This is a 2-part blog by Peter Wilford about supporting Finance Directors to consider about retiring or not. This is part 1.
The rest of this blog is in Peter’s own words.
Context of this blog
I have worked with a number of Finance Directors, FCA qualified, mostly in their 50’s, who had left their last company, either through redundancy or via a mutual settlement agreement.
They had been provided with a set number of hours and sessions of dedicated outplacement support, the term for ‘career coaching’ provided by organisations making staff redundant and through a benevolent fund, and I was their chosen career coach.
Initial issues and challenges
In every single case, my clients said that they had no wish to retire from work yet.
Many said that they could retire if they chose with their strong pension portfolios and other investments.
They were all uncertain about their options next after having had long and successful commercial careers.
Exiting corporate life is a major career crossroads. Working with an experienced career coach is invaluable at this crucial decision point. Especially an experienced one, who has worked with many senior executives.
Lack of awareness of transferable skills.
In almost every case, they had no clear appreciation of:
- their transferable skills
- how the job market worked
- where their options lay within finance
- and outside finance.
Of course, they hadn’t needed to!
This can be a very daunting experience for people who have always worked in one profession.
You can only know what you know!
They had been siloed and sheltered working in the corporate world for many years and were now thrust into the open, in effect a boat without a captain to steer it, with no route planned and no rudder.
This can create a crisis of confidence and be stressful – venturing into the unknown!
Career options
Becoming a non-executive director (NED) is a common option considered at this point.
Also doing some voluntary or charity work and enjoying a slower pace of life and improved work life balance. A portfolio career can provide a gentle ‘slope’ to retirement, rather than a sudden ‘cliff’ stopping a long working life abruptly, just because they had reached a certain age.
Almost without exception, they all wanted to move on from working with large organisations and away from the ‘corporate treadmill’.
Lack of awareness about their brand and marketability
Few had any real appreciation of their USP (unique selling proposition) i.e. what made them unique in the market place.
Even fewer had clarity about a target organisation that they would like to work with, and how to go about marketing how they could help, or what services they could offer of value.
A common view, perhaps because they had been in the structure of corporate life,
Some had a degree of arrogance mixed with naivety that they would ‘get something soon’. This is not a criticism, just a consequence of having been ‘cushioned’ in corporate life.
Lead time to create a new role
I had to point out to them, that most people will take 18 months on average, to secure their first non-executive director (NED) role.
Also, that if they wanted to do interim/contract work, the key issue in the mind of the interim recruiter would be “has he or she done interim work before?” and that in reality those who had would be on top of the pile of shortlisted candidates.
In the current Covid-19 market in 2021, recruitment lead times are longer, with companies risk-averse about increasing fixed costs. They also have a large pool of high quality candidates from which to choose from.
Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are a pre-requisite for success and are becoming more important with the advent of Artificial Intelligence and automation, predicted to increase massively in the next 5 years.
Many Financial Directors (FDs) and senior Finance professionals are brilliant at numeracy and numbers.
Words and people are, understandably, not their best strength.
Also, whilst they bring commerciality, few are competent at marketing themselves. They have never had to.
Like lawyers, FDs, are qualified and trained to do a specific job, from their early career, and in the past this has not included pitching.
One or two of my clients have been the exception to this norm and they have invariably secured commercial work more easily, possessing this experience, securing both full and part time roles.
Compelling CV and achievements
Some FD’s had some semblance of a CV, few have though about and been able to articulate strong and compelling achievements.
I had not expected them to know about a Skills CV and where and why they should have it in their ‘marketing tool kit’. All of them quickly saw its benefit, especially when approaching the unadvertised job market.
The beginning of the career coaching journey
Because of the above factors, the starting point of career coaching therefore, is ‘starting from scratch’ and having a conversation about their career and what they had accomplished.
Pitching themselves
Many FD’s were not used to or skilled at pitching, and many were poor at networking or rusty at it.
This was because they had not needed to do it in their corporate careers, or because they just didn’t have the natural personality and / or the skills to identify and grow their network.
We had to work together on this as we did on giving them a proactive LinkedIn profile.
Part 2 of this 2 part blog ‘Ready to be ‘put out to grass’? Or not! Part 1 of 2.’
More
‘The 100 year life’ by Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott: http://www.100yearlife.com/
‘The new long life’ by Lynda Gratton and Andrew J Scott: https://thenewlonglife.com/
Peter Wilford’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterwilford/
Client testimonials: https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/testimonials/
Why choose us? https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/talent-liberation/
Blog – How does career coaching work? https://www.inspiringportfoliocareers.com/how-does-career-coaching-work/