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will be Despite today’s challenging relocation environment, employers continue to hire selectively and strategically. Organizations continuously on the lookout for talent, and preparation is the key to continued success in your relocation career. Craighead presents the second in a series of articles about careers in relocation and the importance of sourcing and developing talent within our industry.

We all know how challenging today’s global economy is—the bottom line is that the United States lost 2.5 million jobs in 2008 amid a global recession where millions more were lost, as well. Making matters worse was the fact that 64,000 businesses filed for bankruptcy, the most since the United States Congress overhauled bankruptcy laws in 2005. As a result, the relocation industry has been affected adversely with employers minimizing their transferee volume which, in turn, has cost many relocation professionals their jobs. If you happen to have found yourself on the short end of your employer’s downsizing decision, the challenge and harsh reality is two-fold—how to obtain employment and whether it is within our industry.

We are placing people in positions at both corporate relocation departments and at service providers. So no “bah humbug” Scroogian banter is appropriate because there are relocation jobs out there—look at any job website. Instead, the challenge is for you to determine whether you have the relevant expertise for today’s relocation marketplace and, if so, if you have then the steely grit and patience to strategically locate your next role.

I have chosen a few aspects to focus on but you will benefit from sourcing more substantive information in order to be adequately prepared for an effective job search.

Ready… So Where Are the Jobs?

First things first, where are the jobs in relocation this coming year? Beyond many industry relationships to help you, capital to support you for perhaps a longer unemployment cycle, and a good job search strategy to propel you to employment, there is no point in seeking work within this industry until you are confident of the relevancy of your experience in today’s relocation marketplace.

Based on an assessment of the present jobs situation, we are seeing the following employment scenarios within the relocation industry for the near future: a diminishing need for domestic relocation professionals; a desire for international mobility experts; and a demand for client acquisition and retention expertise.

As employers struggle to generate sales, they do not have the business need and fiscal capital to support similar volumes of employee transferees as in the past. Offering additional burden are U.S. homes, which continue to lose value and languish on the market longer than in years past, thereby restricting many employees from eagerly accepting a permanent move. The result has been employers are down 10 to 20 percent and more in their relocation volumes from a year or two prior. Logically, staff required to support these new volumes has been diminishing in comparative size. So if your role is purely a domestic one, you will encounter fewer positions and more competition.

Because today’s multinational corporations are generating increasing amounts of revenue outside their own borders, this has spawned the need for more employees to relocate to other countries and the requisite mobility staff professionals to support those transferees. This has enabled many in-house programs and relocation management companies (RMCs) to seek staff with global relocation experience. Knowledge about immigration, social security, global compensation and payroll, tax equalization, hardship allowances, destination services, and more all are aspects of the mobility function in strong demand.

Another noteworthy employment development is roles engaged in client growth and retention. Because relocation volume is not ripe for much new business, today’s increasingly competitive arena has required RMCs to seek proficient business developers to help them obtain business previously managed by a competitor. Case in point is our search firm has placed a number of talented sales professionals into our clients’ organizations and we expect more of these roles going forward. Similarly, client relations professionals are being more keenly valued today for their ability to retain clients as are talented operations executives for overseeing the delivery of the utmost in client service for their clients’ transferees.

Set... Job Search Strategy and Self-analysis

Whether you are confident or tentative of your applicable skills in today’s relocation environment, it is imperative to create a job search strategy before you start looking at job postings online or contacting industry friends. Despite the need to mobilize a quick job search, “you don’t want to send out a bunch of things into the marketplace without any thought behind it,” said Doug Matthews, president and CEO of Right Management, a human resource consulting and professional staffing company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA.

Take some time to create a thoughtful and measured approach to your job hunt. “The trick to a successful transition is not to panic,” he said. “You don’t want to hit the market in a chaotic fashion.”

The first step is to take stock of your finances. Identify and prioritize your bills and debt. An immediate need for cash flow or short severance may require you to take a temporary assignment. According to Matthew’s research, the number of people taking temp work has risen 10 percent in the past two years.

As encouraged by outplacement firms and career counseling consultants, next is the crucial step—a self-analysis. As mentioned in Harvard Business Review a number of years ago, the most successful managers are not necessarily those who work the hardest or even those with the best skills. What often determines success in business is self-knowledge. The more one knows oneself—one’s strengths and weaknesses and how one is perceived in the world—the greater likelihood he or she will best represent him- or herself in a job search.

As defined by TMI Executive Resources, a career counseling organization in the Boston, Massachusetts area, strengths constitute three components: skills plus talents plus interests. Skills are things we have learned on the job as the result of being taught—how to assist a transferee in the sale of his or her home, or how to manage a client’s relocation program metrics, for example. A talent is something that is inherently a part of who we are, something we are born with but something that easily can be improved. Finally, to be most successful, we must be involved in something in which we are interested. Therefore, a strength needs to be a combination of something we are naturally good at and something we have learned, while simultaneously be something in which we are keenly interested.

The second step of this self-analysis process is to determine our accomplishments, those contributions we have made uniquely for our employers. These are examples of our key strengths being put to use and may in fact be already duly noted on a résumé. But it is important to go through the process of determining how you achieved those accomplishments—what was the problem or challenge put before you; what action you initiated; the style in which you tackled it; and what the outcome was of those efforts. Once you have determined your strengths and reviewed your accomplishments, then you should have some new ammunition to redraft your résumé.

The Résumé

Something understood by recruiters and career consultants alike is a résumé is not just an historical document—it is a sales tool, an advertisement about you. Too many people are concerned about being accurate with their work history dates and titles and the résumé length; instead, the focus should be what your strengths and accomplishments are and how you uniquely achieved those results. The number one purpose of a résumé is to win over the recruiter or hiring manager and create a desire to want to conduct an interview with you.

As noted by Nick Lore, founder of the Washington, DC area career consulting firm, Rockport Institute, in the book “THE PATHFINDER: How to Choose or Change Your Career for a Lifetime of Satisfaction and Success,” “a great résumé doesn’t just tell someone what you’ve done but makes the same assertion that all good ads do: If you buy this product, you will get these specific, direct benefits. It presents you in the best light. It convinces the employer that you have what it takes to be successful in this new position or career.”

From a tactical perspective, the best résumés contain the following: an executive summary/overview of the individual’s experience; a bulleted listing of their key strengths and areas of expertise; and a description of quantified (percentages, dollar amounts, and the like) accomplishments achieved at each chronologically mentioned professional employer. Educational institutions, industry or academic designations, industry memberships, and extracurricular activities should conclude the résumé. From a length perspective, about 60 percent of the résumés we receive are two pages long (30 to 35 percent are three pages) and the rest stand out—not necessarily positively—for their brevity or verbosity. Seeking out a book or website dedicated to résumé writing is time well spent.

Surprisingly, many job applicants misrepresent their credentials, as noted by Kroll Inc., the investigative business unit of Marsh & McLennan Companies, New York, NY, as well as worldwide executive search firm, Korn/Ferry International, Los Angeles, California. Kroll estimates 20 percent exaggerate their educational backgrounds while Korn/Ferry found academic credentials were the fifth-most frequently exaggerated type of information seen by recruiters. The Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Virginia, conducted a 2004 survey in which more than 60 percent of responding HR professionals said they often or sometimes find résumé inaccuracies when vetting candidates. Be forewarned: many employers hire the likes of a Kroll to check applicant’s credentials.

Action … Structured Networking

The action step is networking. It is widely known the majority of mid- to executive-level positions are secured from structured networking (see chart on page 66) while the majority of entry level positions are found via job sites.

A job search is a proactive networking endeavor, noted journalist, Perri Capell, in the career section of The Wall Street Journal, “The more people who hear about your job hunt, the faster you’ll find work.” This does not mean letting your 5,000 Facebook friends know about your situation; instead, a structured networking strategy involves a number of groups—industry contacts you know and those you do not but need to connect with, friends and family, classmates, and recruiters. I have witnessed many people use a spreadsheet for this where they prioritize their contacts, marking down dates they approach and connect with people, and making notes about their conversations and appropriate next steps.

For those people you know at companies where you might want to work, obtain a phone discussion and tell them what kind of position you would like, but do not ask them for a job as it is too direct and could be interpreted as desperate. The discussion logically will evolve in that direction if there is room for your experience. For those professionals you do not know, find someone who knows them and leverage that relationship for an introduction. Linkedin.com is a valuable online networking business tool for this.

For friends, family, and recruiters, tell them what kind of position you would like, a list of desired companies, geographically where you want to work, and whether you are willing to relocate—the more specifics you can provide, the more helpful they can be. Recruiters also need to know your compensation expectations and reason for your departure from your most recent employer.

I have found those industry professionals you are most connected with are the ones who are most helpful, but often it takes more than the first conversation to stimulate their thinking. So do not drop off the face of the earth after your initial contact; stay connected, circle back. But take heart, as nearly two-thirds of the more than 20,000 professionals that Right Management serves annually end up finding a job within 90 days.

Recruiters and Executive Search Consultants

As far as recruiters are concerned, as Daniel Cahill, president of Connecticut search firm, Hobson Associates, notes, “Don’t call a headhunter because you had a bad day, you’re bored, or mad. Only connect with one if you’re serious about changing jobs.” Use a recruiter as one of your strategic industry networking connections because staffing professionals need to know about talented professionals who are interested in a job change to enhance their careers. But timing is everything, because recruiters are most interested in candidates if your experience fits a role in which they are currently working to fill. While most executive search consultants work for their corporate clients and are focused on locating candidates for current assignments, if they are not busy and believe your experience might be attractive to their corporate clients, they may be interested in introducing you. Conversely, some recruiters generate most of their revenue introducing candidates to their corporate relationships who ultimately hire them. It is important to determine what type of staffing professional you are contacting and to ensure your expectations match theirs.

Do not worry if you do not obtain an interview with a recruiter, you have done your job by contacting them because they have added you to their database for potential roles down the road. If you are out of work or contemplating a job change, it is best to connect with them often, perhaps monthly, to remind them of your fit. Otherwise, it is best to connect with staffing professionals on an annual basis to keep them aware of your career aspirations.

Job Sites, Online Networks

Gone are the days of the weekly classifieds in the local newspaper; no surprise, jobs are now online. Begun by Monster back in the 1990s, and rivaled now by CareerBuilder, Hot Jobs, and many more, most jobs online are entry- or mid-level but six figure ones are there, as well. Be sure to set up agents to send posted jobs to your inbox. Job aggregator www.indeed.com locates jobs posted on all corporate and job sites. Similarly, post your résumé on these sites so recruiters can locate you. For higher level positions, HR Ladders has relocation positions, as do sites like the Worldwide ERC® Career Center, in addition to a number of relocation-focused recruiters. In addition to the job sites, visit the online networking sites, Linkedin, Plaxo, Ecademy, Facebook, MySpace, and many more. While Linkedin seems to be in the lead for business online networks, join the ones that best fit your needs, build a profile, develop your network, and connect with those people you want to get to know through your own network contacts.

References

Rarely do employers hire someone without conducting a reference check. Reference checks are an integral part of the hiring process and help to validate the hiring manager’s opinions of the potential new employee. Have them lined up but only provide them to an employer when it appears things are moving toward an offer from the company. The best list of references includes a 360 degree relationship—a former supervisor, a former peer, and a former direct report. Make your references aware of your career move, ensure they are available for a confidential discussion, and keep them abreast of your progress.

Interviews

People make judgments about others very quickly, a matter of seconds, according to Malcolm Gladwell in his business bestseller, “Blink.” He cites research by Tufts University professor Nalini Ambady that showed a strong first impression is made in the first few seconds of meeting someone. What is more interesting, however, is Ambady found that first impression is hard to change. This first impression is a completely non-scientific emotional combination of one’s attire and grooming, eye contact, speech pace and sound, and how one carries oneself. Most successful people realize how they come across and strive to make others comfortable with them, regardless of the level where they are or level of the individual with whom they are speaking. Often known as EQ, or emotional intelligence, as opposed to one’s IQ, a high EQ person very quickly assesses whether the person he or she has just met is someone who is interested in them or not.

Remember the benefit of doing one’s homework in school? It rings true for interviewing as well—you need to do your homework about the company with which you are interviewing. It often is the kiss of death if the corporate recruiter opens the interview by asking what the candidate knows about the company and it is obvious the candidate is unprepared. These days, it is remarkably easy to get up to speed on anything since your prospective employer’s corporate website is the best place to see the company as it wants to be seen. Check out the press section of their site to learn the latest news. Review the management team, their corporate mission, vision, philosophy, code of values or ethics to gauge whether it is a place that synchs with your own values and style. Similarly, with job networking sites, you might be able to learn about the person with whom you are interviewing, how long they have been there, where else they have worked, and perhaps people you know in common.

Recruiters and hiring managers are not only determining whether the candidate has the appropriate skills and experience for the role but also evaluating whether the candidate has the right “fit.” “What interviewers are really saying is the candidate fits or doesn’t fit into the company culture,” reports contributing writer Michael Neece on Monster’s career advice section. “Many companies, in an effort to perpetuate their corporate culture, hire people they feel fit and reject candidates whom they think do not fit their culture.” So part of the benefit of your interviews will be for you to determine if the company and its professionals are the right fit for you (see box of questions on page 68 you should consider).

Roll ‘Em

You are now aware of the need to determine the value of your candidacy in today’s relocation market and you are equipped with some tips that will enhance your job search efforts. Be sure to be prepared, do your homework, and connect with everyone that makes sense—do not be the person naively handing out résumés on the street corner! Despite today’s challenging relocation environment, companies are hiring, selectively, and strategically. Companies always are seeking talent that fits their organizations so if you have determined you have the requisite skills for today’s market, and have launched a well-thought out game plan and targeted approach, you will be more inclined to succeed in continuing your relocation career.

Scott Craighead, SCRP, GMS, is general manager, Americas, for Bluesky Executive Search, New York, New York, and a member of the MOBILITY Global Editorial Advisory Committee. He can be reached at +1 646 673 8452 or e-mail scott.craighead@blueskyrecruit.com.