If you have been following along over the last two weeks, we have been evaluating and discussing concerns of the candidate. Specifically, any concern that you may be facing while considering making a move. You are at the point where you are serious about making a move, but that little irritant raises its ugly head. You know the one. It starts off with, “What if?”, and it goes from there. What if the position is not what I was hoping it was going to be? What if…? Today we conclude this mini-series of blogs with some final concerns that may be plaguing you from making a move, which you know in your heart is the right move.
Is This A Concern You May Be Facing?
What About My Clients? Presentation Matters.
The next concern you may be facing is, “What will my clients think if I make another career move? Will they see me as a job-jumper? Will they continue to want to work with me? Will they theoretically black ball me from getting additional business from them or any other issuer that I want to do business with?” The answer is: it depends on your presentation to the client as to why you have elected to make a move at this time in your career. If your client can plainly see that it is a definite career advantage for you to make a move, they will be pleased for you and will show it with their continued dedication to you. If they see there is a greater ability for you to service more of their needs with your new firm, they are going to be excited for you and for their ability to do even more business with you. The way you share the information is going to be crucial to your future success with those clients. I have had candidates reach out to their very (and I mean very) trusted clients and take their temperature about a move as well as weigh in on the firm that the applicant was contemplating moving to.
This Is A Typical Concern You May Be Facing As Well:
What About My Colleagues? Keep Your Circle Of Contacts Strong.
Another similar, but not exact, concern you may be facing is, “What are my colleagues going to think of me? First on making a move and second to a particular firm?” As we all are greatly aware, our professional network of either bond counsels, municipal advisors, or public finance bankers are crucial to our ultimate role we will serve with a client/issuer. It does not matter if you are a bond counsel working with public finance bankers or municipal advisors, or if you are a banker working with municipal advisors and bond counsels. The circle of contacts is critical. For example, if you are concerned that moving to a particular firm will now become competition with a referral source; then that firm is definitely the wrong firm for you to be considering, and your concerns are valid. On the other hand, if you can increase the amount of referral business because of your new affiliation, then that is certainly a plus for making the move.
Don’t Let This Concern You May Be Facing Weigh You Down
What About Waiting? Take Your Future In Your Own Hands.
The final concern you may be facing is one that we do hear about regularly, especially from mid-level bankers and bond counsels. “If I stick around long enough, my immediate supervisor is bound to retire, and I should take over his book of clients.” The equivocating language was used on purpose because these situations are not cast in stone. You may think that your immediate supervisor is going to retire in the next year or so but decides to put retirement plans on hold for much longer. This happens frequently in our industry. Also, there is no guarantee that when/if the senior person does leave the firm that the business is going to remain with the firm, and thus go to you. There are too many possibilities which can and do happen when one is waiting for the “book” to be transferred. Most of them are not what was expected to the employee who waits patiently in the background. To wait for someone else to have control over your future may not pan out the way you expected. We have worked with numerous people who just got tired of waiting for that coveted book, they decide to take matters into their own hands, and they are doing extremely well.
This concludes this series of blogs on whatever concern you may be facing. We trust that they have been eye opening, but more importantly give you the comfort level to pick up the phone when you believe the time to make a move is right.
Conclusion
If you would like to discuss your options, please reach out for a confidential conversation at 760-477-1284 or email at [email protected]. He can also be reached on LinkedIn. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter here, which is a compilation of our weekly blogs, so you never miss one. You can find our listing in the “supplier and services” section of the Red Book under the title of “executive recruiting”.
About Harlan Friedman, JD & Founding Member, H. Friedman Search LLC. Harlan is a thirty-year veteran Public Finance Banker turned recruiter who specializes in the placement of all levels Public Finance Bankers, Healthcare Bankers, Municipal Advisors, Compliance Officers, Issuers, and Bond Counsels.