Jeff W. – Distinguished Military Career – Now What? Wanted Home State Location

After a distinguished and decorated career of service in the US Navy with tours of duty taking him around the world, Jeff retired from active duty and began to focus on the civilian job market. After more than six months of effort in trying search on his own, with no result, Jeff met Oliver Cornell, Vice President of Stewart, Cooper & Coon. Based upon those discussions, Jeff believed he could benefit by partnering with SC&C in his job search. His job search campaign was launched without delay.

When Jeff was introduced to his Campaign Director, George Steyck, he explained that his goal was to leverage the outstanding experience the Navy provided him to secure a Senior Operations or Human Resources position that would ideally allow him to locate back to his home state.

With these goals in mind, and while still in the information gathering stage, Jeff and George were reviewing his “Ideal Jobs” as part of the branding and packaging process to learn what employers were currently seeking in their candidates for posted positions; the purpose was to find jobs whose content met the “ideal” criterion, so location was not considered. However, one position jumped out as perhaps meeting both of Jeff’s key requirements. It was an Executive Director of Operations position in his home state; the “perfect” job in the “right” location.  So even though Jeff did not have his new resume and WebFolio yet, George advised that he “go for it” as the screening and interview process could take some time, and by then he would have terrific new tools to further strengthen his message.

In job search, things don’t often happen as expected – this is not news. But, in this case things happened a lot faster than expected. Jeff received a call for a phone interview within a day of submitting his application. George shifted into “interview prep mode” to help Jeff succeed.

Discussions went well and while waiting for the next step, Jeff was coached into preparing his SHARE stories. George felt that the culture of the organization was such that “story telling” would be a very effective technique to employ in the interview should it go that far. Although Jeff thought the next step was a telephone interview, the unexpected happed again. He was asked to fly to their headquarters for an in-person meeting with the Board of Directors. Prepped for storytelling and panel interview nuances, Jeff “aced” the interview.

Almost immediately, while on the road to his parents’ home, he received a call and was extended a generous offer of employment. According to Jeff, “The ‘let me share a story with you’ approach was the only way to go and really worked. Wanted to say thanks George to you and my entire SC&C team.”  Way to go Jeff!

A personal note from Fred Coon, SC&C Chairman:  “I love it when we can help those who served their country honorably in the United States Armed Forces. The whole team is inspired when we read these success stories and are proud that we could make a contribution in helping this distinguished career officer achieve his life and career goals.”