Q: What challenges do I need to be aware of at this stage of my career in moving to a client-side opportunity?

A: If you have stayed on the marketing services side for more than six or seven years, at some point client-side opportunities will tend to discount your ability to transition from the services to client side. Many times, client-side hiring authorities view marketing services candidates as “too narrow," e.g., only focused on the creative/campaign management side of marketing and lacking skills internally required to manage the broad logistical elements of launching/delivering new products and services.

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Last month, I wrote about the hiring challenges being experienced during the current hot job climate. One response to that article was from Michael Phelan, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at HiWired, a fast-growing venture funded firm offering remote technology support services to consumers and small businesses:

"The hiring market has not been this hot since 1999/2000. Companies need to radically adjust their strategies in order to be successful in this market. First, senior executives need to spend considerable time personally recruiting top talent; they need to work closely with top recruiting companies and they need to move through the hiring process rapidly. Small flexible companies who can immediately move to offer and cut out or adjust second/third round interviews stand much better chances of winning top talent. Candidates can view slow bureaucratic hiring processes, evidence of politics and conflicting messages during the interviews as indications of lack of interest or evidence of bigger internal problems."

Phelan went on to describe a recent hiring decision for a hard-to-get Online Marketing Manager. HiWired’s CEO conducted a final interview over the phone on a Tuesday evening at 9 p.m., while he was on vacation, and an offer was made the next day at 8 a.m. The candidate had another offer and turned it down to accept the position at HiWired. Another candidate had four job offers and still accepted a position at HiWired. In all these cases, salary, bonus and stock option did not really factor in. In fact, the candidates made decisions based on respect for the hiring manager, the hiring manager's ability to make it happen, fit with the team, opportunities to learn and grow, the work environment, and overall organizational and cultural fit.

Connect with EC at These Conferences

Jeff was a panelist last week on “CMO—The First 100 Days" at the ANA Senior Marketers Think Tank Committee Meeting in New York City. The discussion focused on the very brief period of time that new CMOS have to prove their value to an organization and how they can turn their first 100 days into a springboard for future success. Panelists discussed questions such as:

• What’s the dialog between a prospective CMO and CEO?
• Why is alignment between these two notably savvy, highly experienced professionals so difficult to achieve?
• What’s not being discussed that ultimately leads to such a quick breakdown of this relationship?

Next week Jeff will be attending The 19th Annual Card Forum and Expo in Boca Raton, FL.