Client: Dirk Matthews was an agile coach and scrum master for a multinational software company.
Industry: Software, Information Technology, Cybersecurity, Insurance
Function: Program Manager, Project Manager, Development Manager, Agile Coach, Change Management, Scrum Master
Challenge: Dirk’s position was eliminated following a change in leadership, and he struggled to find a new job on his own.
Process: Dirk reworked his resume and used newly acquired skills in LinkedIn and social capital building to create opportunities for himself.
Landing: Within six weeks, Dirk accepted a position as principal program manager for a mid-size insurance company, a role created specifically for him that offered nearly everything he wanted in a position.
Study: Dirk Matthews enjoyed a long career as an agile coach and program manager for a multinational tech company, where he was entrusted to launch projects, create new methodologies, and transform teams for his employers. But then his career hit turbulence. After getting laid off during the pandemic, Dirk faced a second layoff in relatively quick succession. After another job search, he was offered a role as a full-time agile coach for a multinational software company, only to be told at the last minute that the offer would be changed to a 6-month contract position.
As Dirk had been out of work for over three months by that point, he accepted the terms. He figured that he could prove himself with excellent work and, perhaps, turn his role into a full-time role. Towards the end of the contract, however, new leadership came in and, citing budget cuts, decided not to renew Dirk’s contract.
Dirk started sending out resumes right away. But things didn’t go well. He found plenty of jobs on LinkedIn, but each one attracted 500-1,000 applicants. Over the ensuing weeks, Dirk sent out hundreds of resumes. Most of his applications resulted in rejection letters; others received no reply at all.
Dirk wasn’t particularly worried at first because he had started his search in December, when budgets for the new year are still getting approved. But as January came and went and his job search continued to yield few results, he started to get concerned.
He was perplexed because he conducted his job search similarly to his job search nine months earlier, in which he had garnered many more responses. At that time, he fielded multiple interviews and even ended with two job offers.
Dirk began to suspect ageism was the culprit.
“There was one opportunity that I thought would be cool. But after an in-person interview, I got the feeling they wanted someone younger. I was everything they wanted on paper, but after the interview…crickets! Nothing else had changed,” said Dirk. “I feared my age was making things difficult. Everybody loves my background and experience, but they don’t realize that to get all that experience you have to have worked for many years!”
At some point, Dirk came across The Barrett Group (TBG). After much deliberation, he took the leap, deciding that investing in professional career change assistance would be a financial savings in the long run.
Dirk appreciated beginning his experience with the Clarity Program because it put things into better perspective for him.
“Clarity confirmed what I already knew, but it also made me look at things differently. My coach, Justin Helman, asked me to define my perfect job. It opened my eyes because he had me focus on what I really want to do versus what I’m willing to do.”
When Clarity ended, Dirk was eager to get to work with his career consultant, George Schulz. He wanted to find a job as quickly as possible and was prepared to do whatever it took.
“George said I was 100% engaged in the program. He said it sometimes takes people two to three weeks to accomplish what I was doing in a week. It was intense. It was a lot of work, but I chose to do it all at once. I am in my sixties, and I did not want to have to take money out of savings.”
One of the first tasks was to redo Dirk’s resume to make it more impactful. Then George taught Dirk how to refine his job searches on LinkedIn to find the right opportunities for him.
“George really helped me get good at doing searches on LinkedIn. There are different ways to set up searches that I didn’t know about. Using tactics I learned from George enabled me to identify jobs that were more aligned with what I wanted.”
Dirk’s newfound LinkedIn skills produced some interviews, but he got even better results by leveraging his social capital. It wasn’t easy, though.
“Networking was very uncomfortable for me. It’s not my natural style. George had to keep prodding me to do it. He’d go through my LinkedIn profile and suggest people for me to call. And he’d urge me to call, not email! George’s coaching really helped.”
Dirk relied a lot on strategies George gave him on how to get a conversation going, what to say, how to end a conversation, and how best to follow up a call.
“We focused a lot on networking. And networking is how I found the position I have now.”
As part of these social capital building exercises, Dirk reached out to Grant, a recruiter for a mid-size insurance company that Dirk had worked with during his job search just months earlier. The company had wanted to hire Dirk at the time but was unable to line up a budget before Dirk accepted the other offer he’d received. Dirk knew the position he’d applied for had been filled and that the company had no open roles. But in the course of discussing other positions, Grant mentioned that he was friends with the senior vice president of the insurance company. He offered to make a call on Dirk’s behalf to ask if there might be any budding opportunities.
Two weeks later, Grant reported back: While the company had no current positions, they remembered talking to Dirk, they loved him, and they would consider creating a role for him if Dirk were interested. Thrilled, Dirk responded, “Absolutely!”
It took some time, but a few weeks later, Dirk was invited to participate in a series of interviews for a principal program manager position that would become an agile coach. The hiring manager and the woman to whom Dirk would report hashed out the details of the role together. The next day they offered him the job.
“I was very happy with the offer. It included full benefits, a good salary, and a bonus. It is also fully remote, although I do go into the office occasionally. The opportunity is nearly everything I was looking for.”
Although Dirk landed within six weeks of his TBG orientation, it felt, to him, like the end of a long journey – and he was glad to have had The Barrett Group by his side.
“It’s a big job to look for a job! If you’ve never been through something like this before, you really need help. I didn’t know what I didn’t know!” said Dirk. “I don’t know if I would have reached out to that recruiter on my own. Maybe I would have. But George’s coaching made me know to ask more questions than I otherwise would have instead of just telling him, ‘Hey, keep me in mind if a position comes along.’”
For Dirk, the value of The Barrett Group was not just in the knowledge he acquired and the skills he learned, but also in the emotional support he received.
“It was very reassuring to know that, one, my fears were normal; two, there was something we could do about it; and, three, that it is possible to have a professional life after 40. George gave me confidence that I could find what I wanted. And we became friends as we worked together,” said Dirk. “I hope I don’t ever have to look for a job again but, if I do, I will be much more comfortable doing so.”
