Week 2 – Interviews

Today’s blog entry will be brief as I have an interview this morning with a privately held firm that uses advanced technology to provide marketing and client retention services. The company is currently earning about $140 million annually for these services and is growing at about a 30 to 40 percent growth rate to date. It needs a Vice President of Technology that can lead the scaling of their technical growth, while working side-by-side with the founders to help them continue their firm’s business growth.

This will be the fourth interview I’ve had since the start of this job search. Because all four interviews resulted from networking, I began wondering which sources of leads would prove the most prolific. Therefore, while not exactly a comprehensive market test, I will strive to track my interviews’ lead sources (e.g. networking, recruiters, ads, online searches, job portals) and report back to you on my findings.

My interviews so far have been primarily in my target markets. One was with a leading provider of back office software and services for the travel industry, and today’s is obviously in marketing services and technology. I’ve also had three interviews with a military contractor in the Midwest, which have all gone very well. This would be for a position that expands beyond just CIO to include assisting the CEO and president in leading a division, which could be a great opportunity to build on my business skills. The only down side so far is that my interview process has been put on hold until a key contract with the US military is finalized – potentially 60-90 days from now. I have learned that this is one of the risks in this industry: If there’s no contract, there’s no position.

Sadly, tomorrow is my last official day with my current employer. We are discussing a consulting role for me so that I can complete a few transition projects. However, it will still be another ending and more goodbyes. I have already added several individuals to my LinkedIn network so I can stay in touch.

So far I’ve received a few responses to last week’s survey on your preferred networking system, how many you use, and how much time you spend maintaining your network. Not surprisingly, the results hint that career sales people and CXOs put a few hours each week towards pure networking. I will continue to update you as I receive more of your answers.

I’ll let you know how today’s interview goes later in the week. Wish me luck!

Mark