Note: The following post is an interview with Sarah Pearse, a higher education consultant in Atlanta, Georgia specializing in operational & strategic consulting for university clients. Sarah spent six years working in the Higher Education industry and made the transition into management consulting in 2008.
The Careerist: First of all, congratulations on your recent job acquisition, Sarah! That’s obviously no small feat in this economy. Will you tell us what you were doing previously and why you left that organization?
Sarah: When I graduated with my MBA in 2008, I launched my career in consulting. I landed my dream job at a publicly traded firm out of Chicago – they were doing the work that I wanted to be doing – partnering with universities and hospitals to help them reach strategic goals and become more operationally efficient, all with an eye toward the unique mission and culture of each institution. I was offered the job after a year of non-stop networking with employees in the company. I was at the firm for a year before the economic slump and an accounting scandal forced the company to lay off hundreds of employees. Due to my tenure and my level, I was one of those employees who was “reduced” as a part of the reduction in staff.
The Careerist: Tell us about your initial reaction when you discovered that you were going to be unemployed.
Sarah: I anticipated my layoff for many months. I knew the business model (one of my biggest pieces of advice is to always know how your organization makes money). I had gone unstaffed for six months and knew that my place in the organization couldn’t be justified much longer, so I had started to prepare. I started banking cash and tried to be as liquid as possible. Additionally, I put out very soft feelers to a few people in my key network. These initial feelers were the way that I ultimately found my next position.
I was most worried that I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills and I wasn’t quite sure what to do next – the firm that laid me off was truly unique in the market, and so I knew I couldn’t go out and find another position just like it. That forced me to evaluate what was next for me and I knew I didn’t want to go back to industry. At the same time, I was questioning my fit with consulting. My biggest fears were the potential duration of my job search and not knowing if my next position would be an ideal fit. I was very, very lucky. I was only unemployed for three weeks, and during that time, I stayed positive, knowing that my strong work ethic and network would carry me through.
The Careerist: Tell us how you found out about the opportunity that you were recently hired for and describe the interview / vetting process.
Sarah: I was identified for this opportunity about four weeks before I was laid off. A former supervisor was at a consulting firm and their main client was in need of someone with a consulting skill set and a strong knowledge of admissions functions. This position was never posted publicly, and I obtained it purely through my contact. My former supervisor spoke so highly of her work with me (which was five years ago) that her team and supervisor didn’t question my qualifications. They were emphatic that I was the only candidate they would look at. I interviewed with the Director of Admissions at the institution and the Project Manager for the project (which is a large scale technology implementation). I was highly vetted, so the conversations were not very rigorous.
The Careerist: Were there any interview questions that were peculiar or did any catch you off guard?
Sarah: The interview questions were pretty standard – they were trying to scare me to make sure I knew what I was in for. This project has very aggressive deadlines and I think they wanted me to know how difficult the work was going to be. They asked me to walk through my experience and tell them what had led me to the opportunity. They did not know that I had been laid off and they did not ask.
The Careerist: How confident were you after the interviews?
Sarah: I have always been confident in my interview skills – my interpersonal skills are strong and I had done a lot of interview preparation only a year previously for my first consulting job. I still had a lot of those notes and stories in my back pocket.
The Careerist: How much time elapsed between your last interview and the time that you were informed that you received the job?
Sarah: I had to follow up several times, but only about a week elapsed. I was then asked to provide them with salary requirements.
The Careerist: Explain how you approached the issue of compensation. Did you negotiate at all or did you immediately accept the package that was offered to you?
Sarah: This was challenging. Initially, our talks broke down over salary. I was in a hard place – I knew what I was worth to a big consulting firm, but I didn’t know if they would pay me at that level in this position. I was told to “be creative” and so I came up with an offer that was a $10k pay cut from my previous job, but included all of my travel expenses, an apartment near the client site, and lastly, a “benefits allowance”. I was trying to be creative so that my base salary would be near my old salary, but I wasn’t asking them to pay for full benefits because I am a contractor and this contract is in New York City where insurance is very expensive. So, I negotiated a fair amount but I was careful to be flexible – I wanted this position and although it was paying less than my previous position, I couldn’t afford a lengthy MBA job search.
The Careerist: Are you enjoying the new job? What do your future prospects look like at this organization?
Sarah: I am enjoying the position so far. I am learning a lot and I am consistently challenged. I am in a consulting role with a large team so there are a lot of moving parts and politics. I am helping to translate the functional needs of an admissions office to developers who are building a software system for the university. It is a very technical role and it has pushed me to grow. I am also very involved in training and change management for the staff and I really love that part of my job. I will be here for at least 2-3 years and I will most likely have the option to stay, but the job requires a lot of travel so I may want to be closer to home.
The Careerist: If you could offer one bit of advice to those who are currently seeking new employment, what would you say to them?
Sarah: My three biggest pieces of advice are:
- As I mentioned earlier – understand and know the way that your organization makes money (or serves clients) – and be very in-tune to the macro effects on that business. This will allow you to see changes coming down the pipeline and you will be better prepared for a layoff or big changes in the industry.
- Keep in touch with former colleagues and supervisors. I have diligently kept in touch and consider certain people to be the touchstones of my network. They’re people who are working in industries close to mine and I constantly keep in touch. You cannot just go to your network when you need something. You need to have cultivated that network in the meantime. My network was the single greatest reason I only spent three weeks unemployed in this economy.
- Weigh your risks. Is this the position where I’ll spend the next 5-7 years? Probably not. But I weighed the risk between going unemployed for 6-8 months, and accepting a position that I knew would offer me stability throughout the rest of this slump and I took the more calculated risk. I also knew that this position would help to augment my resume with some great experience that went hand-in-hand with my previous experience. I also took the opportunity to incorporate as an LLC so that when this project ends I can continue consulting under my own name.
Note from Jimmy: A huge thanks to Sarah for taking the time to participate in this interview. There are obviously many valuable lessons that can be drawn from her story. If you have any questions for Sarah, please drop her a line in the comments below.
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