Planning allows search firms to find success

Who says no one is getting hired?

The East Wing Group, an executive search firm with a focus on sales and marketing, in 2010 had “one of our top three years” since the business was born in 1985, says Russ Riendeau, senior partner at the Barrington firm. The current year looks equally strong.

Meanwhile, Kathy Graham “disagrees that there have been no hirings.” Principal at HQ Search, Inc., a Naperville firm that focuses on financial services searches for jobs of six figures and up, Graham says her firm has helped several people — and companies — “grow their careers and businesses.”

Riendeau and Graham have been successful in an otherwise stressed hiring sector because they were ready.

Graham started getting ready in 2005, with a five-year plan aimed at 2010. “The dot-com bust made me think,” she says. “I knew that cycle would happen again, and I wanted to be ready.”

The question Graham sought to answer: “With my skill set, what can I do when there are no jobs?” The answer was three additional companies, all operating under the HQ (for Highest Quality) brand and all built around Graham's strengths:

* HQ Services, Inc., utilizes Graham's skills at HQ Search to create strategic, coaching and related services for job seekers in and beyond the financial industry. “We help them create their own (new) positions,” Graham says.

* HQ Seminars, Inc., expands on Graham's economic forecasts and meeting settings to put her in front of decision-makers.

* HQ Scripts, Inc., has turned out a Graham-authored style manual for resumes and other job search materials; a “Six Steps to Career Success” guide based in part on Graham's seminars; and “The Land of Lemons and Nuts,” a children's book that puts economic principles in basic terms.

Graham's plan kicked in in 2005. By 2010, her various companies were “all up, running and profitable.” Her new five-year plan includes a focus on international opportunities.

Riendeau's planning is less structured, but no less important — and no less on the money. East Wing Group's offerings include sales training programs that are a natural extension of the company's search business.

In addition, Riendeau has “sacrificed a little sleep” to spend more time writing articles for online publications that get his name, ideas and capabilities before prospects. The articles add to the five books he has written “that give me something competitors don't have to talk about with clients and prospects.”

LinkedIn has become part of Riendeau's intelligence-gathering process — “not pitching business but following client and prospect companies.”

Expense management has been in the mix, too. For example, East Wing Group now has a longer-term but less expensive lease, and an existing health insurance plan was replaced by a less-costly Health Savings Account plan.