Quintessential Careers: Q&A with Rob Waite

Quintessential Answers:
Q&A's with Career & College Experts

Questions and Answers with Career Expert Rob Waite

Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview in the current issue of QuintZine, our career e-newsletter. Those interviews are archived here for your convenience.

Rob Waite is a senior executive and author of The Lost Art of General Management.

You note on your Web Site that "General management is a lost art." Can you elaborate on what you mean by that statement?

I wrote the book The Lost Art of General Management because the ability to take a balanced perspective on business has been overlooked, maligned and bred out today's manager.

As corporations have expanded and their functional silos have grown taller, managers have become functionally myopic in running the day-to-day operations of their individual areas. Moreover, since the compensation systems in place at most modern companies are built on achieving very specific localized goals, there's little reward today for time spent looking over the fence to widen one's perspective on how the business operates and makes its money. As a result, the average manager's ability to help the company achieve its financial objectives is seriously limited.

The situation isn't helped by the fact that many of America's business schools emphasize theoretical management techniques and strategies while ignoring the more pragmatic, hands-on fundamentals of business. Because many freshly minted MBAs don't understand the core purpose of a business or how to manage one holistically, they face a difficult learning curve after landing their first major job.

The Lost Art of General Management guides the reader on a journey of rediscovery of what it really takes to succeed in business.

Can you provide our readers with a hint of what they might find in your Six Figure Job Search program?

I called upon my personal experiences and professional track record, and coupled them with interviews with top executive recruiters to develop the Six Figure Job Search program. This highly successful interactive CD leads the executive job searcher through the entire process -- from planning his or her "campaign" to negotiating the offer. As a six-figure job searcher myself, I succeeded in landing three senior executive positions at three different publicly traded companies by the time I was 40. I did it by utilizing the skills and techniques that I teach in the Six Figure Job Search program. Not only will this innovative program teach you how to control your career destiny, it will teach you how to save thousands of dollars in your quest for that top-paying job.

I feel so strongly about the Six Figure Job Search program that I offer your money back if you don't believe that what you learned will improve your odds of success in a six figure job search. Since the program's inception in July 2003, no one has ever asked for his or her money back.

Numerous authors, speakers and experts target the executive or "six-figure" market. Briefly, in what ways do you feel your message is unique?

Simply put, I bring the perspective from both sides of the desk. Not only have I been a successful six-figure job searcher... where I've had to walk my talk... I also have hired numerous six-figure salaried executives during my career. Additionally, I have helped an even greater number of friends and network contacts find and land their six-figure positions. Combine this success with the fact that I consulted with some of the nation's top retained executive recruiters in putting this program together and you get "the real deal."

In other words what I have to offer works; it is pragmatic and is not based on some gimmick or hook that seems so prolific in this arena. The best advice I can give anyone looking to buy a book, or attend a program, or whatever other media is out there, is to do some research on the "experts" background to find out if the expert has ever been a real-life six-figure salaried executive.

I wouldn't buy a "how to" book or seminar from anyone who never actually did it, would you?

What's the biggest mistake that you consistently see aspiring executives make in their job searches and how can your advice prevent such a mistake?

Generally speaking there are about 10 common mistakes. And any of your readers who want to know all ten can send me an email at rob@robwaite.com and I will send them a white paper I wrote titled "The Ten Biggest Mistakes Executive Job Seekers Make."

To answer your question specifically, the biggest mistake starts right up front with the resume. Most resumes are just simply pitiful. They read like a catalog of activities that the candidate did. Businesses don't really care as much about your activities as they care about your accomplishments! Therefore, a resume must cover your accomplishments that you can quantify numerically.

Since most hiring executives and executive recruiters only spend about 60-90 seconds on a resume in determining if they want to interview a candidate, your resume has to sell quickly. Don't go too far to the other extreme. The resume has to sell them quickly on interviewing you... that is the job of the resume. Most candidates pack way too much in their resume thinking that somehow the resume is going to get them a job. The interview is what gets you the job, not your resume!

Q:	If you were forced to a limitation of just ONE piece of advice for someone who aspires toward an executive/six-figure position, what would that be?
A:	The answer to that question is simple: NEVER GIVE UP! There is a great quote from Abraham Lincoln that sums this up nicely, "Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing."

Rob Waite is a senior executive with 20 years of leadership experience in domestic and international businesses. His successes include start-ups, turnarounds, multinational strategic partnerships and global business expansions with Fortune 500 companies and worldwide industrial leaders. In addition to The Lost Art of General Management, Rob also created The Six Figure Job Search, an interactive CD-based seminar. Along with Bill Gates, Donald Trump, Brian Tracy, and others, he has been selected to write for the Walking With the Wise series published by Mentors magazine. He can be reached at rob@robwaite.com.

Check out all our interview with career experts in Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

Find a New Job

What:
Where:
jobs by

Job-Hunting Tools:

Career Tools:

Career Categories:

Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts

Questions and Answers with Career Expert Rob Waite

Please note: On a somewhat infrequent basis, Quintessential Careers asks noted career experts five questions related to their expertise and publishes the interview in the current issue of QuintZine, our career e-newsletter. Those interviews are archived here for your convenience.

Check out all our interview with career experts in Quintessential Answers: Q&A's with Career & College Experts.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

Quintessential Answers:
Q&A's with Career & College Experts