We met Mitch Roling through our extended recruiting engagement with eMarketer and saw the significant contributions Mitch made to that fast-scaling organization through his data fluency. Mitch gained skills and experience that he was ultimately able to build into his own consultancy, My Dataist (hyperlink). Today he’s advising a host of clients around their data needs— and, of course, he’s our trusted go-to for anything data-related. With the power of data and analytics top of mind, we thought it timely to have Mitch weigh in on the topic.
As recruiters and career coaches, we’ve found that the most common reason individuals decide to leave an organization is lack of career growth potential. That’s particularly troubling in light of the fact that a significant percentage of these individuals were employees that the organization had hoped to retain– a loss magnified by the high cost of employee turnover. What contributes to this missed opportunity?
In 2023, our seemingly ever-changing economy has kicked off yet another year of career shifts, some self-catalyzed and some out of necessity. We are hearing from individuals at all levels of professional life questioning career direction--for some, looking to build future success and impact in a vastly changed economy, and, for others, fundamentally questioning the purpose of their daily professional lives and the mission of the companies they serve (or run). Every year offers the opportunity to pause and reflect, and this year, it seems, career planning is more essential than ever.
This week at CFW Careers, we lost a trailblazer, a mentor, and a devoted husband. David King started our firm in 1973 as a career school for women—a training ground that gave them the tools needed to get into business-to-business sales, make more money than women typically earned, and step into leadership roles that had been reserved for men in generations before.
Kim launched her career in advertising and grew to leadership in the adtech space. She’s led sales efforts in early stage startups, more established companies, and global organizations breaking into new markets. Kim is now the Global Head of Sales at K3, a retail tech software company. We asked Kim if she could share some of the key lessons she’s learned throughout her career, specifically for rising leaders and women in tech. As usual, she was insightful, passionate, and oh-so-wise in her answers.
At the end of October we hosted the first women’s event in our new series, Changing the Conversation: Empowering Women in Business focusing on Planning Your Career with Leadership as an End Goal. Over 60 women (and several men!) joined us for the breakfast event, held in the office loft space of Schoology, a leader in EdTech.
What was once just Silicon Valley now includes Silicon Alley (NYC), Silicon Mountain (CO), and Silicon Forest (Portland), to name a few. It’s no secret: tech is here to stay. While many educational institutions are implementing new curricula to meet the demand for computer programmers, we think it’s important to note that there are other ways to be a part of this new economy.
Contrary to Juliet’s belief, a name holds enormous weight. In business, a name is a brand. In today’s corporate climate, it’s what comes to mind when someone thinks or hears a company’s name. Billions of dollars have been spent on this premise—marketing a company brand—with a focus on the customer. Today, a different aspect of company brand has emerged as equally important: employer brand, the building block for team growth and subsequent customer base growth. The question on everybody’s mind: how important is employer brand, and what impacts it?
One of the many interviews I had as a Boston College graduating senior this year started off poorly. I walked into the office and felt an immediate blow to my confidence. As I looked around and sized up my “competition” I noticed I was the only female not wearing a skirt and heels. Before the interview, I had checked with my friends (a group of fellow undergraduates) to make sure my outfit was appropriate. They all supported my pants suit choice. But what did my peers really know?
As children, we did as we were told and we followed our parents and our teachers. As adults, making one’s way through the business world can demand more than “follow the leader,” and that’s where a mentor can come in. To celebrate our 42nd anniversary, we wanted to look at this special business relationship that has significantly benefited so many individuals with whom we’ve worked.
As recruiters, positioning ourselves primarily in the media and technology space, we’ve found ourselves asking this question: “How do you penetrate a new industry?” It seems that most hiring managers are looking for a candidate who is smart, capable, a fast learner, a great listener, and a strong seller with a proven track record, ideally with experience in the industry. Is this a quest for the purple unicorn? Let’s ask.
