that is no more than a 45-degree pivot, said Mr. Pryor. If your skills are: 1) functional, 2) industry, and 3) operating scale, you’d like to use at least two of these major skills in the new position, Mr. Pryor said. Otherwise, you are leaving too much behind and you are bringing too little to the table. The desire to take on fresh challenges is natural, and a change of industry or function can bring the needed new horizon.

7. Network, Network, Network. Once you have developed a plan and criteria, talk to a lot of people. But your questions should be around industry trends and the leading companies, not strictly looking for an open position, said Mr. Pryor. Asking, “Do you know if there is an opening,” can produce a very short conversation. A more interesting question is: “Do you have time to talk about where the industry is going?” Prepare five or six questions. If the person only has 10 minutes to talk, you may be able to get through your prepared questions and learn a lot.

“This is a rare opportunity to cross party lines that you could never cross when employed by one company,” said Mr. Pryor. “Pick a start date when you will be job hunting formally and treat everything before that date as research. Once you get to your start date, hit the ground running.”

Eighty percent of all jobs are found through networking and less than 20 percent through internal and external recruiters, he said. “Talk to everyone you can. Go to former colleagues, mentors, college alumnae, industry contacts, former clients, industry analysts and industry consultants. Finally, the best jobs can come from going direct to the CEO or a C-suite executive and pointing out a business need they have not yet developed that you would be perfect for leading.”

Scott A. Scanlon is founding chairman and CEO of Hunt Scanlon Media. Based in Greenwich, Conn., Scott serves as Editor-in-Chief of Hunt Scanlon's daily newswires, its recruiting industry reports and Executive Search Review.

This blog first appeared at https://huntscanlon.com/