This is a special posting connected to a presentation for Executive MBA students at Cornell:
Ask The Headhunter / Be The Profitable Hire Cornell University Johnson School of Management March 23, 2013, in Palisades, NY
I’ll add more content here after the event — but the main purpose is to answer attendees’ questions that we didn’t have time for, and to carry on the discussion.
Please feel free to post your questions and comments below — I’ll do my best to respond to them all. Thank you for joining me, and special thanks to Cornell’s Johnson School for the wonderful hospitality!
On Sunday, April 1, I conducted a workshop for a group of Executive MBAs at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management. (These guys attend the EMBA program on weekends!) The topic was the differences between applying for a job and delivering profit to a company.
The presentation ran almost two hours, and the discussion and debate were lively. One of the key points we explored was about how we view employers and jobs when we go job hunting, and how employers view us.
Are you being interviewed to help a company fill out its open headcount?
Or are you more like a business the company is considering acquiring or merging with?
The difference in these two approaches is profound.
I don’t think anyone should behave like “the next hire.” I think every time you approach a company about working together, you should be prepared to show that you are a profit-making operation unto yourself.
Are you ready to get acquired? Please listen to this brief section of the Cornell presentation:
Now here’s an excerpt from the Answer Kit: How Can I Change Careers? (p. 9) that explains how to Create your next job, rather than just get a pre-made job:
How do you inspire a company to create a new job for you? Forget about your credentials, your history and your past jobs. They are irrelevant. If that’s what you focus on when searching for a new job, you’ll shoehorn yourself into the same kind of job you just left.
Decide where you want to work. Study your target company. Explore the problems and challenges it is facing and figure out how you can help the company tackle them profitably. Apply your skills and abilities in new ways to re-define your qualifications. Think in terms of what the company needs but doesn’t have: That’s your new job. That’s the business plan you need to present.
The job you want to create is essentially a new business. But don’t expect your target company to figure out whether this “new business” is justified. You must be ready to explain it to them. Show how you’ll deliver profit in new ways. That’s what may prompt the company create a new job just for you.
(How Can I Change Careers? isn’t just for career changers — it’s for anyone who wants to stand out from their competition.)
I think we’ll find the value in this topic in the discussion more than in what I have to say.
What does it mean to get acquired or to merge with a company?
How does this change the way you’d approach a new gig?
Does it change salary negotiations?
Do you even need to apply for a job — or what’s the new alternative this approach suggests?
Have you ever felt like you were acquired — or merged — rather than just hired?
I’ll add more content here after the event — but the main purpose is to answer attendees’ questions that we didn’t have time for, and to carry on the discussion.