"Don't Freak!" Part 2

As a follow up to my most recent post “Don’t Freak” I wanted to share with you where I landed and have you all meet my son! If you did not read the previous post, start there...this will all make more sense. :)

The time with my family, especially my little guy, has been great! HE IS 6 MONTHS OLD ALREADY! I can hardly believe it.

My wife will tell you she appreciated me being around to help with the kids' activities as well as managing to get them off to school and picked up on time while this guy was just a newborn. But like I said before, finding a job is a full time job and you have to be diligent. So, between drop offs and pick ups I was on a mission!

The "Job Board"

I learned something right away. Job boards suck! I don't know about your experience with job boards (If you have a story, good or bad, I would love to hear) but the postings I found through LinkedIn or on company websites were not helpful. Never once did I get so much as a follow up response from any of them. Even a "Thank you for your submission. We received your resume" would have been nice. I quickly realized this was going to be a waist of time. So, I spent countless hours at my "office" (Panera Bread) networking and setting up calls and in-person meetings as fast as I could. I also met with several recruiters and utilized BPI Group as a sounding board and coach through this transitional period. They were great to work with. Only then did I start interviewing with consumer packaged goods companies(CPGs), design firms, and start-ups. I even considered going out on my own as a packaging consultant after picking up a few projects through these efforts.

Take a Step Back

After reassessing my situation and putting everything into perspective, I stopped and took a step back to check in with myself. What were my goals and what did I want out of this next opportunity? Looking back this should have been my first step. But, the meetings I had helped me determine what I should be looking for. My top three requirements became clear:

1. Be challenged – I want to be challenged to further expand my knowledge and understanding of the global CPG industry.
2. Global organization - working inside a large global organization meant more opportunity and knowledge gained from a global brand portfolio.
3. Stay in Chicago – our home, neighborhood, the kids, school, family, friends, church, long term opportunities, the weather…there were just so many reasons to stay put. OK, that last one not so much...

All the calls, e-mails and meetings paid off. I was very blessed to receive a few different offers around the same time-frame so making the right decision became a very important next step. Every company I spoke with had their own special draw for me but my top three requirements helped ground me and focus my choice. So after much thought, prayer and consideration, I decided to go with the global brand performance company SGK.

It is a great fit for me. I am excited about bringing my collective knowledge from both the agency and client side of the business along with the work I have done with suppliers and converters to the SGK team. All of this, along with the global CPG industry expertise of SGK, made for a great relationship with amazing upside potential...right here in Chicago!

I have only just begun to get under the hood here. I am traveling to our other US and Canadian offices, meeting our teams and getting up to speed on our services and the value we bring to the organizations we currently partner with. I'm impressed! We are doing some great work with some amazing clients and the people I work with are exceptionally talented and very hard working! 

If you are reading this and you are in the CPG, pharma or medical devise space and curious as to what value we can bring to you and your organization, please shoot me a note. We can talk over the phone, meet in person, e-mail, Skype... whatever works best for you. Honesty, integrity and hard work is what makes me tick and you will get nothing less then 100% from me. My LinkedIn recommendations speak for themselves.

Thanks for reading and posting your comments. Your encouragement meant a lot to me during this transition and I hope this update inspires you further.

Eric Schultz -VP, Business Development, Americas - SGK, Inc. [email protected]