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What Kind of Managers Target Their Own Jobs in Cost Cutting?

Shawn McEntee, a former finance director of a Greensboro, N.C., nonprofit group, tells potential employers that a dramatic decline in contributions cost him his job. He omits a crucial detail: He proposed the elimination of his own and another official’s position as part of his cost-cutting efforts.

By JOANN S. LUBLIN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Why the subterfuge? "I’m afraid hiring managers would think I was totally crazy for taking such an action," explains the 53-year-old Mr. McEntee, who has been unemployed since April 2002.

He need not have concealed his brave sacrifice. Anyone in his place could leverage the deed into a new job inside or outside the company through careful preparations that cast the exit in a favorable light.

But for those considering such a move, heed the following advice.

For starters, don’t undertake a risky restructuring without winning upper management’s firm commitment that they’ll take care of you. Request a "stay-put" bonus for carrying out your recommendations. Seek extra outplacement counseling, enlarged severance pay and a post-departure consulting arrangement for deciding to leave voluntarily.

Reorganizing yourself out of a job "can be very positive as long as you manage it well," observes Patricia Lingen. The 57-year-old former vice president of human resources at a Boston investment concern did just that last month. She and colleagues coordinated a streamlining last year that generated the company’s first-ever layoffs.

Upon completion of the reductions earlier this year, Ms. Lingen realized the HR department didn’t need five vice presidents. She offered "to be available for consulting and transition issues" in exchange for a very generous severance package.

Los Angeles psychologist Peter Levin quizzed his boss about his advancement prospects before he began to restructure a struggling subsidiary he ran for a West Coast leadership consulting firm. The project’s best outcome would be "that you will not need me anymore" to head the unit, Mr. Levin explained. The consulting firm’s chief executive agreed to help find him a senior business-development role within the firm.

As his project progressed last year, Mr. Levin discussed his work worries with a former supervisor at RHR International, an executive-coaching firm based in Wood Dale, Ill., that he left in 2000. The men had continued to play golf together. The RHR official sounded him out about returning because "he respected my chutzpah for being willing to move forward to eliminate my job," Mr. Levin recalls.

The psychologist was seriously negotiating with RHR when he submitted a reorganization plan last February that would end his command of the subsidiary. The 54-year-old executive spurned a promotion; the following month, he rejoined RHR as managing director of its Los Angeles office.

Few people maintain such close connections with a former employer, however. So, it’s equally important that you document the rationale behind your self-imposed layoff and make sure associates will confirm your thoughtful approach. "Be very articulate on the background, the details, the statistics," urges Joie Gregor, North American president of executive recruiters Heidrick & Struggles International in New York.

Anticipate skeptical hiring managers by saying, "Here are two or three references and their e-mail addresses. They can tell you about the positive impact I made and the resulting good impression by taking the initiative to restructure myself out of a job," suggests James M. Citrin, a senior director of recruiter Spencer Stuart in Stamford, Conn.

If individuals end their employment "for the right reasons, it will come back to help them," adds Mr. Citrin, co-author of a new book, "The Five Patterns of Extraordinary Careers." One pattern cited in the book, being a "benevolent leader," focuses on the success of others.

Before she left, Ms. Lingen asked her superior and five fellow executives to be references. They continue to assure other businesses that she abolished her job voluntarily and was a great loss, she reports.

You can further enhance your re-employment chances by touting the cost-cutting skills and similar experiences gained from terminating your job. Career experts say you represent an attractive candidate because you put your employer’s interests ahead of your own.

Mr. McEntee certainly did. He so deeply believed in his nonprofit, a provider of subsidized childcare for low-income families, that he sometimes lent it money. The group’s executive director initially resisted his offer to ease the cash-flow crunch by dropping him and the human-resources director from the payroll.

Mr. McEntee, now pursuing work as a controller, accounting manager or financial analyst, still wonders whether a fuller explanation will make him look foolish to prospective employers.

"He should be turning his voluntary exit into a positive," retorts Greg Gostanian, a managing partner of ClearRock, a Boston executive-coaching and outplacement firm. "He’s playing by old rules of job hunting."

E-mail comments to me at [email protected]. To see other recent Managing Your Career columns, please go to CareerJournal.com.

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