Below is an update on CEO Charlie and his job search journey. To read the introduction and learn more about CEO Charlie’s profile, please click HERE for PART I and HERE for PART II.
It’s been an enlightening, busy, and productive couple of weeks for CEO Charlie. He’s been focused, open-minded, and determined. Unfortunately, he is still plagued with the same few questions:
- “Am I making a mistake positioning myself as a ‘digital media’ guy rather than a broader software centric technology transformational leader and giving up on my initial job search plan too soon?”
- “If CEO’s are feeling potentially threatened by me, should I target Board Members instead? If so, how do I find and reach out to them?”
Disappointingly, Charlie got calls from two different companies letting him know they didn’t think he was the right fit for their opportunities sighting his year out of the industry as their reasoning. He plans to continue to compensate for that time by attending tradeshows, reading trade publications, blogging, and staying active in industry groups. He has also been exploring a promising board seat opportunity at an IT services firm and is in the process of scheduling a third phone meeting for next week.
In even better news, Charlie’s hoping the same questions he keeps asking himself will be a mute issue as he’s traveling east next week for a 2 day marathon of meetings for a position as CEO of a smaller company with a cool technology and an aggressive growth plan. If successful, he’ll be Executive Platinum as a bi-coastal CEO. He’s also landed a consulting job, helping an early stage Silicon Valley company update their business plan and find serious funding.
Meanwhile, Charlie attended a couple of networking events, including the McDermott & Bull Executive Network Forum and made helpful contacts with specific follow up plans. One such plan from the M&B Forum is to take advantage of his transition time (as suggested by the speaker at the event) by joining a local gym which, so far, has added to his confidence, and will assist in outshining his competition. He’s also going to attend an Executive Image Finishing School seminar in June to identify and clear up any branding concerns he has about himself.
Charlie’s done a great job at maintaining detailed search metrics and self-monitoring his progress so far during this process. He has also started to update his wife on daily activities and results since she’s a helpful supportive task manager.
He’s focused on a mail campaign involving interim CEO opportunities, getting 5 warm introductions to OC software firms and reviewing and upgrading his resume and LinkedIn profile.
Now, off to the east coast…
Edited by Jessica Balicki