CareerLab - For Senior Executives & Top Professionals



	This is Part One of a two-part series. In order to understand how our consulting process benefits you, it helps to read both pages from beginning to end. When you reach the end of this page, simply click go to part two. Along the way, you may jump to any topic, and this symbol will bring you back to the TOP. What can CareerLab do for me? Can we keep our work confidential? Who are your clients? What do your clients have in common? Do you have success stories? Do you offer job search assistance? Do you offer more than job search advice? Go to FAQ's: Part Two.
	What Can CareerLab Do For Me? We form a partnership with you to advance your career. We join your team. Our goal is to help you define and reach your goals, and to achieve the perfect "fit" in your next career move, even if you are moving into a late-stage career or retirement. Regardless of your circumstances, we believe your success can be improved. Your future can always get better. Believing that, our team of experts can help you to: Explore, define, and understand your skills, talents, priorities, and possibilities, through interviews and written assessment. Create a blueprint or strategic plan for your career and your future. Make the best possible use of your talents right now. Evaluate competing opportunities so you choose the best fit. Uncover niche market opportunities you can't find yourself. Reach your maximum earning potential, while at the same time achieving greater personal happiness and satisfaction. Take your career to the next higher level.
	Can We Keep Our Work Confidential? Yes, absolutely. Protecting your best interests is the essence of our business. We will never communicate with anyone about your situation without your explicit permission, or divulge private information such as e-mail addresses or phone numbers to any third party. We never sell any of our records. When you retain us, you are the client. We have no other loyalties, nor do we split fees with any other employment businesses, such as executive recruiters. Regardless of the issue, you can count on confidentiality. If you want to test the job market, we can help you design and administer a low-key approach to keep your job campaign hidden from your present employer.


	Who Are Your Clients? Since 1978, our team of writers, editors, consultants, and strategic partners have created interviews, six-figure job offers, business opportunities, consulting assignments, and rapid advancement for hundreds of clients, both here in the United States, and abroad. And we've been hired as career and human resource consultants to more than 275 U.S. corporations, both large and small. Our senior executive client list (which we'll gladly share with you in person) is a who's who of business and professional leaders. Many of our clients have been presidents, senior executives, and board members of well-known companies, partners in major professional firms, consultants, entrepreneurs--yes, even NFL players--successful people whose companies you would easily recognize. Today our high-level clients include the President of one of the world's largest oilfield companies, a banking executive consulting in Russia, a $450K/year law firm partner, the former head of Investor Relations for the Coleman Company, members of prominent boards of directors, world-class builders and developers, and former Denver Broncos--just to name a few.

	What Do Your Clients Have In Common? There's a latin plaque in our office that says, "DVO FACIEM IDEM NON EST IDEM," meaning, "Two people can do the same thing, but it's not the same." In other words, no two CFOs audit the same way, no two architects design alike, and so on. We take that to mean we're all a little different and special. So while our clients are unique people, and we respect that, our typical high-level individual client generally fits this profile: A manager, senior executive, business owner, top professional, or management consultant with a difficult, complex, or sophisticated career problem. Often the issue is, "been there, done that." Seeking an objective and confidential sounding board "away from the fray." In a career dilemma. Facing some kind of crisis or transition, such as conflict with a boss or peer, downsizing, job loss, burnout, mid-life crisis or forced early retirement, or a combination of several life problems at once. For example, financial challenges, a family death or serious illness, or a partner's unemployment. Mid- or late-stage career. Usually age 35-65. Career-oriented: enormously successful in a "previous life" and wanting to continue or improve that pattern of success. Highly paid, often financially independent. Wishing to maintain or improve their present compensation or net worth--or else wanting to work for personal satisfaction where money is not the primary driver. Wanting to balance work, life, and family issues after a lifetime of having "given it all at the office."
	Do You Have Success Stories?

	Yes, hundreds of big wins. Here are several actual case studies. The people and situations are real. The examples may seem somewhat vague, because we've had to disguise some of the facts to protect our clients' confidentiality. If you want further specifics in any of these cases, please ask. Do You See Yourself in any of these?

	An IT consultant with a feast-or-famine practice came to us for help. He enjoyed his work, but had too few assignments, unpredictable income, and many of his projects were too small to challenge him. Besides a standard resume, CareerLab produced a unique online portfolio of his work. Then we served as matchmakers, directly introducing him to the powers-that-be at Boeing. As a result, he was hired into a $100K job in a fast-track technical group, where he has quickly outpaced his peers and advanced into a management position with 48 direct reports. Now he has a steady paycheck, and a plate full of bleeding-edge assignments. The best is yet to come.
	The President/CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation was fired the hard way--literally thrown out by the seat of his pants. We created and implemented a strategic plan for his job search. Originally, he set out to buy a high-tech manufacturing company; but midway through his search, he brought in a want ad for an incredibly challenging job. We answered the ad and coached him through a series of strenuous interviews. Within six months of beginning with us, he landed this job, which was much more gratifying--and he received a $100,000 salary increase within a year. (FOOTNOTE: After three years in the new job, this client contacted us again, and moved to an even better opportunity.)
	Our client, the VP of Information Systems for a major hospital, won national awards for his IS design and implementation--but that wasn't enough to keep his head off the political chopping block. After he was fired, we told him we could help him land another, similar high-level job in another hospital--but predicted that if we did, he'd be back in our office within a year because of the volatility in the healthcare market. Instead, we suggested he consider launching his own healthcare IS consulting firm--which he did. With our guidance every step of the way, he quickly established a national consulting practice and exceeded his earlier corporate income. Best of all, he escaped the grasp of traditional corporate politics--and actually had some time to spend with his family.
	We were called into the headquarters of a national restaurant chain because the VP of Tax was about to be fired. For one thing, his boss claimed he was procrastinating on important tasks and missing deadlines. In addition, the young vice president was jogging at lunch with some of his female employees, a definite cultural no-no. After some targeted career testing, and a 360-degree review, we coached the VP on appropriate behaviors for leaders at his level, and taught him to manage his boss by forcing communication upward. It was apparent to us that the real problem wasn't the VP--it was his weak boss who wasn't managing him well. The new skills set the Vice President back on the fast track immediately. His boss was later terminated.
	A woman banker was forced out of her senior executive job because she didn't know how to play the good-old-boy game. The situation had deteriorated so badly, the good-old-boys were actually setting her up and enjoying her misery. In the end, she was terminated with bad references. We created a high-impact resume for her--she was, after all, highly-successful--in spite of her political ineptness. We initiated a targeted mailing to selected recruiters, and she was quickly swept up into the president's staff at H&R Block as Director of Internal Audit, a high-level job she never imagined she could have.
	The partners in this professional firm were in a real crisis. They were ready to disband the firm. Four were followers and four were leaders. The leaders were split into two factions and they split the followers evenly. The problem was that all eight had poor listening and communication skills. CareerLab planned a two-day mountain retreat which began with a rafting trip. All eight were in one boat. The whole adventure was videotaped, and it was an exact replica of what happened in their meetings. This firm hired CareerLab to learn how to communicate. Eight years later, all original partners are still together and they have added four new partners. In their conference room is a sign, "We are one team."
	One of our CFO clients didn't want to relocate to Atlanta--or anywhere, for that matter--but when he received a seven-page offer letter that included a much larger salary and many more perks than he ever expected, he moved.
	Do You Offer Job Search Assistance?

	Yes, job search and career transition advice has been our bread-and-butter, and we've piled up hundreds of success stories. If you have questions about our job search consulting process, go here.
	Do You Offer More Than Job Search Advice?

	As the success stories above showed, we do much more than just job search. Executive coaching is a specialty. Any career challenge, no matter how trivial or urgent, is our territory. We've seen most problems before. Career testing and financial planning are often an integral part of career management at the highest levels, and our assessment and SuccessMap financial planning processes are well worth discussing. Go to part two.