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Job Hunters: Get Entrepreneurial!
Been looking for a new gig for a while? Time to take matters into your own hands.
Many senior employees who are in transition are feeling dejected, believing that the economy is bad and the employment landscape is worse. Four or five months ago, they expected summer malaise, where there seemed to be little executive hiring. But now that we’re nearly at the winter holidays, many are becoming increasingly despondent and falling victim to the mantra "There’s nothing out there."
By: James M. Citrin Business 2.0
I recently discussed this issue with Kenneth J. Krushel, a senior media and technology executive, and he offered some fresh thinking that is as actionable as it is challenging. The bottom line is this: Don’t wait for the job to plop into your lap; one way or another, now is the time to get entrepreneurial. Krushel has a history of doing just that.
After graduating from Amherst College, he alternated between blue-chip and entrepreneurial posts during his 25-year career. He’s held a wide range of corporate positions, including vice president for programming and marketing at Continental Cablevision, senior vice president for business development at syndication company King World Productions, and senior vice president for business and strategic development at NBC. But earlier in his career, he sought and found freedom as the head of an early-stage media consulting firm. More recently he has pursued his passion for education by becoming CEO of educational software company College Enterprises, which merged with a leader in the field, Blackboard. So Krushel has a good perspective on both the corner office and the cubicle.
His advice is consistent with what I have always believed. If you are looking for a position and interviewing with a company, it is not the company’s job to solve your problem by giving you a job. It is up to you, Krushel explains, to find a way to become the solution to the company’s problem. That is perhaps a new definition of being entrepreneurial, and it is sound advice on how to make a barren employment landscape begin to bear fruit.
Here’s what we talked about:
Q: What have you observed in the executive employment landscape? What are your senior industry peers doing when they lose their jobs?
A: Over the past few years, I have increasingly observed people with "successful" careers suddenly becoming unemployed, whether from downsizing, asset sales, or some other cutback. These executives, typically in their mid-40s to mid-50s, had thrived in large company environments, climbing the corporate ladder all the way to the top rungs. They grew accustomed to the rhythm and protocol of the corporate environment. I listen to their experiences and hear them explain where and how they are looking for their next position. Invariably they network with their immediate circle of friends and business associates, call executive search firms, and, after an initial burst of activity, await a phone call offering employment leading to a title, big office, secretary, maybe even a salary increase. It is as if they believe there is a continuum leading from one big company job to another. There is an implicit expectation that a clearly defined job matching their interests and skills is somehow and somewhere waiting just for them. These are smart people with accomplished track records. But it is as if they have suddenly turned myopic or naive, believing Santa Claus will tumble down a chimney with a sack laden with big jobs waiting to be filled. Q: Why do you believe this is just a pipe dream?
A: In the businesses I am most familiar with — media, entertainment, advertising, and education-related services — the world has fundamentally changed. There have been widespread consolidations and roll-ups within industry verticals, and companies have restructured and tightly squeezed head count. There is little fat left on the bone. As a result, there simply are fewer positions, whether at the midlevel or upper echelon.
Furthermore, there is an overabundance of senior executives competing for the smaller number of positions. Contributing to this capacity crunch is what I believe is a demographic anomaly. It’s not just 50-somethings competing against a generation of 40-year-olds; there is an equally large corral of well-schooled and motivated 30- to 40-year-olds who are putting on their Sunday best and knocking on doors. To say the least, it’s an exceedingly competitive employment market. When a position is available, it’s "take a ticket at the counter, and the line forms to the right."
Q: What do you make of people concluding that there is just nothing out there?
A: I find this to be dangerous language, fueling pessimism and perhaps becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you see a barren and empty landscape, then you convince yourself the situation is hopeless and your energy, enthusiasm, and confidence all begin to erode. In fact, there is opportunity, but it’s not waiting to discover you. You have to invent it.
Q: So, what is your advice?
A: I have long told people who complain about the bleak employment landscape to consider being entrepreneurial. But I was frequently misunderstood. For the most part, these people had always been in a seemingly safe and secure big-business environment. For them "entrepreneurial" meant devising a business plan and knocking on venture capital doors for funding. But that’s not necessarily the point. What I really mean by being entrepreneurial starts with rigorous self-assessment. Step one is to conduct a comprehensive and uncompromising self-audit of your real skills, strengths, and weaknesses, and the environments in which you flourish and founder. Then you need to do your homework to understand the real needs of a company you are targeting, and then find a way to get in there and connect what you do to the needs of the situation.
Q: In what way is that entrepreneurial?
A: Here’s where the entrepreneurial spark comes in. Identify an industry or, better yet, a specific company. Study that company and get to know it very well, almost intuitively. What do they do well, and what do they do less than well? This is not obvious stuff. How could you make a measurable contribution? Then find a way to get in touch with that company. Get a meeting. Present your ideas, offer to consult on a project basis. I believe that we all have a "six degrees of separation" (or less) connection. By using your network of friends and business associates, you should be able to get in front of just about anyone at most organizations.
Q: What do you do when you get in the door?
A: Don’t expect a company to define a role for you. I sincerely doubt there is a perfect job just waiting to be filled by you. You have to invent it. Be specific, be practical. Get inside the psyche of the company, and consider what would tangibly improve their operations and how can you assist in getting them there.
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