Have the hunted look!
I HAVE had the incredible history of never having applied for a job. My friends feel that I must have been born with a silver spoon in my mouth; others think its because I was somehow more privileged than they were. If there was a silver spoon, I must have swallowed it and I certainly did not have half the advantages that those who think I had them felt! The advantage I had was that people came looking for me; I never went around looking for them! And I am not the only one. Several people are so good at their jobs that scouts come up asking, cajoling, pleading and luring them from where they are working to where the scouts want them to be.
The high fliers who come to me about these dilemmas they encounter ever so often during their careers are usually quite modest people and often succeed in undervaluing themselves to the hunter, and so for all you trophies out there, here's a list of things you can do to stay on top of the process.
Rohini Singh, one of the members of my `Trophy Club' is into advertising at one of the top agencies in Hong Kong. She is very good at her job and has been worth half a million dollars to her agency consistently for the last fourteen months. She earned and accepted five raises in those fourteen months, and is now pegged at a little over double the salary she came in with. For the last three months she has generated over six million dollars for the agency. She hasn't had time to stop and think for the duration because she is constantly on the fly, until she was brought to a full stop by a phone call asking her if she would consider a change at a salary 125% higher than what she was earning. Startled by the call she came to me to ask what she should do.
Just as well! Left to herself, Rohini would have jumped at the offer. Firstly, as she told me, the company was the biggest on the Island, second it would do her CV no end of good, and finally, she was moving into a more senior profile with larger responsibilities. I advised caution. No jumping, I said, they were after her; not, as I pointed out, the other way around. It is crucial not to look too eager. Try and put off a meeting in the immediate future, but don't put it off too long. I told her to say that she could squeeze them in three days' time. Rohini, bless her innocence, wanted to rush up to their office and meet the partner. Fortunately my leash was strong enough. Neutral territory is always better, unless she could con the partner to visit her, informally on her home turf. Eventually, she called up and said that she would be delighted to take a working lunch with the partner near her beat in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon-side. This was a bit of a risk, true, but it could be explained away to prying eyes as a tactical meeting. So close to her office could not possibly be the best place to meet a future employer her colleagues would have thought.
I told Rohini to talk about how happy she was in her present company, and how rewarding the work was. In short, no hint of wanting to leave must escape her at all! She should say that she was only meeting him because she was only exploring professional growth. It is essential, I told her, that she should emphasise that though the money was generous, the increase was not the main point of interest, she was to ask what the company expected for such a large jump in emoluments. The idea was to get the company to tell her what they wanted.
As it turned out, it worked beautifully, because, on D-day, the partner began to hard-sell his company, trying to get Rohini to agree. Rohini showed reluctance, to join but enthusiasm for the work she would be expected to do. As an appetite-whetter, it worked like a charm. She let drop that she was considering an offer from a Taipei-based company that was offering her a little more in terms of salary but a great deal more in terms of responsibilities and travel to India fairly frequently. This conveyed the message that she could be tempted.
Rohini was worrying about other candidates that the company may have been considering, but I told her that if the partner was willing to come to the table with her, she must be the prize catch. Partners are too big and too busy to waste their time with every candidate. Obviously, the agency needed her more than she needed it at that point.
Nevertheless, I thought it wise for Rohini to prepare for some googly questions that might disqualify her, after having come that far. These were questions in client and subordinate management and having taken her through them, I got her to make her answers sound as unrehearsed as possible - which took a lot of rehearsal! I asked her to mention her weak points straight up. It is wise to remember that when one is headhunted, considerable research would have gone into our character, likes, dislikes and foibles. So coming clean at the start with something like "... my Sundays and holidays are sacrosanct... " or "... I have a problem dealing with people who do not understand the advertising business. People like accountants and finance-people. I tend to be short and impatient with them. I am into the advertisement business and do not enjoy explaining it to others in the same business." In short, she was to indicate that she would not suffer fools gladly. A good weakness to have, one that is a strength in her line of business! There is no need to advertise all one's weaknesses, only the more positive ones!
Rohini, with all her successes is strangely uncommunicative about them. Despite being in advertising, she really is no good at self-advertisement, so I told her to mention some of her successes through anecdotal briefs that illustrated her capability. "Tell the tale." I said and took her though some of them till it slipped over her tongue with some ease. That would, I felt do all the selling for her. It is essential to research the company that is doing the headhunting. There will be skeletons in their cupboard, its much better knowing about them before you burn your boats! I have known of companies that have hired people only to keep them out of the circuit till they are forgotten. It takes a great deal to sneeze down a fabulous salary and ask about the work you need to do, so its just as well to see if the hunters have their act straight. People should know what they are letting themselves in for!
Finally, the hard parts over, I dwelt a little on the soft parts! I asked Rohini to dress for the part. Businesslike, block colours if she was wearing a suit, but they could be pin striped as well, with the stripes no more than a centimetre apart, preferable half a centimetre. If she was going in for a sari, a darker colour with no fancy prints. In fact conventional and professional. No strappy shoes, but heels are all right, especially since Rohini is no giantess! I asked her to end the meeting since I wanted her to be in control, and suggested that she land up a couple of minutes late. Actually she arrived several minutes early, watched the partner arrive and then made her entrance eight minutes later, just as he was beginning to fidget.
Rohini ended up taking the job and managed to actually push the already generous salary up a couple of notches. The partner swears by her now and as a member of the "Trophy Club" she was successfully hunted again! The lesson here though is not only for members of the `Trophy Club." Everybody can adapt these techniques once they have passed the stage of the final interview, because that's where the `dance of negotiation' starts!
ABHIMANYU ACHARYA
abhi.hyd@cnkonline.com
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