Read This If You Have a Job or Need to Have a Job
That is young Don Hurzeler on the right, in CEO mode, lecturing (God knows I love to lecture) old Don Hurzeler on the left about how important he was in his prime. Old Don Hurzeler is smiling and could care less about what he used to be. He is too busy enjoying the life he has in retirement. But…that said…Don (that would be me) still has a few career ideas that might be helpful to you….and, like I said, you know how much I like to lecture.
My series of books, collectively called The Courage to Succeed, started off with two books about careers. The second of those books, The Way Up: How to Keep Your Career Moving In the Right Direction, won a gold medal from Axiom Books for Career Book of the Year. My last few books have been about retirement, but I still reflect a lot on my career and the careers of those around me.
As I age, I noticed that my actual middle-of-the-night dreams have changed from dreams about the future to dreams about the past. That sounds a bit sad, but it is not. I am living my dreams in retirement and the visits to my past keep me in touch with important times in my life. I had one of those dreams last night and it put me back in touch with one of the most important things I learned about my own career. That lesson…be prepared to make a career move at any time, especially when things are going great. Here is how I learned that lesson.
I worked for Allstate Insurance starting when I was still in college. I had just gotten married. Needed to pay the bills. Had a semester left to get my degree. Allstate was just down the street and they had a full time, really low level, job available. Turns out I knew some one at that regional office, thanks to my track and field career, and he got me the job. That job lasted twenty eight years. Thank you Steve Hopkins.
Some of what I am going to cover has changed drastically in the decades since I first started working. However, some of the following is as good today as it was then.
One of the things that has changed is the nature of a career today. Back when I was just starting out, people often took a job and stayed in that company until retirement. We became loyal to the company…almost married to it. We were family…sometimes a dysfunctional family…but family none-the-less. Many of us had career plans, carefully constructed by Human Resources or Personnel, with the input of our bosses, team mates and upper management…or so we thought. No need to look outside the company…we were safe and secure and life was good.
Today, people make their own career paths. I don’t see loyalty as a big feature in most careers. What I do see is opportunistic moving around to gain experience and to move up the career ladder. Today’s workers are much more mobile and adaptable than when I was working…and God bless them for that being the case. And…I suspect that every successful worker today has an up-to-date resume in an app, on their phone, that they can send to a prospective employer in about ten seconds. That is a huge change from when I was still working.
At one point in my life I became fairly well known as the person to contact if you needed a job or a needed to change jobs. After writing two books on the subject, being quoted in the Wall Street Journal and all sorts of other publications and speaking on the subject all over the country…I became a resource that people might contact if they needed some help. My fee schedule helped…I never charged anyone a penny for any advice or contacts I might find for them. And because of all that…I heard from hundreds of people…still do. My first words back to them…send me your resume. Now, this is where the real story begins…
I mentioned that I was with one company for twenty eight years. I did not mention that during that time I never had a resume…didn’t need one. The company, Human Resources and the leaders above me all knew what my experiences were, along with my strengths and weaknesses. Since my game plan was to work there to sixty five years of age and then retire from Allstate, I had no need for a resume…or so I thought.
Now I start to move this story into the modern age. At one point in my career I was headed right to the top…or at least it seemed that way to me. Others noticed. One who noticed was one of the best executive recruiters (known in those days as Head Hunters). He called me to see if I might be interested in making a move outside of Allstate. Not really, I said. He mentioned the compensation package for the job he was working to fill…and I am making these numbers up a bit but the ratio is exactly on…the new job paid $3,700,000 a year and I was making $350,000 a year at the time. What! Well, heck yes, I was interested. Now comes the embarrassing part…the executive recruiter asked me to send him my resume. I did not have one to send.
At this point the executive recruiter instantly understood that I was an Allstate “lifer” and had a very narrow view of the industry outside of Allstate. He really wanted my skill set for the job and so he got on a plane, flew to Chicago that day and I met him in a private room at the Red Carpet Club for United Airlines at O’Hare Field. He gave me a master’s class in “careers” over the several hours we were together. I am forever thankful for that advice.
Here is what he did regarding my resume. It was a Friday. He asked (told) me to send him a two page standard resume so that he would have it electronically on Monday…ready to be printed out and sent forward. He also asked me to provide him with an in-depth accounting of my entire work career. He told me he expected it to be at least eight pages and that it could be as many pages as I wanted…but a minimum of eight pages. He wanted a section on each and every job I had over my twenty some year career with Allstate and details on each job. He wanted to know the specific skill sets I built up in each job, specific learnings from each job, wanted to know what success and failures I had experienced in each job. Once I got to the part of my career where I managed people and budgets, he wanted to know exact details…how many people, what was the budget, what moves did I make to improve the team make up and to get the job done within the budget. Once I began to manage profit centers, he wanted me to show top line, expense ratios, loss ratios (I was in the insurance business) profit margins and how I did vs plan…by year for each job…backed up with profit and loss statements if I had them (and he let me know it would not be seen favorably if I did not have them…so find them if I did not have them directly at hand). He wanted me to outline specific initiatives that I started or contributed to that advanced growth, expense control, loss ratio improvement, diversity, the continuing education of myself and my team(s) and what I did outside of work to help improve my community or the industry. He also wanted to know key contacts I had in the industry that might vouch for me…reinsurance executives, agents, brokers, industry association people…and that was an area of strength for me, so I was happy to provide those contacts.
Now…that may be overkill for most of you. But at the time, I was attempting to move up from officer in a company to a CEO position in another company. And the companies were large…all were over a billion dollars in size. So, we are talking career breakthrough for me.
I am happy to say that I passed the test. I did a good job…actually he told me I did a great job…on putting the information together. He then asked me to take a couple of days off of work and to fly over to his office in New York City, so we could talk through my work experience and get him ready to pitch me for this big money position. That is what he said he wanted to do. What he really intended to do was to get me ready for a CEO level interview process…especially given the fact that I had not interviewed for a job in well over twenty years. I took the days off and flew over to see him.
Once I arrived in NYC, I was picked up by his driver in his stretch limo. We dropped my bag at the Plaza Hotel, where I would be spending the night, and proceeded to his office in Midtown. When I arrived, I was asked to wait to see him. The wait was longer than I expected. When I was ushered in to see him, I was astonished at his office and view…he obviously had a very successful practice…and wanted me to know it. A few moments of pleasantries and then the grilling began. We went over every aspect of everything I had given him…in detail. He challenged some of my numbers and belittled some of my accomplishments. He tried his best to intimidate me and to get me angry or poke at my emotions. It was a roller coaster, rough and tumble meeting. I think I sweat through my shirt, suit and possibly the chair I as on. It was painfully obvious to me that I had not been prepared for the outside world. By the end of the session, he helped me prepare for a few areas he thought I could better present and gave me his advice on how to do great in a CEO position interview. He then told me that I was one of the strongest candidates he had worked with and built up my confidence for the interviews with prospective employers that would come my way. Career wise, it was one of the best learning experiences of my life. The next day I got to put those learnings to work with a real interview for an actual CEO job.
Now, you might be quietly shaking your head at the ramblings of an old man reflecting back on his career. You might think that I don’t know how it works today…that you use services that screen your resumes, interested companies contact you, they set up interviews by Zoom with your potential team mates and others…all done with the use of technology. Well, I do know. But do not miss the fact that I was trying to make a career break through in my example…one that paid ten times my current pay…and would take me to a CEO level. Not for you? You see yourself as a technician, a subject expert, a worker bee. Well…so did I…until one day opportunity presented itself and changed my life. The lesson is… be prepared for anything, including wild success.
Oh…and I know that at any part of the interview process you might end up being left hanging…ghosted by the company or people interviewing you…thought you were about to get the job and then never heard from them again. Guess what…that happened in my day, as well. I hate that. When you take over the world…don’t be that kind of person. Let people know where they stand.
BTW..when all those hundreds of people called or emailed me asking for career help…most were asking because their long held job was being eliminated, the company was going out of business, they had been “downsized”…didn’t see it coming. Well…see it coming. Especially today, where businesses and business environments change over night. ALWAYS be prepared…as in having an up-to-date resume on your phone and ready to send and an up-to-date, in-depth document about each and every job you have ever had…ready to send at a moments notice.
Another BTW…when I did put my resume together and the detailed and in-depth accompanying document, I realized that I had real value to offer to the marketplace…I had done things, had experience that was transferable, had been trained for challenges inside and outside my current company. I promise you, I felt better about myself. My doubts went away and my confidence rose.
I have this stupid theory that is probably wrong, but I hold onto it as a theory anyway. My theory…All of us can be successful…that part is not a theory…I believe that is truth and I believe it with all my heart. I believe it is true for those who made bad mistakes in life, for those who have been or feel they have been discriminated against, for those with disabilities. All of us can rise up to the top. We can all be a CEO in one way or another. We might have to start our own company or own our own business, but we can make our dreams come true. In fact, you and I can be part of a movement that is needed in this country and around the world to make the CEO job a great thing in society…a job that helps bring about needed change with much more speed than in the past…that measures success in both dollars and contributions to the over all good of society and our community…that moves away from greed, but never forgets that companies and organizations need to make an adequate return to stay in business and hopefully grow opportunities for employees, customers and stock/stake holders. If we limit our self view to just being the ones that complain about all that is wrong about capitalism, CEOs and business today…we leave out the real power…the power to take over these institutions and to then bring about meaningful change. And since you and I come from all parts of humanity, together we can turn diversity into just the way it is…we all get the opportunity to rise to the top and become agents of change. We are all victims in one way or another. The trick is to succeed anyway.
And if you are wondering…how did all that work out for me? Well, I did end up as a CEO, both in an insurance position and as a leader in an industry association. Trust me on this…it was never a straight line to success…I had my ups and downs and outright failures. But in the end, I got everything I wanted out of my career and enjoyed the opportunity to put some positive programs in place that still work well for others today. It set me up for the greatest part of my life, retirement…the freedom of retirement. And, funny thing, I now have several new “careers” that do not require me to show up in an office each day, nor do I need to own a suit…I just do things I love and they earn enough to keep me in suntan lotion and help to make my retirement fulfilling and meaningful…to me. I am the CEO of my retirement and my career plan these days involves my wife and family, friends, photography, writing books and going to the beach…all over the world. Best career plan of my life.
The Courage to Succeed…I think it does take courage…and I think you have that courage. Be courageous, even when you are scared, and that courage will make your dreams come true.
Aloha.