Career Change At Any Age, At Any Level - Special Guest Teleseminar with Career Coach, Susanne Rhow
SixFigureStart Coaching Gym
ABOUT SIXFIGURESTART
SixFigureStart is a career coaching firm helping Gen Y students and young professionals to launch fulfilling and financially rewarding careers. Founded by two professionals with over 40 years of combined HR and business experience, SixFigureStart coaches have recruited for start-ups through global blue chips, including leading the entry-level hiring efforts for Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Pfizer, and Time Inc. We have hired thousands of people and bring you the insider’s view into how the hiring process really works and what employers want.
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ASKING FOR WORK, LIFE BALANCE IN YOUR NEXT JOB
This was one of my recent posts for CNBC.com Executive Careers. Yes, take a stand for what you want, but at the right time and ask the right people:
At a recent workshop, one attendee asked me how to talk to recruiters about work/ life balance – i.e., she values having a life outside of work and only wants to consider companies with the same mindset. My advice to her was not to have this conversation with recruiters at all, not because she shouldn’t ask for what she wants, but because she shouldn’t ask recruiters, she shouldn’t refer to the term work/ life, and she’s jumping the gun.
Recruiters are not the right audience for nontraditional requests. Recruiters are beholden to the employer. Their job is to find the best match based on what the employer requests, not to find you the best match based on your criteria. The less creative the solution – i.e., the more exactly a candidate fits the desired profile -- the better. So don’t get creative with recruiters when it’s not their role. If you choose a hammer to put in a screw, don’t be upset if the hammer doesn’t do the job right
Work/life is a hot button that may provoke negative feelings. I have worked in traditional corporate companies and often had nontraditional, flexible arrangements that could be advertisements for the work/ life movement. So I (and my previous employers) are clearly believers and supporters. Yet, the work/life phrase is so overused it is now a catchall to many things. What if an employer is okay with flexible schedules, but not flexible locations…Are they for or against work/ life balance? Work/life arrangements are confusing and need a longer discussion and negotiation than the time typically allotted in standard interviews.
Asking about special arrangements before an offer is on the table is presumptuous. If your prospective employer is making overtures about hiring you, and you have met with everyone on the decision-making team, and you are confident that the offer is indeed forthcoming, then it may be the right time, or you may decide to wait even more for the actual offer. But at the early stage, when it’s just the external recruiter or internal HR, that’s too soon. You broach the topic of a pre-nuptial agreement when you get engaged, not on the first or second date.
You should absolutely take a stand for what you want. If work/ life balance is a deal-breaker for you, then you need to decide what exactly that means and pick your target companies accordingly. Do your research and networking to find out company culture and practice before you attach your hopes and dreams there. Negotiate for it when you get that offer. But don’t rely on a recruiter to do the work for you. It’s not their job, it cedes control to what others think work/ life means, and it’s presumptuous.
Caroline Ceniza-Levine, co-founder of SixFigureStart, was former head of campus recruiting for Time Inc, and has also recruited for Accenture, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Citigroup, Disney ABC, Oliver Wyman and TV Guide.Contact SixFigureStart at 212-501-2234 or info@sixfigurestart.com and ask how you can attend a complimentary group coaching class.
NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
How to Change Careers
At any Age, At any Level, with speaker and Career Coach Susanne Rhow
Thursday, June 25, 2009,
Part of the SixFigureStart Guest Expert Series
·How can you figure out what your new career could be?
·What is the most important strategy to use when changing careers?
·What is the best way to get meetings in these new industries?
·What really gets you hired?
Caroline Ceniza-Levine, co-founder of SixFigureStart, interviews career expert Susanne Rhow for this free coaching teleclass for those interested in Changing Careers.
Susanne Rhow is a highly regarded speaker and Career Coach with a particular focus on implementing and managing career transitions. As a Leadership Coach, she also works with many Fortune 500 firms, facilitating leadership management seminars for their high potential Asian-American employees. As a Career Coach, Susanne draws upon her unique perspective of changing careers during her 20 years corporate experience working for such companies as Estee Lauder International, Cisco Systems, Saks Fifth Avenue and Sotheby’s Auction House. She works with clients from a wide variety of industries and backgrounds including Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Law and Technology. Susanne holds a Business Degree from GeorgetownUniversity and has also studied at The Sorbonne in Paris, and Sotheby's Auction House in London. She currently resides in New York and has also lived and worked in London, Paris, Hong Kong, Seoul, and San Francisco.
Please email info@sixfigurestart.com to reserve your space and get the call-in details. If you can’t make the live call, email info@sixfigurestart.com to get on the distribution list for a playback of the teleclass.
SixFigureStart Coaching Gym
The SixFigureStart Coaching Gym is a 6-month group coaching program that gives you expert information, ongoing motivation, and accountability for your search. Weekly coaching calls are Sunday evenings at 7:30p EST. All calls are recorded so you can listen at your convenience and you will never miss a call.
Here are just some of the questions we answered for callers in previous Coaching Gym calls:
How do I respond when a job posting asks for salary right away?
I am not comfortable with networking. How do I get started?
I am miserable in my new job after less than six months. How can I leave without damaging future prospects?
How do I best use LinkedIn to leverage my job search?
I am still working so conducting my job search part-time? How do I best manage my time?
I am losing jobs after getting to the final rounds. What could be wrong?
Do you have questions like these? Don’t miss the next call.
$300 gets you a 6-month membership to the SixFigureStart Coaching Gym. Try your first call for free. Contact caroline@sixfigurestart.com or 212-372-0277 for more information and to register.
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