CFO Studio Magazine - CFO Innovation Award Winners

Stay Connected Because your job is only temporary John Moskonas is president of ARExecutiveSearch, a search firm dedicated to accounting, finance, and audit search services for the insurance industry, helping clients identify executive talent for critical needs. John has over 20 years in the search business with the last 17 years heading up his own firm. He has helped countless finance executives through the thought process of making their next career move. John can be reached by email at jmoskonas@theargrp.com or by phone at (646) 688-2985 or through his website at www.theargrp.com . JOHN MOSKONAS President, The ARGroup of Search Companies 36 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 2nd QUARTER 2015 E very job is temporary — some just last longer than others. There, I’ve said it. Yes, it can be painful to hear and yes, it implies change and proactive measures on your part. In a cerebral sense, we know that nothing lasts forever, yet in a practical sense, we often do nothing about that awareness. It can be tough to balance out work and family commitments, but at some point, you’ll have to commit to establishing or re- establishing contacts in order to network for your next role. Speaking with established contacts is fairly easy. You just come up with a reason for calling (such as, “I was thinking about you when I read this”). But establishing new contacts is a more time-consuming process that takes a defined approach. Often, getting to the point where you have meaningful dialogue with a new contact/ influencer involves numerous steps, like a recipe. You add the ingredients one by one. For example, say someone refers you to someone else. You’ll need to make an initial contact by email or phone; you’ll need to leave a message; you’ll need to wait for your call to be returned; if it’s not returned you’ll need to allow some time (in order to posture yourself appropriately) before you reach out to the person again; if you don’t get a call back you’ll need to find another creative way of getting in touch with this person; you’ll need to resist putting all your hopes on this one contact. Recasting a Daunting Task Do you see how many ingredients and decisions go into this recipe before you get to the point of having a meaningful conversation? Now imagine doing this for 20 new potential relationships. It would obviously take a lot of time. When you are between situations, however, the process of establishing contacts (who would have been good to have before your transition) will seem daunting. It may even take too much time in the sense that you may not have all that time or want to take all that time. We all agree that it would be helpful to know people who would be able to let you know about potential situations. However, when we spend so much time insulating ourselves in our daily life to the exclusion of slowly but consistently networking for our next role, we find ourselves wishing we had these contacts now when we really need them. So yes, your real job is to network for your next job while you have a job. But this career-long process does not mean it has to be painful. It does not mean that you have to do this to the exclusion of your work and family commitments, but it does mean that this process has to be consistent. It’s not about volume but consistency. Be consistent and the volume will take care of itself. Be consistent and the contacts will be there when you need them. Be consistent and your next role might seem to fall into your lap. But it didn’t fall. You put it there. C “WHEN YOU ARE BETWEEN SITUATIONS, THE PROCESS WILL SEEM DAUNTING. ”