![]() "It's better to be talking to people who have jobs than those who don't." "Most of the people attending (FENG) chapter meetings are unemployed," Wilson told Kinney. He did join the Financial Executives Networking Group, or The FENG, a nationwide job-referral organization. That omission seems a mistake, in view of his meager results to date. Kinney's recounting of Wilson's spending includes no mention of a career coach. When asked if he has "a drop-dead date before changing strategy or standards," Kinney says Wilson "tensed up." Then he said his wife suggested applying for a stopgap job (managing a local fast-food restaurant), which he rejected out of hand. We suspect he'd have landed at least a few interviews by now. Suggest Wilson devote as much effort to researching his targets and winnowing his list as he's apparently devoted to finding and following up with the thousands of decision-makers he did contact. On the one hand, many experts advise casting your net as wide as possible, because "you never know who will happen to know of a job opening that's right for you." On the other hand, writing to every single recruiter and business leader profiled in Who's Who seems a bit much. Wilson has written to more than 1,200 recruiters, 1,600 CEOs and 1,600 alumni of his undergrad alma mater (Notre Dame) and his MBA program (Columbia). As eFC News wrote in a column about avoiding the "overqualified trap": "If you make history your baseline, you'll come off as feeling entitled - perhaps the most toxic label in today's job market." His response, according to Kinney: He was "alarmed by the notion of returning to the bottom after being at the top." We'd observe that, in an industry turned upside down, that kind of thinking is misplaced. Wilson relates that two insurance companies called asking if he wanted to be an underwriter. But the only important statistic is his interview count after almost a year of full-time job-hunting: zero.Īfter all that work down the drain, you'd think someone would start getting the message that it's time for a different strategy. Inquirer writer Monica Yant Kinney details the number of chief executives and recruiters Wilson has written to, the number of networking e-mails he has sent, and his job-search-related expenditures. ![]() ![]() His efforts to find new work have been diligent but strikingly ineffective. He was let go last August with no severance pay or company-paid outplacement help. In 2007, Wilson left a steady job to build his own investment advisory business at Smith Barney, leaving little time to build a clientele before financial markets went into the tank. Even as the finance industry writhes amid recession and restructuring, some jobless professionals are having trouble adjusting their expectations to the new reality.Ī column in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer details the saga of one Byron Wilson, a former investment advisor, insurance company vice president and Big Four CPA.
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