Client: Maite was an associate partner at a global management consulting company.
Industry: Management Consulting, E-Commerce, Transportation, Supply Chain, Startup
Function: Logistics, Analysis, Leadership
Challenge: After nine years of advising transportation and logistics companies, Maite wanted practical experience in the industry and, ultimately, a top leadership position.
Process: After reflecting on her goals, Maite reworked her resume, leaned into networking, and, most beneficially, mastered her interview skills.
Landing: Within four months, Maite landed as senior manager of DSP (Delivery Service Partner) acquisition for an e-commerce giant, a position she loves.
Study: Maite spent nearly a decade as an associate partner at a global management consulting company. Based in Boston, Maite launched and supported services for clients in the transportation industry, with a special focus on disruptors and investors. It was a rewarding experience thanks to the numerous opportunities to learn and grow in her field, but also because it was a supportive place to work as she started her family. When her children became a little older, however, Maite became increasingly interested in transitioning from a consulting role into hands-on work.
She hired The Barrett Group (TBG) to help her make the leap. What she learned was highly valuable, starting with the Clarity Program, which gave Maite the space to reflect on her goals and priorities in a way she had not done in years. Some of Maite’s colleagues confirmed the merit of this exercise, admitting having made career moves without enough reflection, themselves, only to regret it later.
“The Clarity Program gave me a ton of clarity! My coach, David Black, asked me to think about where I see myself in the future. I see myself as a decision maker and a doer, leading solutions to problems that matter. I would love to be in a CEO or a senior leadership position in an innovative transportation company,” said Maite. “As a consultant, I was advising people in those roles, but I want to be one of those people. Instead of advising leaders on the problems and challenges in their industry, I want to own the problems, the team, and the resources, myself, and be responsible for deploying them to drive positive impact in the world. To achieve that goal, I need practical experience in the industry.”
Maite narrowed her sights to the start-up world and began thinking about launching her own company. After several months of planning, however, the venture capital and investment market plummeted. Raising funds became impossible. So, Maite decided to hold tight at her consulting job and wait for a market recovery.
A year passed and the start-up market still showed few signs of life. Maite worried that waiting any longer to transition from consulting to industry would set her back in her career. She knew that working within the industry would open more opportunities than staying in consulting. So, she reconnected with her TBG consultant, Barbara Limmer, and reignited her job search.
Maite and Barbara had previously redone her resume and Maite felt that it was much improved, as a result.
“The work we did on my resume was super useful. Thanks to prompts from Barbara and the writing team, I have a much better, stronger resume now that specifically focuses on results and achievements.”
The work they did on her LinkedIn profile, likewise, was effective and resulted in a noticeable uptick of recruiter interest. But for Maite, a much more valuable exercise was learning how to unlock the power of her network.
Being a consultant, Maite found it relatively easy to stay in touch with people. She’d send articles or something relevant to people in her network occasionally. But Barbara taught her how to up her game.
“It was very helpful to me to put the focus of networking on helping others. In the past, I held back on contacting people if I needed something because I felt awkward to ask for help. But TBG emphasizes that the objective is to ask how people are doing and offer to help them however you can. That lowered the barrier for me. It became much easier to connect with people – even when I needed something – which was really helpful in my job search.”
Maite soon went from connecting with a few people per month to a few people per week. She targeted three conversations per week, reaching out to members of alumni networks at her company and universities in the logistics field.
“People were so responsive! I spoke to people every day for months. We talked about how they were doing and how the industry is doing. Everyone was so supportive, giving me advice about transitioning and putting me in touch with others to speak to. People helped me more than I could have asked for – it was like having a team.”
Maite put five to ten hours per week into her job search. Though it was a slow time of year, her efforts bore fruit. Over four months, she managed to line up multiple interviews – some formal, some informal. And for each one, Maite leveraged TBG to improve her performance.
“I did a mock interview with Paula Nordhoff in TBG’s “Interview Lab,” an interview tool that Barbara designed, to prepare for one of my networking conversations. It was enormously helpful. And Barbara helped me with every other interview or networking conversation I had. It was super helpful!”
During those sessions, Maite learned the importance of highlighting her accomplishments when interviewing, versus the team’s. She learned how to field questions about compensation. She learned to put herself in the interviewer’s shoes to gauge how to answer questions optimally. Most importantly, she learned how to present herself as the perfect fit for the role.
By the end of those four months – and far earlier than she expected it, Maite landed job offers from two companies that were at the top of her list.
“I didn’t think November and December were great months for job seeking. As it turned out, things moved very quickly, and I ended up accepting one of the offers and had a job by Jan 2. It really helped to put myself out there – plus it was fun, too!”
Maite’s new role is senior manager of delivery partner acquisition at a global e-commerce giant. She credits two things for her success.
First, was classic networking. The company that is now her employer initially came up in a networking conversation with a consulting client of hers who worked there. Maite asked the client how to put herself on the company’s radar. He didn’t know, so he suggested Maite contact a common friend of theirs who also worked at the company but in another country. She did. That individual then connected Maite with a manager of the company who worked in logistics in the U.S. They had a networking conversation that resulted in an opportunity for Maite to join the team.
“It was a combination of good timing and networking. If I hadn’t leveraged my social capital, I never would have had this opportunity,” said Maite. “And, for sure, this position would not have happened without Barbara. Barbara is the reason I was networking as much as I was.
The second main contributor to Maite’s success was excellent interview preparation.
“Prior to working with TBG, I thought I was an awesome interviewee. But I was so much more polished, professional, and prepared after working with Barbara. These were high-stakes conversations but I felt very confident no matter who was conducting the interview.”
When it came time to negotiate, Maite was delighted to have professional help, as Barbara pointed things out in the employment contract that she wouldn’t have noticed, but which turned out to be very important. In addition, Maite succeeded in negotiating compensation and increasing the original recruiting offer by over 30%.
“It was a journey, but I’m very happy!” said Maite. “I totally attribute this success to Barbara and the TBG Program. You know, changing careers is super important, yet, so often people wing it. It was wonderful to have TBG’s support instead of just improvising. It’s like hiring a moving company. I’ve moved myself several times, but after using a moving company, I will never go back! I feel the same way now about TBG and changing careers!”
Photo: 123rf.com
