Client: Alan was a national director of sales for a global biotechnology and laboratory equipment company.
Industry: Hospitals, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology
Function: Sales
Challenge: Alan’s job was terminated during a mass reorganization, and he struggled unsuccessfully for several months to secure a new one.
Process: Alan focused his job search after reassessing his goals, leveraged social capital and newly learned techniques, and sharpened his interview skills to stand out.
Landing: Within two months, Alan landed two job offers, ultimately opting for the role of regional sales director for a small, fast-growing diagnostics solutions company in the biotech field.
Study: As national director of sales at a global biotechnology and laboratory equipment company, Alan oversaw a staff of 48 and was accountable for $63 million in revenue. He’d been at the company for two and a half years when, one morning, an unexpected 15-minute meeting popped up on his calendar. He feared the worst.
Alan’s suspicions were soon validated. The company announced a massive reorganization in which employees up and down the ladder, including Alan, were let go, effective immediately.
“It was very short notice. Although I got paid for two more weeks, that was ultimately my last day of work,” said Alan. “Thankfully, I wasn’t in a financial position where I was frantic, but when you’re laid off you start to question yourself and your capabilities. Why me? Was it something I did?”
Alan tried to see his circumstances as an opportunity to reset his career. First, he took pleasure in some extra time with his family and talked to friends and colleagues about how to move forward. Eventually, he got serious about a job search.
“I did what most of us would do: Mass blast your resume out on LinkedIn to see what sticks. It didn't go well. I got a call back for only one out of 10 or 15 applications.”
It was a deflating experience for months, but never more so than when Alan finally succeeded in securing a job offer only for the company to retract it at the last minute, citing financial challenges. Devastated, Alan decided to enlist professional help.
“I found The Barrett Group early in my job search. I saw the value of the service, but I wasn’t ready to make the investment at that time,” said Alan. “After my job offer was rescinded, though, my world was turned upside down. So, I reconsidered. Before committing, however, I thoroughly researched the company. I reviewed the success stories and testimonials online, of course, but I also talked to clients who weren’t referred to me by the company.”
With some digging, Alan found four former clients of The Barrett Group (TBG) who agreed to speak to him.
“To be honest, I was expecting someone to tell me not to do it. But no one did. Every single one of them told me to lean in, follow the process, that I would learn a lot and find what I was looking for. To be clear, these were not people that had given testimonials on The Barrett Group’s website. I found them on my own! After that I pulled the trigger.”
Alan was happy to see things happen fast.
“I partnered with Laura Roberts in the Clarity Program first. She was so great to work with. I looked forward to every moment with Laura. She was full of energy, passionate about her work, and went the extra mile for me. She encouraged me to think differently – and think optimistically during what would otherwise have been a horrible time. I had three sessions with her, and I wish it could have been more! She was phenomenal!”
The Clarity Program highlighted two things for Alan: First, he hadn’t truly been happy at his former job. Second, Alan realized that he was tired of working for large corporations, where there is little autonomy to make impactful decisions and it’s easy to feel like a number.
“It turns out that my layoff was a blessing in disguise. Naturally, I didn’t like leaving the job on someone else’s terms, but I may not have made a career change on my own,” said Alan.
With these new insights, Alan embraced the next step of the program.
“I worked with Amanda Stockton after Clarity. We hit it off well and had a lot of fun. I liked the way she rolled things out. As a salesperson, I’m go, go, go! But Amanda emphasized the need to follow the process to find the job that would best fit my needs. She kept me within the guardrails.”
First, they tackled Alan’s resume.
“I never saw my resume blown up into a million pieces and reassembled in a couple of weeks. It was remarkable! I thought it was good enough before. I thought it was ATS-proof. But it was not! It now articulates my successes and accolades in a way that really makes it stand out. It is so much more professional in appearance and verbiage. External recruiters were impressed with it, and people with whom I shared the before and after resumes were amazed!”
Then Alan and Amanda worked on how to leverage his social capital. Alan had 2700 contacts on LinkedIn. Amanda encouraged him to identify the people who hold him in high regard and contact them – not to ask for anything – just to reconnect. Alan found it to be a very useful exercise.
“We talked about our kids or previous employers or whatever. I just tried to nurture the relationships. Some asked about my job situation. I was surprised how many people were willing to make introductions or offer me leads, ideas, and new perspectives. Sometimes we’d discuss interview questions and responses or how I might differentiate myself from other candidates. It was very powerful,” said Alan.
Amanda suggested Alan schedule calls three to four times per week. But Alan packed in three to four per day. He also paid it forward whenever he could. He’d give shout-outs to people on LinkedIn, for example, or offer them information they might find valuable.
“There is no single person that got me to where I needed to go, but interacting with all these people bettered me. It helped me understand how to handle different situations and more effectively prepare for interviews.”
Soon, Alan began to see interviews crop up. And, as his job search picked up steam, so did his confidence. He was careful not to lose sight of what he wanted. When one company, for example, changed significant aspects of a role just before Alan went in for a final interview, he backed out of the opportunity.
Along the way, he greatly appreciated receiving detailed information from TBG’s research team about target companies prior to interviews, which gave him extensive knowledge about an organization. And he valued Amanda’s help in preparing for those interviews.
“Amanda gave me great perspective on how to answer interview questions. We studied extensively the top questions that come up and how to handle them – and a lot of them came up! In fact, my answer to one of the questions impressed a hiring manager a lot. I will never forget that. The response Amanda coached me to give was so simple, but so powerful. She really helped me fine-tune my interview skills.”
In the end, Alan’s efforts resulted in two excellent job opportunities. One came about through the unpublished market. He learned about a growing company on social media that interested him and discovered that a buddy of his worked there. His buddy referred him to the CEO and Alan quickly got an interview.
The second came about through dogged determination. Alan heard a recruiter on social media discussing a sales role at a high growth company that wanted to diversify its leadership team. Alan was interested and reached out to the recruiter. At first, the recruiter felt Alan wasn’t a match for the role and wouldn’t take his calls. But Alan was persistent.
“She finally agreed to a 30-minute call, but I could tell it was just to check a box. Our call ended up lasting an hour. I could see during the conversation that I was winning her over, using language and techniques that The Barrett Group had provided me.”
Alan’s efforts paid off. He was ushered into a rigorous, albeit slow, hiring process. Ironically, the situation posed a challenge that Alan didn’t foresee.
“I was in competition for two great roles, but I was especially excited about the second one. The problem is that I ended up getting an offer from the first company while I was still in the final stages of the hiring process for the second. I worked with Amanda on how to navigate the situation. She was wonderful! We were emailing back and forth; she was even calling me on her days off.”
The problem was extra tricky because Alan worried that his buddy at the first company had put his neck on the line for him. Ultimately, Alan landed the job he wanted at the second company and succeeded in bowing out gracefully from the first.
“It was amazing! I felt like I was walking a tight rope across the Grand Canyon. I risked losing both offers! But it worked out better than I could have imagined. I don’t know what I would have done without Amanda!”
Alan is thrilled with his new role as regional sales director for a small, fast-growing diagnostics solutions company in the biotech field – and to have landed it within two months.
“I found a small company with a great culture that values its employees and offers potential for my career aspirations and a great compensation package. I love it! I can’t stress that enough! It feels very much like a family. We give back to the community, we are making an impact, and we have fun. I’m excited to go to work every day!”
Alan not only feels that he is better off than he was, he also feels well prepared in the event he is ever laid off again.
“How much does it cost? That's the first question we all ask when considering professional career help. You need to know what the value of the service is. Well, my goal with TBG was to get a job offer with a sign-on bonus to pay for the fee. I did! But at the end of the day, the important thing was not just making back the money. It was about the connections I made, the tools I now have in my toolbox, and the resources at my disposal. TBG has taught me so much! TBG has taught me how to fish! I am definitely better off from where I started! The Barrett Group is an investment, and it is worth the investment.”
Photo: 123rf.com
