As we head into the last couple weeks of 2024, the calls are still coming in with inquiries about what it takes to make a move in 2025. Questions like, “Do I have to have a certain amount of originating revenue? Or number of clients? Or that special niche?” All of these are great questions, but they are not the crucial one you should be asking. The critical question is your “why.” Let’s delve into this thought and explore.
Those New Year’s Resolutions…
Whenever you hear anything about setting or making successful New Year’s resolutions, you typically hear that your “why” has to be big enough to survive the first couple of months. Especially for those going back to the gym, most likely the number one resolution most people make, your “why” has to be a driving force for the resolution to stick. The experts say that without a big enough “why”, you will likely give up your newfound habit, resort to your old paradigm of not going to the gym three days a week by slowly starting to lose your enthusiasm, and eventually slip back to what is comfortable. The “why” is what is crucial when even thinking about making a move.
Finding Your “Why”
Your “why” shouldn’t be concerned about failing to be happy at your new position or the desire to go back to your old firm, but on the contrary, this “why” is exactly why you want to make a move. What is propelling you to seriously consider interviewing and leaving your current situation? You must be able to articulate this reason over and beyond anything else that you convey to yourself – and ultimately to a hiring manager. You must have a clear picture of what’s causing your personal unrest and what disturbances you might be dealing with. In essence, what we recruiters call your “pain-pleasure point.” In some circumstances, your pain point could be a desire to move to pleasure, or a desire to leave the past behind you. It’s either one or the other but cannot be both. Moving to pleasure is conveyed with feelings one way, while the desire to leave the past behind is communicated quite differently; however, both end with the results of establishing the real “why” behind your desire to make a move.
What Comes First…
By knowing this pain-pleasure point in your current career, you can get a hiring manager to empathize with you. They will see and, more importantly, feel your reason for considering their firm. They must get to this stage with you, or you will never get an interview or an offer. Knowing this “why” becomes the first step and how you communicate it becomes the next step. The how is what you need to concentrate on only after you can articulate your “why.” Is it a story you tell? Do you relate your lack of confidence in the desk performing, or credit committee not approving your deals? This concept you must grasp before you can begin your desire to make that move in 2025.
Conclusion
You don’t need a resume to chat with us! 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. Harlan publishes a blog every Thursday here. Subscribe to our monthly newsletter here, which is a compilation of our weekly blogs, so you never miss one. We have also been mentioned in Forbes, click HERE to read for yourself.
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.