UK
Firstly, I know it wasn’t your fault personally, LB was a vast
organisation, and we’ve seen that size is not the same as strength.
Your CV is not poisoned by these events, and after you’ve allowed a
short pause to get your head back together, move forward, because if
you don’t then you really will be lost.
I’m old enough to have been through bad times before, and the
recurrent pattern is that the real losers are the people who fail to work
their way back. Everyone has career breaks, this is yours. Wipeouts
leave spaces for determined people to move forward faster. Even if this
sounds like crap to you, it is necessary for you to think this way. I’m habitually contemptuous of psychobabble but it really is the case
that going passive is the worst thing you can do.
Look hard at what you’ve got to sell.
As a headhunter I have learned that a significant percentage of your market
value is the brands that have endorsed you. Lehman employees that I’ve
met are distinctly above average, and I know that is a common opinion.
To get hired by Lehman in the first place, you must have shown yourself
to be smart and able to deliver. As it happens, LB turned me down for a
job some years ago, so I know first-hand that the bar is set high….
I’ve written When it hits the fan, job hunting in a difficult
market, which is freely available to those who need it. The short
version is that you need to work on your network and really put the
effort into a total rebuild of your CV. Write down everything you can
do because the odds are that you will have to move diagonally, and yes,
that may have to be diagonally backwards. I do mean everything
you can do – to do this properly needs at least three passes, and there
is no reason why you can’t meet up with people in the same situation to
share ideas on this.
I don’t know how long or deep this downturn will be, I do know it will
end. The most common failing of people coming back after a break is
that they don’t seem to have done anything with the time, which implies
they’re not much of a self starter. To an extent, it doesn’t really
matter what you did, as long as it was purposeful and can be spun as
not just watching daytime TV waiting for the phone to ring.
It’s hard to call which of your skills will get you a new job, but you
need to embrace this downtime for maintenance and upgrade. Hit the
books, maybe take a course, and talk to other refugees about the
business, keep that part of your brain going. It never hurts to help
others where you can, I’ve got past some of my more stupid career
decisions by people remembering that I once helped them; others forget, but the mean return is still good.
Objectively, you still have value. Hold that thought in the days to
come.
Dominic Connor is a director of P&D Recruitment.
Who is this numpty?
Failed in banking try recuirtment
Failed in recruitment write an article stating the obvious.
Lehmans guys are above the standard but any who needed to read this rubbish to get ahead will be lucky to find a job in KFC.
Keep working hard Dom!
What an excellent article. Well done Dominic.
notafan has a point Dominic.
I appreciate that you are trying to be helpful, but it’s pretty obvious stuff. You would hope that anyone who got a job at LB in the first place has enough intelligence to realise that sitting around watching daytime tv is not going to get them a new job.
another advert for your course I feel?!
Nice article, and very inspirational. Thanx
No headhunter in the world can reactivate hiring to the other banks again. I think if you are out of work now with whole desks on the market, there is going to be a bit of a wait
Of course Henry is going to come out to say that GS is hiring heavily right now blah blah blah, just taht no one is good enough to join his firm blah blah blah
I think Dominic is talking sense and he’s not saying there are loads of jobs out there. Now is the time for LB employees ( and all the others) to rebuild and rebuilding means action, not sitting around sipping from a bottle of cheap whiskey ( by all means do that for a week or two). Do sit down and work out the fundamentals and plan to do the crazy things you never had the time to do – if you want to write the great English novel, then crack on, let’s face it, you don’t have much competition. The market will recover and there will be a skills shortage because a large chunk of talent will have left the industry. The IB industry has a history of appalling HR planning, anything longer than 3 months out is just too hard to plan. Better to come back refreshed and with a sense that you achieved something. But don’t think that by splurging your CV across the City that you are taking action, in the present climate it is a waste of time – why beat yourself up and deplete your energy and motivation?
As a headhunter, I am inclined to mistrust anyone who starts a sentence with “as a headhunter”….
As a professional, I am inclined to mistrust anyone who starts a sentence with “as a headhunter”….
I’ve written When it hits the fan, job hunting in a difficult market, which is freely available to those who need it.
Only an individual with very little morals would look to benefit from others detriment and in a time like this.
Moronic article written by a buffoon! Stick to punting CVs out
nothing is the end of the world – unless you die!!!
Dominic, loved the article. Can you give me a hug too?
Dearest Jessica and Tarquin,
In reference to your nugatory comments; he never did start his article (the first sentence) with “As a headhunter..”
It was in fact started with “Firstly, I know it wasn’t your fault personally…”
Jessica and Tarquin, you’re obviously not very good at what you do to be filled with so much negativity – I don’t see you utilising your time or your so-called intelligence to put pen to paper in an attempt to try to “soften” the blow for those who’ve been left out in the cold.
Grow up.
Lyall. Firstly, if you could read properly, you would see that neither Jessica nor I said that he started his article with “As a headhunter..” We said he started a sentence with “As a headhunter…”
Maybe you should read the article before commenting on it.
Secondly, this is a website article, and I doubt very much whether Dominic put ‘pen to paper’ to soften the blow – we use PC’s to type nowadays.
Thirdly, I don’t see you doing anything to help soften the blow either. A comment of your own could have helped, but I doubt you have the understanding or knowledge of the market to do so.
Hey look! a recruiter wants to be our friend…. hmmm. Clearly some truth here but a little condescending me thinks. Not necessarily boosting the recruiters image by offering a shoulder to cry as most think we are an unnecessary evil at the best of times.
Still he’s trying.
Tarquin,
Thank you for your delightful posting! Considering you intelligent is something I lay a rather large amount of doubt on; as “putting pen to paper” is an expression.
You must be one of the failed bankers that have turned to head-hunting right? Must be; with such bitterness it is quite stark.
My understanding and knowledge of the market is unsurpassed and I do not need to remark on honest articles with venom; I can read it and understand it without having to remark, as I don’t have guilt for not knowing what Dominic has in fact written.
I’m rather mortified that you can call yourself a head-hunter, when your apparent lack of understanding of even matter of speech puts you in the league of those like you who attack innocent others with your supercilious comments – enhancing the thought that you’re somehow lacking in some area.
But thanks for the entertainment nevertheless.
And Dominic; I commend you – well done on a brilliant article.
How ironic Lyall.
You accuse me of writing with venom when I seem to sense a certain amount in your accusatory comments.
I am not a headhunter, if I was I would freely admit to it.
Just because you got it wrong….
Tarquin,
Lyall’s comment about “putting pen to paper” was a metaphor for taking action. As a busy finance professional, supposedly in hedge funds, you should be busy taking action in a lot of things. Not constantly responding to website articles. You are becoming just like your antagonist Henry.
Tarquin made all my comments for me… couldn’t have said it better (and obviously being a headhunter I don’t have enough brains to think of something clever in response)…
I think that with market conditions like this dim witted comments from people trying to antagonize and disrupt already broken lives is as low as a human can be.
All of you do not need to grow up, as my seemingly stupid friend below stated; rather you all need to concentrate on sorting out the hatred which wallows in your bones and in your heart.
there are people who have actually lost alot over the last week and little help comes from articles like this and the additional comments to follow (inclusive of this one).
Lets not have anymore of these time wasting sub-mails and insead concentrate on rebuilding economies.
Enough said i hope.
I am Henry
As a headhunter, I’m used to getting flak about starting things “as a headhunter” :)
Some of the things I said we mildly obvious, but I speak to people leaving Lehman and if you had done this as much as I have, you’d know that some people need it to be said.
Yes, I’ve written a guide for people in this position, but I give it away, so don’t quite know why this reflects my morality. I apologise to those who feel that we as headhunters display the moral leadership they wish their children to learn.
As Sarah the EFC editor knows, I am trying to do constructive things as well as emote warm fuzzies. Finance has been good to me it’s time I put something back.
Dominic – You’re a good man, thank you.