After working as a salaried employee, going independent is like starting all over from scratch. Yet, you can always rely on your network provided that you use it appropriately and build on it efficiently. Here is some coaching advice and best practices that will ensure your success.
C. Pompeď is a professional coach and the author of “Consultants: Comment trouver vos premičres missions”. A partner in the firm of “Dirigeants et Partenaires”, she accompanies executives involved by career transitions providing them with skills assessment and outplacement services. Catherine Pompeď recently spoke at this year’s Small Business Exposition in Paris.
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Catherine Pompeď speaks at the Small Business Exposition “Essential advice for future independent consultants”
Learn to break the mould of your former position!
You used to fulfill important responsibilities and held a key position in a well-established company…
Today, the only person that you can count on is yourself. Naturally, without the notoriety of your former employer, it is a lot more difficult to get your foot inside a door. But the good news is that, from now on, each accomplishment will belong to you and to you alone!
Stop living in the past. Keep a clear focus and accept with modesty the fact you are starting over again.
“No one will engage the services of someone who regrets his previous position, explains Catherine Pompeď, and, by nature, change can provoke anxiety.
To turn the page, it is essential that you work to reposition your expertise before getting your network back into motion. The biggest mistake that most people make is to be blinded by the reassurance that they can achieve just about anything,” adds Catherine Pompeď.
You’ve got fifteen interviews booked for the next ten days? Fantastic! But what good will it do you if all you do is make bad first impressions because you are ill-prepared to present your new service offer? The odds are that you will get “burnt” by contacts that, theoretically, should have been good leads.
How to get back on firm ground? What does it take to get your network up and running without getting “burnt”? What tools will help you to ease into your new position of independence? Catherine Pompeď suggests coaching advice and best practices.
Align your career path with your new business plan
First suggestion: Refocus your area of expertise
Your former employer can no longer provide you with the notoriety that you need. Now you must think of your past experience in terms of present skills.
“The consultant must appropriate the role of advisor, says Catherine Pompeď, someone who provides recommendations without imposing them.”
If for example you were Marketing Manager, don't consider personal merit in terms of the major marketing campaigns that you directed in the past, but in terms of the personnel that you no longer have. Market your expertise and the human dimension of the services that you can provide (market analyses, qualitative group studies…) and do it independently, with pleasure and, above all, with flair. Make a personal and professional assessment of your service offer:
- What skills do you have?
- What are your targets?
- What are your strong points and your qualities as a person?
- What do you like to do most? The more you enjoy your work, the better you will be at marketing it.
- In what environments do you feel more at ease?
- What is your network? Is it adapted to your goals?
Best practice:
Do away with your CV and other forms of résumés that are not in line with your immediate objective: land an assignment in a company. Find out what your potential client’s needs are before your first interview. Present him with a brief bio highlighting three key points that will convince him you are the most qualified person to meet his needs. |
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Second suggestion: Become sincerely interested in other people
“Disinterested generosity is the key driver for any network,” underscores Catherine Pompeď. Whenever in contact with others, regardless of whether you are looking for advice, seeking an opinion or trying to initiate a business relationship, be aware of other people’s expectations as well as of their professional and personal interests. Always be attentive to the added value that you could potentially bring to your contact: a telephone number, a pertinent piece of information, an invitation to an event.
Best practice:
“Google” your contact before you go to meet him. Between the blogs, the forums and all the other sources of personal and professional information available on the net, you should be able to gain a wealth of valuable insight. The odds are you will discover a number of points in common that will help you to build a workable business relationship. So you both have a passion for photography? Why not bring it up during the interview?
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Third suggestion: Change your perspectives!
Get a clearer view of the network that you are a part of
For Catherine Pompeď, “One must learn to make the best of every opportunity to acquire contacts. Try to get the broadest perspective possible.” To avoid tunnel vision, she suggests using every opportunity, professional and personal, to create ties. It’s a proven fact that most first assignments are found through friends, relatives, former classmates and even former clients or suppliers.
Use every opportunity you have to create contacts. Be open to others, fortune smiles on those who are daring!
“At the café, one of my clients tells me he would do anything to land a job with TPR Group just as the people at the next table ask us for peanuts. I start up a conversation and learn that the young lady is an assistant in the HR department at TPR!” says Catherine Pompeď.
How to make luck happen? Always be attentive to what is happening around you,” she concludes. At the pool, at the café, at a network meeting… every situation can be the right situation if you take the opportunity to dialogue with others.”
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