As an executive recruiter in the Accounting and Finance space, one of the roles I most often partner with employers to fill is the role of Controller. As a CPA myself, I'm no stranger to updating my own LinkedIn profile to attract the attention of a hiring manager in this space. More importantly, I've partnered with dozens of companies throughout the midwest to help them find and vet top talent, with the goal of finding the perfect fit for their vacant Controller role.
It’s one of the great dilemmas of candidates across all industries, especially during a pandemic. You find a great job, you know you’re a perfect fit but your application is greeted by a wall of silence or a standard letter stating “We’re sorry but other applicants more closely matched our requirements.” Perhaps, like many others, this company was forced to eliminate a number of jobs in order to financially keep afloat, making the competition even more fierce for the remaining jobs.
No. And here is why.
The economy is bouncing back after a crazy year, and the job market shifted overnight. Many talented individuals clung to their jobs for dear life during the pandemic with the strategy to hunker down and make it through the storm. Now, these professionals are ready to move on to greener pastures. Does this sound like you?
After receiving an offer from a new company, keep this in mind:
Recently, we’ve seen a rise in the number of counteroffers offered to candidates as sought-after skills becoming harder to find. As the labor market improves, we expect to see the number and strength of these counteroffers increase.
Should you accept your counteroffer? We believe you should never accept a counteroffer. Here is exactly why.
Hint: Vaccinations are only Step 1
Why the concept of “Radical Self-Care” is the real key to healthy work re-entry.
As vaccinations become more widely available in MN, offices that have been operating with most, or all employees working remotely, are making plans to re-open their doors. In many ways, a return to a routine of leaving the house each morning for work is welcomed. However, for many of us, working from home presented an opportunity for greater self-care.
As many of us prepare to re-enter the daily grind, how can we take what we've learned from our time at home with us back into the re-opening world?
If you’re a marketing professional in the Twin Cities, you’re well aware of the major industry reshuffling we’ve all witnessed this past year. It is staggering. In fact, Forrester recently estimated that the pandemic has caused more than 50,000 U.S. marketing and advertising professionals to lose their agency jobs.
While other industry experts and researchers ponder what this all means for the future of the marketplace, here’s the question I’d like to help answer here:
You’ve just gotten word about a great job at a company you admire and, from everything you’ve seen so far, it’s perfect for you. Next step: submit your application, resume and cover letter. Next step after that: sink into a state of fear and paralysis. Why? Because, not long ago, your career hit an ugly little speed bump. You were demoted. And while the personal pain of that event has started to subside, you worry that it has put a permanent stain on your resume – and your career aspirations. As an executive recruiter, I am often struck by how highly competent professionals can remain haunted by a past demotion. While no one can whip out a magic eraser and undo what has happened, I can offer you something better. I can tell you what works. Here is a realistic strategy for dealing with a demotion on your resume, in five simple steps.
And The 7 Steps You Should Take Instead
There are very few moments in a job search as thrilling as learning that the employer of your dreams is about to extend an offer.
And then, there are few moments as demoralizing as receiving that offer… only to discover that it is nowhere near the salary you thought it would be.
You’ve been lowballed, my friend. And it happens more often than you might think (even to very strong candidates). We have a team of executive recruiters in Minnesota, and a team of executive recruiters in Chicago, and both teams will tell you that they have helped candidates craft professional counter offers many times over the course of their recruiting careers. We're here to explain why this happens, and what you can do about it.
How to shake off the ridiculous myth that quitting = failure
4 Simple Things That Make All the Difference
In the early, chaotic days of the pandemic, many Twin Cities employers put the brakes on hiring in order to regroup, re-forecast, and hunker down to ride out the storm. But over the past few months, we’ve been seeing a steady uptick in hiring. That’s just one more reason for Minnesotans, especially job seekers, to be optimistic. But does it mean that the job market – or your job search – have snapped back to last year’s normal?
“Don’t quit your job until you’ve lined up a new one.”
How many times have you heard that little chestnut? (In full disclosure, it’s advice I routinely dispense, myself.) But like all good rules, this one has some important exceptions. When you’re trapped in a toxic job, the path to “something better” can be a steep, rocky, exhausting – and increasingly treacherous – climb.
If you’re stuck there now, you simply may not have the luxury, mental energy, or emotional wherewithal to launch a winning job search. More importantly, though is this little fact that’s too often overlooked in the heat of the moment: you might not be in the best head space to really know what your next job should be. Figuring th
at out requires time, introspection, and ideally, a little healthy distance.
