Welcome

About 10 years ago, a friend asked me to look at their resume and somehow that became an occasion to do more that the usual supportive critique and morphed into a conversation along the lines of “would it make sense for you to look at this or that direction”. That deepened my interest in workplace issues, how people navigate their careers, and a personal challenge on how I might continuously prepare to help people with their careers.

In the last few years, a strong element of “fighting back” has emerged. Globalization, outsourcing, technology, and disruptive competitors have shifted job security from the expectation of the organization to a responsibility of the individual.   Now a pandemic!

Many of us have worked so hard, perhaps attended college (or beyond), and made sacrifices but it is easy to be chewed up by the forces described above. With a particular grumble about age: do we really think new entrants to the workforce should be on prolonged internships? Are we not interested in the experience, knowledge and work ethic of older workers? As we watch the pressures on friends, neighbors, and colleagues we are driven to help.

For those of us with long careers behind us, this is a chance to give back but also pushes us to stay current. For graduate students, this is a meaningful way to apply fresh learning, data, and insights in incredibly important work and add to the company’s understanding of opportunities and tools for client success in today’s labor market.

Many of you will bring valuable experience and perspectives to our collaboration on your path into some new terrain and you become a natural future part of the network. The question asked of probably 100 people in our network over the last year or two is “would you be willing to meet with one person in the coming year to help them in their career goals?” There has never been a no!  

There may be some instances where members of the network will be paid such as if we were to convene a sector expertise session.  But some companies or agencies don't allow  outside remuneration or some folks just want to give back so often we've simply made a connection to clients or had someone sit in during a session.  It has been a great "people" part of the story.

Just before the pandemic, we had started to work with organizations – companies, agencies, etc. For recruiting, when we get a sense of the company or agency purpose, culture, and tools, we can make an introduction to one of our clients when we see a great fit. For outplacement, we believe that our boutique offering goes way beyond typical formulaic approaches.

One thing I underestimated is that our business, thinking, resources and possibilities expand every day.  Every time we work with someone it is great to see where our past work let's us offer solutions but inevitably drives us to think about new ways to help.  On the business side, it seems that every new round of forecast data or networking brings a fresh look and triggers new potential paths.  Can't wait for the next round of grad student interns, networking, clients, thought leaders and upcoming work.   - Mike Dwyer