While the temptation is to outsource your career management, you are the best advocate for yourself. You should work on the business of your career and not just in your career doing your job.
Question (From A Marketing VP): Actors have somebody or a group of people actively managing their careers, guiding, preparing, negotiating, etc. Is there such a thing for a business executive? You pay somebody a fee, similar to an agent, for the services provided by a number of disparate functions: e.g., recruiting (executive recruiter) for the ideal positions, performing at a high level (coach), negotiating salary and contracts (labor lawyer). In short, I would be interested in a career manager that would handle my career. Does this type of service/person exist?
You're right that there are 3 separate pieces -- legal, search, and coaching. But there are good reasons why all 3 are not under the same arena:
With legal, you want very specific expertise in contracts and compensation/ options structuring, so while there is some coaching offered, a lawyer who really knows labor stuff is going to need to do that stuff full time;
With search, positions are funded by the hiring company. While good search recruiters offer coaching and definitely massage their candidates before they are presented, their primary relationship is with the company. The company relationship and fees are worth much more than any one individual can provide in fees;
Finally a coach does work for the candidate. In this way, a coach could theoretically be on the lookout for jobs. However there are very strict labor laws against having to pay to have access to jobs, so no coach is going to market as if they are charging clients for access to work. Coaching is really about getting you to take the actions. Besides, the fact that the coach is paid by the candidate should make a good hiring firm less trusting of the coach's recommendation, so how much can coaches really advocate on your behalf.
Is Your Job Search Flexible or Just Unfocused?
As a recruiter, I’ve seen lack of flexibility on the recruiting side with employers clinging to every last detail in their ideal spec while perfectly good candidates get overlooked. As a career coach, I see jobseekers prematurely dismissing possible targets waiting for that perfect job. It’s true that you want to be focused in your job search (otherwise you dilute your efforts and come across as scattered and possibly desperate).
5 Questions to Test If Your Resume Is Recruiter-Proof
After recruiting in search and in-house for over ten years, I have read thousands of resumes. Due to sheer volume of resumes received and all the other things that vie for the recruiter’s attention in the hiring process – scheduling, interviewing, networking, reference checks, client debriefs, and more – the resume review process is ruthlessly quick.
Why Conventional Wisdom On Work Flexibility Is Always Wrong
In a previous post, I wrote about why employment statistics are always wrong. In a similar way, conventional wisdom on work flexibility is always wrong. It is impossible to generalize something that is inherently case-by-individual case. Therefore, any boilerplate advice or conventional wisdom is bound to omit a key consideration, underweight or overemphasize other considerations, or take too long-term or short-term of a view.
