Jay C.
President
How do you find a job as President? You can't call the President and it can be difficult to find the owner, stakeholder or the appropriate board member. I had worked my way to senior executive level positions with well-known food manufacturing companies and then took a position, as the President of a gourmet specialty food manufacturer, where I grew the company threefold only to have the owner sell it.
Although my efforts paid off well for the owner, they did not leave me anywhere near financially secure. I returned to the Midwest, where our children reside, and started contacting recruiters, looking on job boards and calling industry colleagues and friends. Four months later I realized I was spinning my wheels, buying a lot of lunches and having colleagues say, "I'll make some calls or ask around", never to hear back. A friend of mine referred me to Lightship. I gave them a call and they explained how recruiters, job boards and friends wouldn't get me enough decision makers quickly enough to land a job before my severance ran out.
So I hired Lightship and within 4 days I had a new resume and cover note, that was definitely a better presentation than the one I was using, and a target list of companies with which they thought my background would generate leverage. I still had doubts that I could land a job in 45 days and I told them that, every time we talked. I questioned their contact suggestions and just about everything else. The strategist finally said just do what we tell you and the rest will take care of itself. He even took over many of the tasks that were my responsibility during the search. I say this because job searching can be so discouraging that it made me doubt myself and take out my fear and anger on him.
They understood and were very patient with me. I actually received offers within 30 days, one to be the president of a private equity portfolio company and one with a Fortune 100 food and consumer products company, which is the one I accepted. I thank Lightship for their patience, their attention to detail throughout the process and producing exactly what they said they would. -- Jay C.
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