LATEST PLACEMENTS

When a client is placed, we prepare a few case notes and are happy to share these with you. In spite of the continuing recession, our clients are receiving offers and are being placed regularly. After reading the placement notes below, you may wish to view our client videos and see clients speaking about us and how we helped them accomplish their goals. As you would expect, specific company names have been removed.

Matt H. - $25,000 More + $10K Signing Bonus + Unrestricted Profit Sharing

Here is a note from Bill Temple’s client, Matt about his search process. “It is my pleasure to announce that Matt has accepted a position with XXXX as Director of Operations. We worked Matt through our process but the rubber met the road during negotiations. Matt increased his base salary by $25,000 over the original offer and a secured a $10,000 signing bonus and an extra week of vacation, and a performance bonus. Matt will now be able to work close to home whereas he was considering relocation - a move that was not welcome to his family.

Here is a note from Matt: “Dear Bill, before we started this process, I had decided to remove my name from consideration within my industry and look outside my industry, as a chance to do something different. Timing was bad for this strategy and it did not pan out as I had planned. Going it alone was not a good strategy, as I discovered after four months of no responses and the black hole of the internet. It was then that I decided to enlist the services of Stewart, Cooper & Coon.

In my field, I am considered valuable. But, I held off for an “undefined” dream job; perhaps I waited too long, given the Fiscal cliff, Sequestration and other Congressional and Governmental bureaucratic nonsense which has significantly slowed down and limited hiring.

Here is what happened with the new job I accepted. A few weeks ago I reached out to my personal network and let them know that I was throwing my hat back into the game…this generated excitement and several companies called or rather pushed job vacancies my way.

The position at XXXX, in which I am now employed, came from a discussion with someone I knew who was also the owner at XXXX. During the course of the conversation I mentioned that I was available and looking for employment. This generated the first conversations between XXXX and me, whereby I successfully presented my value statement and identified key elements of their newly created Director of Operations position for which I was a perfect fit.

I can definitely say without a doubt Stewart, Cooper & Coon assisted me in the whole career search process. Utilizing the building blocks "target Worksheets" and essentially creating a "new me" through the worksheets, identification of skills, core competencies, and share stories and how they interact during the whole process proved invaluable. I'm definitely able to speak comfortably about my career thus far and the goals for the future.
It took ten months from the day I resigned my old position, (five months in the market with SC&C), until I reported to work. My new position keeps us here in our home town where we feel the quality of life is much better than some of geographical offer locations I received.

Your assistance was the "icing on the cake" couldn't have asked for a better campaign director. Your understanding and guidance was invaluable. Specifically, your assistance on negotiations assisted me towards adding an additional $25K to the base salary offer, 3 weeks (up from 2 weeks) of leave the first year, $10K signing bonus, and profit sharing for the whole company and one that is not specifically tied to the success or failure of a single program (win-win) for me and XXXX. More importantly your guidance solidified my foundation to tackle the tough questions that most certainly come during an interview; of which I was ready. Again, many thanks, Matt!!

Barbara T. – 3 Week Search + $8,000 Over Offer + $25,000 Bonus + $12,000 Relocation ++

Barbara Limmer penned this note on her newest placement. “I am thrilled to announce that Barbara T. has accepted the position of Director of Marketing for XXXX. Her new company is a financial services company with multiple branches. Here is Barbara’s story:

Barbara had been out of work for nearly a year when she came Stewart, Cooper & Coon. She had been with her previous company for over 11 years. She was looking for a similar role as Marketing Director, and was open to either staying in Financial Services or looking at new industries. She was also open to relocation, since she was currently living in the mid-West and wanted to move.

Barbara had two main challenges. One was little to no experience in Digital Marketing. To offset this she took a class and volunteered for a local non-profit to gain social media marketing experience. Her second challenge was her lack of confidence because she had obtained interviews, but had never made it to offer stage. She was also feeling very frustrated that she had never heard back from companies that she had contacted throughout her search process.

We worked together to help her better articulate her achievements with quantifiable results, and also worked on Stewart, Cooper & Coon interview preparation techniques and networking activities through our proprietary SC&C online job search activities tracking system. Her executive branding documents were prepared using our SC&C time-tested techniques, and all of the numbers now on her resume practically leapt from the page. Even her new CEO said “You have a fantastic resume!” (Kudos to Mike Fox!)

Here is her whirlwind experience and the timing of the sequence of events showing how quickly she progressed through their selection process:
Day 1: She applied to this job through Linked In;
Day 6: She had a phone interview with their HR Director;
Day 7: She was invited to fly down to company for a day of face-to-face interviews, including a tour of the area with a realtor.
Day 15: She had a great day of interviews and loved the area. Was told she’d hear something the following week.
Day 16: She received the offer. CEO said in the email “I speak for the entire team when I tell you that we loved you and think that you will be a terrific addition to the leadership team.”
Day 17: She discussed her negotiation strategy and approach with Campaign Director.
Day 19: She negotiated with company, they did not meet her halfway but rather gave her exactly what she asked for, which was even more than what she had expected. She accepted the job.

TOTAL elapsed time from online application to accepted offer: Under 3 weeks!

Barbara told us that she clearly understands that her experience is not common, and that she did not get this position due to luck; rather, it was due to her in-depth preparation by Stewart, Cooper & Coon that she was ready when this opportunity presented itself and progressed so rapidly through the interview process. She is thrilled with this outcome.
A HUGE thank you to Mike Fox and Leslie Noyes for your outstanding work on her documents, to Shanti Brown for your calling efforts, and to Mikel Ann McLeod for bringing in Barbara as a client!

COMP: $8K over their original offer of + 25% bonus + $12K relocation (up from $7500 original offer), 3 weeks vacation 1st year, 4 weeks thereafter, and full benefits with a 401k match.
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Thank you to Elizabeth Savage for bringing Z to us, to Mike Fox for writing all three of his documents (resume, cover letter, and WebFolio), and to Shanti Brown for your outreach to his target companies. I’m sure you all will join me in offering Z our congratulations!

Chris H. - $14,000 More Than Offered - Multiple Interviews – New Position Title

A placed client note from Valerie El-Jamil. Please join me in congratulating Chris, who just accepted a position as Director of Finance for the XXXX. Chris writes: “I used the SCC negotiating procedures to increase my salary $14,000. Thank you and your team for all your help!”
While we were developing Chris’ worksheets, he secured an interview for a director of accounting position with XXXX. To give him the best edge possible, I forwarded him the interview preparation materials and vigorously coached him on interview techniques.

After the interview, Chris called to say it went very well and they indicated he would go to the next round of interviews. Three months later, XXXX contacted him to let him know they were holding off on filling the position as they were waiting to evaluate the fallout from the national fiscal cliff. In addition, they retitled the position to Director of Finance and were building a new job description.

In the meantime, we proceeded with his program and focused on his career search. Chris networked extensively and, in early January, he interviewed for a controller position with a private equity company, and that also went into wait-and-see mode.

Throughout our coaching engagements and in materials I sent Chris, I stressed the use of needs, challenges, and opportunities based questions during interviews and networking conversations to focus on the company and determine the value he brought to the table for that company. The intent was to gather information Chris could leverage first to be the top candidate, and then in salary negotiations. With two potential positions looming, I forwarded him the negotiations audio file.

We worked right on through the counter-offer process and he is very satisfied with his salary increase and new position.

Scott K. – Two Week Interview Process - $162,500 ++

It is my privilege to announce that Scott has received and accepted an offer from XXXX as their District Manager and, as luck would have it, his district is headquartered in his current town of residence. Scott worked his way through several opportunities and another offer, and, thank God, they did not pan out as many of the nuances of the situations were not in Scott's best interest, something we discovered through our ongoing review of interviews and offers. Here is Scott's story in his own words:
“A few weeks ago I had received a call from a colleague at a former company. My colleague let me know he was a District Manager for XXXX in another part of California. He stated he really liked it compared to our former company and also mentioned they had been trying for five months to replace a key District Manager. This district had the highest store count and highest volume in CA. I didn’t think much about it but a few days later, while looking at job board postings I noticed the DM for XXXX position was advertised. I contacted my colleague again and gathered more information.
He then called the company recruiter and told her about me on Monday of last week. The in-house recruiter asked for my information, I sent info on Monday. She contacted me Tuesday and set-up call interview on Wednesday.
The phone interview went well and she asked if I could meet with the RVP the following day (Thursday) for a full interview. That interview went great and I received another call from the recruiter on Friday asking if I could fly to their corporate offices the following Wednesday for an interview with the SVP, Talent manager executive, Director of stores and HR.
On Monday, only two weeks into the process, I received an offer and accepted: Annual $162,500, company vehicle, expense card, etc. Again Thanks Bill for being such a terrific coach throughout the process I really appreciated the honest feedback!” Please join me in wishing Scott the very best in his new role! Bill Temple.

Max G. – Multiple projects As Pieces To Entrepreneurial Puzzle

Another Barbara Limmer placement story. “I am happy to announce that Max has accepted a position that will allow him to pursue two entrepreneurial ventures, while he is working in his new position. Max came to us as a Marketing and Technology exec that specialized in using "Big Data" to grow companies. His last two companies he had founded, so it had been 5 years since working for someone else.
In today’s market, moving from self-employed to working for a company can present problems that, if not addressed properly, will extend search times and may lead to long-term unemployment. He participated in the Phoenix Experience, spent time on his ability to articulate his successes in interviews, and embraced the Stewart Cooper & Coon proprietary Job Search Activity Tracking System, which included his tracking and reporting his activities on a monthly basis. He did a great deal of networking, and was interviewing for a couple of newly created positions when he connected with both of these opportunities via leads on Craig's List.

The first position will be a "day job" for him; it is as Project Manager/Technical Lead for XXXX, an Indian-based company. The position is to grow their development center in the U.S. This job will be very enjoyable and easy for him to do while he works another more interesting opportunity.

Also, he connected with a local entrepreneur (who successfully started-up a company and then sold it to ABC) and they have two companies they are starting up; they already have funding. One is a social media venture and the other is a software company. The "day job" is a placeholder but he is thrilled to be able to have a regular 40 hour/week job with regular paycheck and benefits that will allow him to devote time to these start-ups.

Robert C. – Previous Family-Owned Company – Interview Challenges

Another Barbara Limmer client success story: Dear Campaign and Exec Team, I'm pleased to announce that Robert has accepted a great position. Robert came to us having worked for his family's not-for-profit business for the past 19 years. His experience was in 3 functional areas: Accounting/Finance, IT, and Operations, and his challenge was in positioning himself as one who could specialize in any of these areas or in a role that combines two or three of these functions.
He is very soft-spoken, and had to work very hard to learn how to sell himself both in interviews and in networking meetings, as well as get out of his comfort zone to network and have informational conversations with a variety of people including those he did not yet know. He also took a few months off of his active job search to get up to speed and obtain certifications in newer technologies including Sharepoint and Cloud-based systems.

After updating and expanding his Linked In profile, he started receiving more phone calls and interviews, ultimately accepting an offer to join XXXX as their Controller. They are a consulting company and he will relocate his family over the summer from his current residence in the Eastern U.S. It is also a great networking story since the lead for his position came from a high school friend with whom Robert had maintained very slight contact with over the years. This position allows Robert to use his accounting/finance, IT, and Operations experience. Also, he will be the only administrative management person on staff; the other members of the 22-person firm are consultants. Robert is very pleased with services from SCC.
Thank you Sharon for bringing him in, to Mike Fox and Leslie Noyes for your packaging, and to Shanti Brown for your calling efforts. This is a story that I'll definitely share with other clients... it just goes to show you, EVERYBODY is a potential networking contact when you're in job-search mode!

Diane D. – I LOVE where I am in life right now!

I wanted to announce that Diane has accepted an awesome position. Here are the client’s own words: “Thought I'd drop a note to let you know I've secured a new position with XXXX, healthcare division. I am thrilled. Great company; great future opportunities. Thank you for your coaching early in my process.

Here are the details of how it all came together. I was contacted by a recruiter. I was interviewed by him via phone and then had another phone interview with one their directors in early December. A couple of weeks later, the Recruiter (internal) told me positions were on hold until after the new year. I kept in contact with him. Then, two weeks ago (literally) he phoned me and we set up my flying out to interview (last Thursday). They made an offer the next morning. Healthcare is hot-- especially those who are in the "performance improvement" field-- right now.

It all came together at once--- Interviewed with YYYY for a Sr. Project Mgr. last Wednesday. Interviewed with XXXX last Thursday for Manager, Clinical Operations), and then, today, I interviewed with ZZZZ for a Business Planner position. I wanted to work all three…..-- you never know!

Each person at XXXX was wonderful and I spent four hours in interviews with four different people. They were passionate, professional, genuine and very supportive of my future growth. I will not have to relocate. I definitely see major growth opportunities with them, as my background and experience is spot-on for what they wanted and will need in the future. It's up to me to perform.

Landing the XXXX interview literally took me two years of maintaining contacts and following up with them. The position itself didn't open until last summer, and then it was on a hiring freeze until now. So, for those who are out hunting…. persistence and patience really does pay off. Another thing that pays off is kind respect, genuine humility, while still relaying one's value, and honesty.

I owe a lot of my success in landing this position to you, Jo Ann. Your advice from our first meeting until I negotiated my offer was great, so, thank you for teaching me the right way to express my value, as well as all your other support! I am indeed very happy. The best I've ever been, in fact.

ZB – International Client – Two Month Search – Multiple Interviews

A note from Barbara Limmer, Stewart, Cooper & Coon Campaign Director for Z, on his acceptance of his new position as Director of Client Services for XXXX.
Z had been living in the United States for four years when he found Stewart, Cooper & Coon. He originally came from India but had become an American resident. He was truly an international client with a Russian wife, undergraduate college in Cyprus and graduate degree from Michigan, was living the southern U.S. and began his career in marketing in Toronto, Canada.
He had accepted a job and spent two years as Managing Director / Account Director at YYYY, a brand marketing & creative agency. This was just the ticket for re-introducing him to US marketing, but unfortunately due to the current economic climate his position was eliminated.
As we discussed his challenges, there were two obvious choices. First was to articulate his international background toward two possible directions: working for another agency, although the number of those available roles were shrinking, or consider joining the customer’s side, working in marketing communications internally for a company. We decided to pursue both of these directions simultaneously.
We used a combination of his creative expertise with our knowledge of successful job search marketing practices to create a design-oriented resume that was a combination functional and chronological format, and included his extremely impressive list of previous “name brand” clients broken down by industry. We also included samples of his work on his Stewart, Cooper & Coon WebFolio. We discussed how to best answer common and difficult interview questions, and to use SHARE stories as compelling examples of his experience. He dove into our monthly Job Search Activity program, and was very active in networking.
I connected him with some of my current and previous clients, including an executive at a major bank who, coincidentally, works in the next state over from where Z was living and where the new position is located. My contact was an ex-ad agency executive now working at a major automotive company. Through this referral, Z learned of an opening at XXXX; two months and 14 interviews later (including interviews with several people at the client company account that he’d be responsible for), he received a terrific offer. He was also able to overcome what could have been an obstacle, in that his new position focused on digital advertising, which was not Z’s specialty.

Christopher K. – Out of Work 14 months before coming to SC&C

A note from Jo Ann Moser about her client, Christopher K. and his placement. Christopher will be assuming the role of Manager of Special Projects with XXXX near his current home in CA. He was out of work for 14 months before working with us. He is very pleased to be going back to work and be starting with a company that has international locations and can offer him upward mobility. He is also pleased with the location of the company that is near his current home, considering southern CA is notorious for its long commute times. Thanks to all the Stewart, Cooper & Coon team for helping Christopher make his career move so successful…. Jo Ann

Brian R. – Multiple Interviews – Career Growth

Bill Temple’s note about Brian’s placement. It is my pleasure to announce that Brian has accepted the position of Territory Manager at XXXX. This is an exciting position for Brian and is dead center for both his experience and career-interest sweet spots. The company is a newer name in North America, although it has the #1 position in its med-tech specialty. The company wanted to expand its sales footprint in North America by adding 4-5 sales reps. Up to now, this company was a foreign and family-owned for generations. Its expansion of U.S. markets offered Brian a lot of upside potential.
Brian was approached for this position by a recruiter who is extremely well connected in the space and who had placed all the senior sales leadership for the company. After preparing for, then working through the initial conversations with the recruiter, Brian was invited in to meet with the Regional Manager and VP Sales. His use of SHARE stories, asking good questions and listening to their answers was all part of his receiving a very generous offer. It also didn't hurt that he was also interviewing with another company which gave him leverage though his additional perceived value. Great offer, great upside, good move for Brian. On a personal note, Brian came to us as a referral from his brother, John.