Job Hunting Sucks!
Are you a talented go-to-market leader looking for access to the best early & growth-stage startup opportunities in sustainability, accelerated automation, and digital transformation?
Switching Jobs Every 18 Months Is Not a Great Formula For Happiness or Wealth Creation
Whether your last few job changes were intentional or not, if you’ve found yourself jumping around in your career, chances are you’ve never been taught how to identify and position yourself to land the right best-fit opportunities.
Can you relate with one or more of the following?
84% of people in a recent national survey said they’d leave their job if offered the chance to work for a company with a stronger reputation.
Workers in smaller firms (i.e. the type we represent) feel far more engaged in their work than their counterparts in larger corps.
64% of workers say they’d take more than a 50% pay cut for a job they love over sticking with a job that’s “boring”.
Job security, health care coverage, and professional development are valued above additional compensation.
Nearly 80% of workers look at people and culture fit with prospective employers first, career potential second.
Across America, only 20% of workers say they feel “passionate” about their jobs. 33% believe they have reached a dead end in their career and 21% are eager to change careers.
You’ll be up to 3x more likely to land your next right-fit job by having a trusted 3rd party represent you versus you selling yourself directly to your next employer.
Three Questions You Need Be Asking Yourself NOW If You Plan To Switch Jobs Within The Next 3-6 Months:
“What’s the #1 catalyst driving me to look for a new/better opportunity?”
“What 3 criteria will account for 80% of my decision to accept my next role?”
“How will I know it’s the right time to start looking for my next gig?”
Whether you realize it or not, the BEST TIME to look is when you’re NOT looking.
The 5 Reasons Executive
Job Searches Fail
You’ll be unclear about your true requirements for your next role.
You’ll fail to build the right pipeline and get yourself enough at-bats.
You’ll have trouble navigating the offer timing due to limited visibility.
You’ll lose out on valid opportunities due to FOMO getting to you.
You’ll wait until you’re unemployed to start looking OR not give yourself enough time to find the right fit.
The Business Case For Bearhug
What We Expect of You
In most instances, you’ll need to be currently employed, living in the US, and you’ll need to be enthusiastic about contributing to technical solutions in the areas of global sustainability, accelerated automation, or digital transformation.
You’ll need to currently have a senior GTM or C-Suite and at least 2 years of tenure under your belt + you’ll need to demonstrate you rank in the top 10% of your skill bracket.
Excellent communication skills are a must, along with the ability to adapt to and collaborate with various personality types. You should have a proven track record of motivating teams to achieve outstanding results.
It's important to recognize the gap between your current contribution and your untapped potential, which can be unlocked with the right career opportunity.
You should have a clear "wish list" with specific criteria for starting a new chapter in an early or growth-stage startup as a GTM leader and linchpin of your next executive team.
Be prepared for an in-depth retrospective of your career, supported by feedback from current and past colleagues, employers, and references.
(Drum roll please! Because we’ve saved the best and most important for last…)
7. You must possess the character we would feel comfortable inviting into our homes for dinner with our families.
What You Can Expect From Us
Depth: The initial conversation we’ll have will only be about 30-minutes. Our objective will simply be to get to know one another and to get a high level understanding of your current situation along with learning more about the types of opportunities you’d get excited about and what some of your high level parameters are. But if we run you on one of our search projects, be prepared to invest the necessary time (usually several hours) for us to dig deep into your past along with your work history to learn what makes you tick, what you’ve done up to now, and the unique value you feel you can bring to our client.
Matchmaking Done Right: Rest assured if we decide to run you on one of our search projects, you’ll not only get 10x more information than you could ever expect, but you’ll be at least an 80% match for what our client is looking for or you will NOT hear about the opportunity. While matching your technical skills with a job spec is straightforward, the real challenge lies in aligning your soft skills with the specific style and culture of your new company. This alignment is crucial to unlocking and activating your full potential and creativity.
We’ll Only Present You With The Best: In most cases, we won't waste your time with companies lacking a clear path to success. However, as the saying goes “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. Sometimes the best opportunities are a turn-around situation. However, in almost every case, the companies we represent will have at least 18 months of runway (cash in the bank) and will have enough budget allocated for this role to pay at or above market.
Interview Preparation: Our opportunities and workflow will warrant 2-3x the attention you may have given to any prior interview sequence. The hiring teams at our client companies, are likely as talented as you are. They will quickly detect any hint of you not being prepared or fully committed to taking the process seriously. We take zero risks when it comes to ensuring you’re well-prepared and will be perceived in your best light. We will meticulously prepare you for all interviews with each stakeholder. However, there will be certain details or steps along the way that you’ll have to navigate on your own. While it’s practically impossible to ‘cheat the system’ we’ve set up with our clients to vet candidates, chances are you’ll end up feeling 10x more prepared for one of our interview loops than you ever have been in your life.
Honesty: We believe in transparency and radical candor. If we initially find or discover any gaps between your past experiences and the requirements of our opportunity, we'll address them early and often. Our goal is to respect your time and ensure a mutually beneficial relationship.
Negotiations: When all parties fulfill their roles and are pre-aligned with hypothetical offers and acceptances, transitions are pretty seamless. However, if we believe you're unlikely to accept an offer our client wants to extend, you won’t be getting one from our client.
Trust: For us to excel in our role as a trusted talent partner to our clients, we rely on your trust in the same way you can also rely on ours. Our commitment to you is enduring, and will be reflected in your longevity within the organizations we place you. Ensuring the right fit minimizes headaches and maximizes productivity. Increased output leads to greater rewards, recognition, and overall happiness for all of us. This is the essence of giving you a Bearhug and we will demonstrate our commitment to giving both sides a world-class experience with every opportunity we work on together.
FAQs
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At this time, the only paid service we offer is to our clients who hire us to help them identify and attract the best GTM talent out in the market.
However, we’re in the process of publishing a comprehensive library of both free AND paid content that will assist job hunters of all shapes and sizes on best practices for accelerating their careers.
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Historically, our average search takes us 50.7 days from kick-off to getting a signed offer letter. However, that number is skewed due to some extreme outliers.
We have a lot of control over how quickly things happen during the first 30 days (getting people into your internal process) and very little control with how fast our clients move things along afterward.
However, we typically work with clients to align both sides of the workflow in order to complete any given search within ~60 days (+/- 15 day).
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While a competent Headhunter can help a client fill any role they need, regardless of industry, function, seniority, size, or location, Bearhug has built its entire reputation on filling senior GTM roles (i.e. Marketing & Sales Leadership titles) + other C-Suite roles that are at least partially customer facing.
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While 95% of our practice fits into the “Enterprise Software” or “SaaS” category, we are most excited to work with founders who have the expressed objective of providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges.
These solutions often require lengthy research and development, and large capital investment before they’re able to be successfully commercialized. Most often these solutions are referred to as Frontier Technology or DeepTech.
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Our clients are almost always provided with either a 60 day or 90 day “Replacement Guarantee”. Should you get hired and subsequently get fired or choose to leave within this timeframe we are required re-open the search and present our client with at least 2 suitable candidates as a replacement. So it’s in both our best interest to get it right the first time!
