Bill C. – Younger Applicants Wanted – 30+ Years – No Place To Go – 2.5 Mos. Search

Bill’s career in architecture spanned more than 30 years when in August of 2010, his firm, hit hard by the drop in construction and lack of new projects, had to downsize and Bill was part of their RIF. He immediately began a job search with low but hopeful expectations in a difficult market. Firms that were hiring at the time preferred contractors or younger architects with lower salaries. As many executives in his demographic do, Bill decided to start an independent practice to generate income. Work was spotty and he continued his job search.

Finally, a year after losing his job, Bill was introduced to Laura Gabel, an Executive Career Consultant with Stewart, Cooper & Coon. Bill had a substantial background in project management and excellent credentials, but like many professionals he felt his credentials should carry the day and get him through the door. He had never really looked for a job and had always been sought after. Bill was especially concerned about not having to relocate, as he needed to be near family.

He shared the story of his year-long, frustrating search which had failed. He confided to her that he was thinking that the “down” market would never yield the results and satisfaction he had felt in his former positions.  Analytical by nature, Bill was having a hard time seeing that new methods with an expert team might make a big difference in this hyper competitive environment. After a year of frustration and trying to sort through all the job-related junk on the web, wasting his time daily and weekly on tasks that led to nothing and, worse of all, spending considerable money from his savings, he became an SC&C client, knowing that we would create and execute a tailored Executive Placement Program for him and knowing hoping it would make a difference. It did!

Within hours of committing, Bill received a call from his SC&C Campaign Director, George Stecyk. George made it a point to remove Bill’s skepticism by ramping up his campaign quickly, leading Bill through the early and critical information gathering process that his writing team would turn into dynamic marketing materials. While the writers, Geoff and Michael were finalizing Bill’s brand and value propositions, he and George began focusing on the market to identify and target firms that Bill was interested in joining; looking for a firm that needed Bill, but didn’t know it yet. This target list would be worked by Erin, Bill’s Campaign Marketing Consultant, who would present Bill to these firms and create visibility for him.

Once his campaign launched, George expanded his coaching across the multiple job search “market channels” that make up the best practices endorsed by SC&C for a comprehensive and ultimately successful search. Bill caught on and committed to working the channels. He was already actively networking and adopted the other techniques quickly. Initially, he was most concerned about the effectiveness of the company targeting channel. After all, firms were contacted by Erin without any certainty that they had jobs available. With some encouragement, Bill bought in and worked with Erin to integrate this channel in to his campaign.

A mere two months after his campaign was fully launched, one of Bill’s targeted firms responded with an invitation to interview for a position that was opening up. Bringing his strong background and some coaching in interviewing and negotiations, Bill accepted an Associate Principal position with XXXX, a prestigious architectural design firm. In his new role, Bill will manage and grow one of their offices by targeting a specific market segment he has deep roots in and truly enjoys. Thanks to the SC&C process, his excellent and dedicated team and his own willingness to be coached, Bill won a terrific job. He is very happy about his decision to partner with a company that specializes in job search success. He also met one of his personal goals to not have to relocate.