Bill Ayers

President & CEO

Tel:  212.889.7788

bill.ayers@ayers.com
 
In my last letter, I talked about the uncertainty and anxiety we’ve been seeing among the HR community as downsizing threatens your own ranks.  In fact, since we published the last issue of the Ayers Report, we’ve begun hearing from HR professionals who have lost their jobs.  Some of you are looking for ways to recapture the reward and challenge you had in the positions you’ve left but without the inherent stress.  Others are willing to accept change and stress but in a world other than HR.

The challenge is how, in this competitive market, to find positions where you will be accepted as knowledgeable and can make an immediate contribution.  At Ayers, our job is to be creative in helping individuals disconnect and reconnect, whether it’s to worlds similar to the ones they came from or entirely different ones.

If your objective is to remain in the human resources field, we can help you understand what HR organizations want today—in specialization or generalist mode—and what knowledge and skills are required to meet the needs of today’s diminished workforces.  As a full-service HR consulting firm involved in outplacement, recruiting, and organizational effectiveness consulting, Ayers is well positioned to know what companies are looking for and what kinds of attitudes and behaviors are enabling people to land successfully.

More and more of our candidates in a variety of fields, recognizing that jobs may not come back to their industries or that they’ve had enough of corporate politics, are pursuing alternative career paths.  In that vein, we’ve been hearing lately that many senior HR people are moving into senior positions in line management.  Transitioning to a different field or industry, from the corporate to the public or nonprofit arena, or into self-employment involves self-reinvention.

Reinvention begins with a look at your strengths, aptitudes, and transferable skills and how you bring value to an organization or undertaking. Ayers professionals are trained in the use of a wide variety of psychological testing and other tools to help candidates better assess their career alternatives. We also offer seminars and one-on-one counseling for people who are considering consulting and other entrepreneurial career paths.

Whether you choose to remain in HR or reinvent yourself and reconnect elsewhere, networking remains your single most important tool. One HR executive we’ve been working with lost her job at a global media firm.  Persistent networking among former colleagues throughout her 18-month search and an excellent reputation at the company resulted in her rehiring as a senior vice president in another division.

All Ayers offices host networking groups for HR executives, and we urge you to take advantage of this valuable resource. One active member of the Princeton group used networking and personal branding, which included reinforcing her skills, experience, and reputation, to land a senior position at a top pharmaceutical company recently.

If we can help you with the processes of disconnecting, reconnecting, and reinventing—or if you want to share your thoughts on this subject—please contact us.