The search for top-level specialists, or executive search, occupies a special niche among all areas of recruitment. Managers are rarely in search of work, so the specificity of such a selection is also in the recruiter's ability to wait for the right moment and make a really interesting offer. We found out from the experts how the most important ones are hired and why a timely cup of coffee sometimes plays a decisive role.

Applicants for managerial positions are sought by HR within the company or are applied to agencies with executive search experience. The work begins with a detailed discussion of the conditions and requirements.

Draw up an action plan

It is better to involve everyone who will influence the decision-making in the discussion. Usually it is a headhunter, future leader of the candidate and a leader of the "+1" level, who has the final say in the selection. At the first stage, the recruiter is expected to help correlate the company's requests with the market situation. As a result of joint work, a clear vision emerges of what professional and personal qualities an ideal candidate should have.

The experience of communicating with top specialists from target companies in the relevant positions helps the headhunter to form an adequate request for a position. A novice recruiter can use personal contacts and open sources of information from Google searches to thematic professional forums, ask colleagues and partners for advice.

The next step is preparing for the search. The selection of top specialists cannot start from scratch. Typically, companies already know good candidates in the right market segment. And HRDs, who follow the career changes of competing companies, can come up with a full-fledged long list at the beginning of the search - a list of all the tops that, in one way or another, meet the formal criteria of the vacancy.

Then communication with candidates begins: the first calls and agreements. This is how a short list is formed - a list of 2-3 names of professionals who best match the job description and are potentially ready to discuss conditions. With this list, the HR goes back to the manager, who has already coordinated the meetings and finalized the choice.

Search among their own

Major labor market players are looking for top specialists in the industry and through their own talent pool: “In most cases, when considering external candidates for vacancies, we give preference to candidates with suitable experience. For vacancies for which relevant experience is not required, we would rather consider a candidate from the internal talent pool, ”says Anastasia Verevkina, executive director, leader of the senior recruiting team at Sberbank.

It is important to start communication with the candidate, armed with all the knowledge about his position, prospects and the general situation in the industry: “If a high-level candidate understands that you sensibly assess his current position and offer something at the same level and at the same time you yourself understand the business, industry - with a high degree of probability, he will agree to a meeting, even if only out of interest: to find out what is happening on the market, ”says Elena Semenova, head of the professional recruitment group in the field of Production & Logistics of the HR company ManpowerGroup.

“The most important secret: to communicate as a person with a person, no matter how trite it may sound. If a recruiter sounds like an automatic survey from a bank or insurance company, the first reaction of a potential candidate will be protection from possible spam. Moreover, using the direct search method, we find candidates who are not yet thinking about changing jobs. In the first seconds, the tone, the rate of speech, benevolence, the ability to hear, laconically formulate the purpose of the call are especially important, so that the candidate can assess whether it is convenient for him to continue the conversation now or later, ”says Elena Semenova.

Search within the industry also involves risk in the case when the company fails to interest a professional: “There were examples when we understood that if a candidate does not come to us, but goes to competitors, we lose a lot of money. These risks are, of course, always miscalculated. But such questions of choice for a candidate are not solved by money. Therefore, it is definitely worth spending time on negotiations and additional communication with a good candidate, ”- Ksenia Volkova, executive search manager at MTS.

Often, a conversation with a potential applicant for a vacancy begins with a simple invitation to a cup of coffee in order to learn more about the company and the conditions, says Irina Egorova, executive director and business partner in HR management of the Wealth Management block of Sberbank: “Well-known professionals who are not when looking for a job, they are much more willing to agree to “just get acquainted” than to come to a “job interview”. Not to put pressure on candidates, but to motivate them gradually - this is also important in our work. We have had many cases when a candidate initially refused to consider job offers, came “just to get to know” for one or the second interview, received more information about tasks, about the company, and as a result came to work with us. So, for example, the director of medical projects entered the "Wealth Management" block this year. "

Invite a top manager from a related field

The market for top talent in every industry is fairly transparent. This often determines the specifics of the search: “If we are looking for a person with expertise only in the telecom industry, then we already know all the candidates. They, as a rule, have already worked with us, and some even came a second time. Our search method in this case is to admit the possibility of considering candidates from the parallel industry, ”explains Ksenia Volkova from MTS.

“For example, I have an interesting candidate. She has never worked in telecom, but from her skills and experience, I saw that this person would be able to launch very interesting projects with us. At the same time, the candidate was not in the search. Over the course of 9 months, we met with her several times. At dinner or coffee, they discussed why she needed a telecom at all, how it would change her from a professional point of view, ”says Ksenia.

A candidate from another industry is valuable not for relevant experience, but for the skills applicable in the company: “At the top management level, it is not so much specific applied experience in the industry that is important, but skills and competencies that are applicable to different industries. We call these skills transferrable skills. For example, optimization and implementation of processes; product or innovative technology development; strategy and methodology and so on. It is also important for us that the candidate conforms to the soft skills model adopted by Sberbank, ”says Anastasia Verevkina, executive director, leader of the management recruiting team at Sberbank.

For a business that is focused on projects in new areas for itself, a specialist from the outside can bring more benefits than a familiar candidate from the industry. “All the positions that we are opening now are aimed at a new direction of business. Therefore, we are looking for super flexible people with an understanding of the processes of project work. It is important that the person is ready, that the project can work for 2 months, and then close or be on hiatus, which may change the product strategy. The one who does not know how to adapt, cannot look at the problem from a new angle, will not be suitable here, ”says Ksenia Volkova.

The scale of the tasks with which the candidate worked also becomes an argument in the selection. Personal experience of doing business also forms a certain image of a top specialist and can influence the decision of managers and HR, says Ksenia: “We have many employees who have run their own successful business, and now they have come to us with this experience on a more serious scale. Such experience also contributes to making a decision in favor of the candidate. "

Coping with rejection

If the manager rejected a candidate who seemed ideal, this always speaks of an error in communication between the employer and the recruiter, says Elena Semenova: beginning), or they have changed. It is also important here how the client and the recruiter worked together: is there a detailed connection on the resume and interviews, was it possible to quickly adjust the understanding of the profile and search. "

When a recruiter gets rejected by the candidate himself, you need to understand the reasons or change the communication style. Often a person refuses automatically, because executive & direct search involves communicating with candidates who are not looking for a job right now. In this case, a second call helps, says Elena.

“There is nothing wrong with calling back at a different time. The main thing is to sound adequate, to argue, not to start a conversation from scratch. For example: “I remember that you have an interesting project right now. But perhaps I can briefly tell you the essence of the matter? I would be grateful if, as a professional in this field, you recommend someone, if you yourself are not interested. "

Even in the event of a refusal, the recruiter can assume when the specialist will be ready to return to the conversation about a new appointment, explains Anastasia Verevkina: “If candidates refuse to meet, we often have an understanding of when and with what proposal we can return to them. However, we try to maintain contacts and professional communication with them on a regular basis and periodically return, we are interested in changes in their lives, plans for the future. "

Don't lose touch

When all negotiations are over and the candidate nevertheless accepted the offer of another company, it is easy to give up and refuse any further contacts with the failed colleague. But recruiters are ready to fight for strong and promising leaders to the last. And then a little more.

According to Ksenia Volkova, it is very important to maintain good relations after a refusal. In the history of MTS, there is a case when a candidate, after a long communication, went to work for competitors. But now, a year later, he is ready to change his decision: “The candidate came to our competitor for exactly the role for which I was negotiating with her. Throughout the year of her work with competitors, we continued to communicate. We are now at the offer stage. This person has already gained experience in telecom and will come to us for a hyperinteresting task. "

“We live in the world of networking, and from any point of view, keeping in touch with candidates is beneficial and just interesting. People change jobs and industries, candidates become clients and vice versa, and even friends. This is one of the advantages of working in consulting - the ability to shape your environment and information field, ”says Elena Semenova.

“The banking community is quite narrow and candidates often recommend their friends, colleagues and well-known market professionals. We build good business relationships with candidates, carefully store information about them in the database, so that when new projects are launched, we can make them an interesting proposal, ”explains Anastasia Verevkina.

Executive search is the highest aerobatics in the profession of a recruiter. If you have never selected top employees yourself and do not want to take risks, you can entrust this task to an experienced performer at.

Inertia, unwillingness to move, outright lies in the resume, arrogance ... What mistakes do top managers make when finding employment in a crisis?

In times of crisis job search for top manager can turn into an impossible task. There is no longer a twofold increase in salaries when moving to another company, and during interviews you have to talk with ordinary HR managers, not shareholders. In a crisis, the cost of a mistake increases. With the help of a partner of a headhunting company "Agency Contact" by Julia Zabazarny(on the picture) Executive.ru compiled a list of five main mistakes of top managers, from which they urgently need to get rid of.

1. Closedness to suggestions

The peculiarity of the Russian labor market is that top managers most companies are closed to new offers. If the company is stable at the moment, they are extremely reluctant to make contacts with headhunters and recruiting agencies.

Why is this a mistake? The Russian market now, like any market during the crisis, is very unstable - the situation is changing rapidly. Therefore, a business contact cannot be superfluous, and a new offer from outside can open up new horizons. In turn, rejection of contacts can lead to the loss of a promising job.

Example: employees of the agency "Contact" for a long time called the general director of a large company, who always answered calls with the phrase: "I do not consider any proposals and am not ready for dialogue." Two months later, the company was sold to other shareholders, and he began to actively study the market, but the option that we wanted to offer him was no longer relevant. If he started negotiations at the moment when we called him, then by the time the company was sold he could painlessly move to another job. Unfortunately, due to his closed nature, he missed the offer.

2. Inertia in the negotiation process

Into the crisis employers and the company's shareholders are quickly adapting to the new environment. Therefore, when candidates for top managers are invited for an interview during a crisis, they often set salaries lower than what the candidate would like.

Why is this a mistake? Before the crisis, the transition top managers to another company was accompanied by a significant increase in salaries, sometimes it reached 100%. An increase of 30-40% was considered the norm. Now employers offer the same level of wages or even less if they are confident in the stability of their company. The maximum salary increase when moving to the top in a crisis year is 5-10%. The candidate begins to bargain out of habit and loses the offer.

Example: An agency worked with a sales director who had been bargaining with a potential employer in Asia for a long time. The head office of the client company considered this behavior unethical and withdrew their offer. As a result, the candidate was left completely out of work and spent four months without it.

3. Lies in the resume

These are candidates for top managers especially sin in a crisis. They only try to write to get to the final interviews... Moreover, this is a problem for candidates of any level - regardless of position or sphere.

Why is this a problem? Embellishing your successes or trying to hide flaws and mistakes can lead to very sad consequences. Up to image loss or even complete loss of confidence of large employers.

Example. The candidate for the position of commercial director with whom we worked, before the interview, not only corrected his resume, but also erased the entry in the work book. Of course, during the security check it turned out. Not only did he lose a job offer, this candidate also ruined his reputation in the market.

4. Unwillingness to move

In Europe and the USA, top managers are quite mobile; they easily move from city to city or even to another country. In Russia, most candidates are not mobile enough, and it takes a lot of effort to persuade a candidate to leave Moscow for another city. Moreover, if the candidate agreed to move to Nizhny Novgorod, he will be just as reluctant to return to Moscow or St. Petersburg, because the family is always against moving.

Why is this a problem? Because very often, due to lack of mobility, candidates lose good offers, and companies lose good candidates.

Example. We were looking for a director of a pharmaceutical plant for a large Russian company. The company offered excellent conditions, but one of the candidates refused, because shortly before that he bought an apartment and did not want to live in a rented apartment anymore. As a result, the candidate did not dare to sacrifice comfort, although he later regretted it.

5. Arrogance when dealing with a recruiter

In large corporations, it is customary for the first interview to be conducted by an HR representative or headhunting agency. A candidate for a top position often declares that he will not communicate with HR managers, but is ready to talk only with the CEO of the company or shareholders. It also happens that a candidate comes for an interview, but behaves arrogantly.

Why is this a problem? If the shareholders really delegated the first stage of selecting a candidate, then the person who showed arrogance immediately drops out of the pool of potential applicants and loses the opportunity to participate in the competition.

Example. There was a case when a candidate for the position of sales director in a very large company, and with the prospect of becoming a CEO, behaved extremely arrogantly in dealing with an HR manager. And, although his qualifications and competencies were at the highest level, due to a lack of flexibility, the HR manager gave him an extremely unflattering characterization, after which we had to persuade the client to meet with this person directly for a long time. At that time we managed to convince, but often because of this behavior we lose clients, and candidates - job offers.

Comments (1)

Providing an empty vacancy with a good salary in the hope that a high-quality candidate will appear by itself, as practice shows, is not a way out of the situation. HR specialists traditionally divide companies into “closed” and “open”. The former prefer to find candidates for high-paying positions from among employees working in junior positions, the latter are looking for candidates on the side. Supporters of each of these strategies are ready to voice dozens of arguments in support of their position. The truth is probably somewhere in between, but only one fact remains indisputable: the search for a charismatic leader with all the necessary professional qualities is not an easy task, and one must approach him with great responsibility.

War with the "nomads"

The CEO of one company, a very intelligent and educated person, once justified his decision to hire a candidate for top management: "During a conversation with him, I felt comfortable and saw that he shared my views." As it turned out later, the candidate simply did not have his own views, and he "mirrored" the behavior of the leader during the interview. They did not pay attention to business qualities, they gave up on bad recommendations, and the person was hired. Very soon they parted with him.

This story, told by the head of one of the Voronezh recruiting agencies, perfectly illustrates the importance of weeding out candidates who are greedy for a large salary and an important position for good vacancies. By the way, there are a lot of such “nomads” on the labor market today. “Young and promising”, they change one company after another, not knowing how to work, but possessing a beautiful resume, which indicates work in many top positions. Partly out of the desire to play it safe from hiring just such people, most large organizations try to look for candidates by looking through the personal files of existing employees - working in ordinary positions, but having proven themselves from the good side.

In Russian companies, top personnel are hired mostly on the basis of recommendations, and only a small part - 10-20% - can be attracted with the help of recruiting companies, - Natalya Zhurova, head of the recruiting group of the ANKOR recruiting holding company, shares her experience. - As for Western companies, they primarily use internal resources. Moreover, if it is a large international company, then we can talk about attracting personnel from the company's branches in other countries. Second-level managers are often searched for with the help of personnel and executive search (targeted search and selection of senior executives and unique specialists) agencies. Searching for senior executives involves analyzing the market, obtaining information from various sources about the most successful professionals and preparing an interesting proposal for them.

Behind closed doors

We prefer to look for "promising" ones in our own company. Our company has a succession program that allows us to predict which of the talented employees and when will be able to take key positions in the business, ”says Alena Shesterikova, HR Director of MTS OJSC. - Each manager can suggest his own person for this program, and employees know that they will be promoted within one to three years. Of course, for the success of such a program, it is important to understand what kind of specialists the company will need in the long term, and the desire of employees to develop. In MTS, the program shows good results: in 2011, 30% of successors moved to the next career positions, and the percentage of vacancies filled by internal candidates reached 80%.

Approximately the same opinion is held by VTB Bank: according to the head of the group for work with personnel of the Belgorod branch of the bank Ekaterina Zubkova, the company has one of the best motivation systems, a program for training its own personnel is being successfully implemented. “When selecting top managers, we rely on our talented youth,” notes Ms. Zubkova.

Belgorodenergo also has its own explanation of the “closed” personnel policy. “The specifics of work in the energy sector makes it ineffective to attract such personnel from outside. As a rule, a graduate of a university or even a secondary specialized educational institution comes to an enterprise as an ordinary specialist and grows to the level of a manager, ”the company notes.

A separate category of organizations is large industrial enterprises, the current leaders of which, back in the Soviet era, occupied soft chairs, having passed all personnel stages - from laborers and slingers to directors and owners of factories. Such people are often simply sure that a potential boss must independently learn all the intricacies of production, starting almost from the position of a cleaner.

Negotiators

However, sometimes there is such a situation that there are no suitable personnel within the company, or the organization basically adheres to the once established rule - to look for top officials on the side. Here recruitment agencies come to the rescue, which are ready to sell their own experience in this area for a certain amount.

Finding the right candidates for leadership positions is a key, strategic function of HR departments in companies. Realizing this, in our bank we approach the search and selection of top managers in the most careful way. In the search for such employees, we use a wide range of HR tools based on the policy of openness and transparency of our relations in the market and within the company. Among others, we actively use recruitment agencies, since their long-term expertise is important to us, ”says Kirill Popov, Deputy Director of the Human Resources Department of Home Credit Bank.

Indeed, recruiting agencies can offer employers something that their own HR department cannot have by default - objectivity. Constant work with a resume allows not only to weed out the notorious "nomads", but also to find the really necessary person.

Recently, companies are increasingly resorting to the help of recruiting agencies to select highly qualified managers. And this is no coincidence: while implementing such projects in various areas of business, recruiting companies are constantly replenishing their own database of candidates, which allows them to quickly respond to the client's need for a new employee, ”says Galina Volgach, director of the Voronezh office of the recruiting company Beagle. At the same time, it is important to understand that we are talking not only about those applicants who are already in open sources and are available to any employer. As a rule, these are mostly those candidates who are not currently actively looking for work, but are highly qualified specialists. They often work in competing companies of the customer or simply do not think about finding a better place. Experienced employees of recruiting companies help to attract such specialists.

A third-party organization, when it comes to enticing a specialist from competitors, is like no one else suitable for the role of such a negotiator who can offer the necessary professional the conditions of work for a competitor. According to Irina Veretennikova, Director for Development of the Southern Region of the HeadHunter Group, the agency can act as an intermediary when it is not possible to start negotiations directly. For example, when a candidate is not ready to negotiate with competitors or the employer wants to remain anonymous at first.

The price of the issue

How much will it cost to find a top manager through a recruiting agency? The employer should be ready to pay about a quarter of the future salary of the new employee for the name of the candidate (and, of course, his consent to change the company).

The cost of recruiting company services for finding and attracting the right specialist in Voronezh varies from 10% to 25% of the candidate's annual income. Such a spread in price is dictated, firstly, by the level of the agency itself, and secondly, by the level of the position to be closed, says Galina Volgach. - If an agency agrees to search for a top-level manager for one salary, then this should at least alert the employer. Here it is appropriate to study in detail the terms of the contract and clarify in what ways the agency is going to look for the right candidate, how many employees work in the agency, what is their experience in the implementation of similar projects, with which companies it cooperates. If necessary, you should request letters of recommendation from clients - in a word, make sure that the agency is reliable as a future provider.

Approximately the same figures are voiced by other market participants. Irina Veretennikova also voiced the amount of remuneration of 25-30% of the candidate's annual income, taking into account all bonuses and awards, noting, however, that before going to the agency, you still need to try to find a specialist for a vacancy on your own.

In our practice, there are examples when the top candidate whom the agency leads was in the database of applicants on the site - the employer himself could find him, saving money.

Job websites, especially for top management, are not criteria for successful employment. If you look closely at the level of possible competition in this market, you will see that today tens of thousands of managers of all stripes regularly update their resume in search of work. And they do not call them often. Therefore, we recommend that applicants switch their resume to "closed mode" and apply only to those vacancies that may be interesting. And it is better to call in advance. As in the selection of personnel, when looking for a job for a top manager, the following components should be taken into account, namely:

• Preparing for the interview
• Analysis of the results

Unlike the standard job search, job search for a top manager differs by one, but the most important criterion: the procedure for hiring a top manager is a long process, therefore elements of the employment strategy play a key role.

What does this mean? It's very simple: it is extremely important for a top manager to remain visible and in demand.

And now about everything in order:

Problem statement for employment

It is a key element of a job placement strategy, the objectives of which are not difficult to guess, namely:

1. Or you will find a job in the next six months and remain a sought-after specialist
2. Or you will have to open your own business

Everything else does not justify itself strategically. Top managers who have been on a free flight for a year or more are not of interest to the employer. It's cruel. But this is true and true. Strategic surrender of positions is the worst thing that can happen to a top manager, so we do not recommend surrendering these positions.

General manager- always has opportunities for successful employment. The general director (in addition to numerous business connections) has his own clientele, so he knows where to find an investor, a team of professionals and thus ensuring himself a successful employment, he knows like no other. For the CEO, there is perhaps one way: to become the CEO of his company. Well, or become an investor, if there are several of these companies.

Commercial Director- is also able to find an investor (in the absence of employment), as well as use the accumulated business connections to create their own business. While these business ties are still alive.

With chief accountants, marketing directors, sales directors, etc., things are a little easier: their positions in the labor market are stable (i.e., the opportunity to find a job quickly is quite real), and in the absence of real employment, opportunities to find a team of like-minded people to create your company is also enough.

Job search elements (job sites, recruitment agencies, social circles)

Many senior executive job seekers overestimate this tool. Job websites, especially for top management, are not criteria for successful employment. If you look closely at the level of possible competition in this market, you will see that today tens of thousands of managers of all stripes regularly update their resume in search of work. And they do not call them often. Therefore, we recommend that applicants switch their resume to "closed mode" and apply only to those vacancies that may be interesting. And it is better to call in advance.

As for the "social circles", again they exist when there is a need for these relationships. As soon as the commercial interest ends, so immediately the "circles of communication" leave.

It is best to contact recruiting agencies, where there are often vacancies for top managers. As a rule, it is recruitment agencies have been working with the employer for more than one year and the employer company trusts their opinion.

Preparing for the interview

Everything here is standard, like all job seekers: a neat business appearance, good self-control and adherence to business etiquette. However, it is especially important for the employment of a senior manager (as practice has shown) - it is unnecessary preparation for the meeting. Hence our advice: do not unnecessarily prepare for a meeting with an employer, act as an "expert of the organization" and ask uncomfortable questions. This can scare off the employer and make them allergic to you.

Analysis of the results

Record the results of your trips in a notebook or diary. In light of the fact that your meetings will not be the only element of your job search, it will be convenient to consider employment as part of your current work affairs.

In conclusion, we repeat once again: employment of a top manager is not the employment of an ordinary manager or a middle manager. This is part of a business project, the key factor of which is a well-chosen strategy. Its two elements will determine success or failure: either you go forward, or you roll back. The top manager will not be able to stay put. Not that level.

As Shakespeare said, "He is doubly unhappy who, in days of sorrow about sweet times, recalls times."

These thoughts are inspired by fifteen years of interviews with highly qualified executives who have an excellent set of skills, but cannot sell themselves for several months. They torment themselves and torture us, causing a mixture of sympathy and irritation. And they don't want to listen to our recommendations in the employment process.

The article is offensive. Therefore, please leave for the faint of heart.

So. Imagine (and someone does not need to imagine) that you are a major leader ...

Dear top!

Have you had good times? Forget about them. You are now in the role of an unemployed person.

Can you solve a few questions?

Here, it would seem, they found a vacancy on the Internet, where in the requirements they simply wrote off a portrait of a professional from you! They sent their resume there, and ... like into a bottomless pit. You, of course, thought that they would have to persuade you, and of course you will resist, weigh everything, whether they correspond to the title of an employer worthy of you. But this is not the case. And I want to know the reason for the refusal. And you call. On the other end of the line, they politely answer that your resume has come, your candidacy is being considered, and they will definitely call you back. And ... they don't call. Weird.

Or vice versa. You were not told politely, but simply barked that there were a lot of you, such directors walking around here. And give everyone a position! ... It's unpleasant. You have long been unaccustomed to this kind of treatment. ...

A month passes, another ... fifth. No, you are not in danger of starvation. There may not be enough money for grandchildren, but for sure for children. But your wife is already looking askance at you, and the children do not brag with pride in front of their friends. And you are even willing to pay your own money to these pompous recruiters, just to find out the reason for your lack of demand.

The great psychotherapist Frankl once said: “During a crisis, neurotics lose their jobs. This is what they can now explain all their failures ... ".

Here are some very common statistics:

If you belong to this statistic, we know your objections in advance. That just like most of the candidates for your enterprises, you, at one time, tried not to take over 45 years old, in the same way you think about yourself that all the best in your life has already been. That now it is too late to think about something big. And you just have to "live out" after fifty. What are your plans for 40 years? Listening to all this is boring and hopeless. We need to jump in front of you only if we can sell you somewhere this very second. This does not happen often, sorry for the cynicism. Only at these moments will we be happy to ride and adjust to your banalism.

If you belong to this statistic - your destiny by the age of 70, sitting with your own kind in the yard, slaughter a domino goat, (or worse, drain a glass), criticize the government, and grumble about the fact that in your times the youth was better, and the water is wetter. Thought completely "new". Or, peeling seeds on a bench, as part of one-toothed old women, discuss all the latest news from the personal lives of neighbors (there is no one of our own), consider the unchaste outfits of young girls from the entrance and be indignant where our world is heading. Do you want this? You do not want?

Then if you do not belong to this statistic - maybe you shouldn't slip into it? Maybe you will remember that you can not only take advantage of the opportunity when fortune favors you? And can you also take a hit in moments of your own calm? Just as you once knew how to get your enterprises out of difficult situations? And yet, start making long-term plans, even just now, when the roasted rooster has already pecked?

Let me give you two examples of a life strategy.

First example. Banal. The director of a large production, which is our client, asked a good friend to help him find employment. I said that I would have his friend call me on the phone at a certain time. He was able to call me at a different time, when I was in roaming and held a seminar in another city. Therefore, he was offended at my request to call back on Monday afternoon. But then, he called back. And he began to be indignant with claims in his voice, why did not I answer him at the moment when it was convenient for him to speak? After all, they specifically asked about him, as a leader with a lot of regalia? And who asked! Here's our dialogue:

- May I ask you? Do you want to tell me how good you are, or find out why you are not hired?

- Who are you? Do you know what position I held? I realized that you can help with finding a job! Can you help me?

- Most likely I can't. I did not occupy your position. I am borrowing another. And by the way, I don't need a job now, but you want me to consider you for a vacancy. And the result of your employment will no longer depend on me, but on you. Where do you think you are calling?

- You were deceived. We are recruiters. We take money from employers and give guarantees to employers that the candidate will cope with the job. We do not take money from you, and we do not carry any guarantees. And, in fact, we did not look for you, and even without you we lived well. If I understood correctly, then at the moment you need us?

- Right. (already a little quieter). so what?

- If you think that you are the only one so wonderful among the leaders, then I want to disappoint you. Not alone. And do not even enter a hundred. We have a summary of the likes of yours - mountains.

- And what do you mean by that? That it is impossible for me to find a job?

- Impossible. With the approach you are showing me now, it is definitely impossible. And I don't even want to talk to you, let alone take a job. Although you have such a skill set that many will envy. If you changed your approach that everyone owes you and would learn the technique of negotiating work with us ... But you don't need that, right?

- And what kind of technique? ...

With the help of this dialogue, I was able to drag him into the workshop, because in a nutshell, you can't tell him how to correct his actions. Unfortunately, with him, not much more was achieved in two days. What is the reason for his refusals for vacancies for six months? He considers communicating with rank-and-file personnel officers "not tsarist" business. And bypassing them is trying to get through to the first persons. And, by the way, he also demonstrated to me that I am lower than him - after all, I am an intermediary, while I myself called for help. Whether you want it or not, dear tops, even if personnel officers and recruiters in companies do not possess a tenth of your skills, you should not demonstrate it to them. Better yet, treat them like your boss on a temporary project called "Employment at Company X". After all, they are your entry point to the leadership.

Example two. Non-trivial. In which, due to their banal thinking, the banal majority of tops do not believe. Whereas in our opinion, this is the norm for everyone. And especially for those whose abilities are such that they have already achieved great heights in leadership positions. That is, it is yours, dear top, extraordinary and non-trivial abilities.

I flew from Rostov to Krasnoyarsk to conduct a seminar. My grandfather turned out to be a neighbor on the plane. I opened my laptop and prepared for the seminar. I noticed that he was peeping at what I was doing. We got to talking. Who was he? My grandfather turned out to be 82 years old. Grandfather is a chief engineer at one of the Krasnoyarsk factories. Grandfather is currently one of the world's best specialists at the intersection of physics and chemistry. The grandfather's salary is one of the highest not only at the plant, but also in Krasnoyarsk. And taking into account the fact that in Soviet times, the seniority was accrued from the moment of study at a university and industrial practice, the grandfather's seniority was 65 years in one place. He flew from one of the Rostov factories, from an industrial trip, along with three apprentices. One of the apprentices was 30, the second 35, and the third 50. I think that the third apprentice thought that it was "too late" for him to make any plans. A couple more touches to the portrait of this highly qualified and intelligent man, whom, in fact, he cannot call his grandfather. Fluent English. Flies around the world to conferences. And according to the results of the work of the personnel service of his plant on the ability to establish contacts with colleagues, which is carried out by interviewing colleagues, he said: "You know, I am already uncomfortable, but I am the best for the third year." Impressive?

Why is this so with this person? Because at 82 he continues to make long-term plans! And to act in their direction, and not fold their legs out of desperation.

Let me ask you one last question?

Now, after I, on behalf of the recruiters, poured so much poison into you, how do you think we treat you? Roughly and dismissively, interrupting you, as it seems to you, on a unique story during an interview, while we hear dozens of such stories every day? Or respectful? How about a strong person who has already achieved great results, and has even greater (emphasis on the first syllable) reserves of unrealized potential? How to a person with whom you do not need polite phrases, but you need specific help? As for the second.

If we thought that it was really "late" for you, I assure you, we are not sadists. We would behave in a cultured way, and try not to hurt the quick. But I am sure that I did not offend you, because even if you find yourself in these circumstances, you can change them! Why? The same Viktor Frankl wrote: “A healthy person can also lose his job, but he does not reduce his activity (studies, retraining) and acts like an athlete who was expelled from the team - he continues to train, because he understands that one cannot get out of form”. And as proof that you are healthy people - you are looking for ways out, and even read these nasty things to the end!

Want to bring back the good times? Forget your pride! Try to start acting like this, as if you still have at least 100 years of productive life! And who cares how old it really is? Until 70 years as we used to think, or up to 150 * years, as most scientists believe, when calculating the strength of the human body? The main thing is HOW we will conduct them. And if you do not rush, but do not stop, then the result will come.

Let's not remember what you were! Let's get settled now, the way you are!

* According to some scientific physiologists, the human body is designed for 150 years, according to others for 250 years. In ancient Greece, Democritus lived up to 110 years, Pythagoras up to 109 years, like many other philosophers. And they did not "live out", but created, were productive, and had good sex. The average duration of a warrior in Sparta (if he was not killed in the war) was 105 years. The first officer's position was received no earlier than 50 years. Neurotic reasons why the majority does not work this way are described in many books by M. Litvak. (author's note.)