Karen B. – $189,000 Gain – “coaching on salary questions – priceless”

This year’s compensation will be 114% higher than last year’s compensation which represents an INCREASE of $189k Year-Over-Year compensation gain.

I’m excited to announce that after only two months with SC&C, Karen has “landed” by making a decision to stay with her current employer, having had multiple interviews with other companies and receiving an offer from one of them.

She was employed as VP at an energy company whose owners were going through some personal challenges, making her question both her growth potential and the long-term viability of the company. In addition to overseeing finance, she also managed MIS, HR and Legal. Her challenge was that she had been in the same job for 9 years, wasn’t sure how to “package” herself and how to sell her experience and skills verbally in interviews.

Despite having a demanding full-time job she completed our branding worksheets within one week and within 24 hours of receiving her finished documents she was already getting called for interviews. We worked on using her SHARE stories, controlling the interview, and closing the interview using what she termed “negative affirmation” (i.e. asking whether there were any objections so that she could immediately overcome them and “close the sale”). Our interview work culminated in her Phoenix Experience, only one month after becoming a client. Below are direct quotes Karen taken from the post-placement feedback form.

On controlling the interview: The style of controlling the interview that I am learning to implement creates urgency and immediate forward movement. I am not being left in a state where I am waiting for a call back. When the interview is over I know I am in the next step and when the next step is to occur. I also learned the importance of creating a natural dialog, being relaxed, being myself, being genuinely humble yet confident. Seems so easy on the surface but it really takes A LOT of work and although it seems that just being natural is the answer it’s the scientific approach of “controlling” the interview with the use of the SC&C method that creates the ability to differentiate oneself during the selection process.

On handling the salary question and closing the interview: The coaching on the salary questions and closing an interview with a negative affirmation is priceless.  The week after I went through my Phoenix Experience visit I had 5 interviews, three of which were with company decision makers. In all 5 interviews I was selected to move forward to the next step. The combination of learning how to formulate questions I might ask, mapping those questions to my prior success and closing with the negative affirmation is powerful and magical.

After receiving an offer with a local company in which she was very interested, she was still in the negotiation stage and was confident they would come to an agreement because of how much they wanted her. She then gave the required 30-day notice to her current boss, the President of her company. That prompted an honest, heart-to-heart discussion about the additional headcount resources she needed to accomplish her job objectives and also about the value she brings to the company.

Her President offered an elevated role (from VP to SVP), a 33% increase in her base salary, a $75,000 bonus upon signing her new contract, and an additional $80,000 bonus at the end of the year. This was in addition to the $40,000 bonus she was due in two months. She was also promised additional raises over the next two years, and an extra week of PTO at her 10 year anniversary next year, bringing her to 6 weeks/year. 

She then met with the President of the other company who had offered her a position to politely withdraw, preserving their relationship, and adding him as a new networking contact and mentor because of how impressed he was by her honesty and loyalty, as well as by the way she handled herself throughout their selection and offer process.

On overall SC&C process: I have been impressed from the very first minute of my initial phone conversation with SC&C and at every step of the process my expectations have been far exceeded. The entire SC&C method is so effective starting with the very arduous work of completing the worksheets that are used to write powerful, value revealing, professional self-presentation materials. These materials are VERY effective at grabbing the attention of employers and recruiters which has resulted in multiple interviews weekly.

On value received from SC&C:  “In my opinion, the value received for the very high level of Professional service offered by SC&C is tenfold. The expert knowledge, support, dedication and services of SC&C have provided me comfort and needed support during this stressful and challenging time of career transition.”

I send out an enormous thank you to Rodney Lamb for bringing in one of the most coachable and hard-working clients I’ve had in my 9 years with SC&C, to Mike Fox and Rhys Williams for your documents that completely impressed the client, to Tessa Philiposian for your diligent and highly professional efforts on her calling campaign, to Ron Venckus who really opened Karen’s eyes on how to excel in behavioral interviews, and to Fred Coon who worked with Karen on her “reason for leaving” interview answer, even recording a demo for her while she was in Phoenix.

Below are the details of her new position; I know you all will join me in offering enormous congratulations to Karen B!

TITLE: SVP (up from VP)
COMP: $221,000 (up $55,000 and 33% from current comp of $166,000)
BONUS: $75,000 “signing bonus”, still gets $40,000 bonus in and add’l $80,000 at year’s end. ADDL: Extra week of PTO next year for her 10^th anniversary, taking her to 6 wks./yr., plus minimum of two $13,000 raises during the year.