June 2012 Career Conference Results

We just completed the June 2012 Career Conference this past week.  56 candidates and 11 spouses and support team members attended the Conference, and all candidates have companies pursuing them into the follow-up process.  The candidates interviewed with an average of 12.1 companies and averaged 7.3 companies pursuing them for a 60% pursuit rate. This is very consistent with past Career Conferences.  The ratio of opportunities to candidates at this Conference was approximately 1.5:1.  The entire Cameron-Brooks Team congratulates the June Conference candidates on their first successful step in their transition to Corporate America.

Misperceptions Part 2: JMO Development Opportunities

I want to add another point to Rob’s last blog post regarding our clients and types of positions. I want to address another misperception.

Last week, I had an interesting conversation with a JMO evaluating Cameron-Brooks and comparing us to other companies in the JMO recruiting industry. He said that based on his conversation with another recruiting firm, he doubted whether or not the positions we represent really have the promotional opportunities we say they do. He claimed that Roger Cameron made up the terms “Development Candidate” and “Development Position,” and the positions which we represent really are no different than he could find on the internet through other sources or on his own. I would like to address this. Yes, Roger did create and define these terms with his first three clients, Mobil (now ExxonMobil), Johnson & Johnson, and Procter & Gamble, back in the late 1960s. Together, they used it to define the type of person who could rise to leadership positions in the organization. The term was not so much used to determine the type of position, but rather the type of person the company wanted to hire. The clients and Roger wanted candidates who had the ability and desire to start in a commercial business and be promoted several times to higher levels of responsibility. Back then, and even today, a Development Candidate may start in the exact type of position as someone else. The most important factors are the following: 1) The company will capitalize on the JMO’s skill set; 2) The organization will provide opportunities in the position to grow and develop; and, 3) The position will provide a strong foundation for future significant leadership opportunities and, based on performance, the JMO will have promotional opportunities.

We have a reputation that we are very selective with our candidates. What most people may not recognize is that we also vet our clients and positions. We spend hours on the phone with them to discuss why they want to hire the JMO, the future career path, the position responsibilities, and much more to ensure we fulfill the promises we make to the candidates.

Interestingly, that same week the potential JMO candidate asked me these questions, I sent an e-mail out to hundreds of Cameron-Brooks Alumni asking them for quotes we could use to represent our services, website, PCS to Corporate America and more. We contacted Alumni from 2 to 20 years ago. I asked them to include their current title and company. When the candidate said this to me, I pulled out the responses and started reading off the position titles and company names. I thought it was powerful. It was clear to the candidate that the positions our Alumni now hold are not ones a JMO could just start in, but rather had to work hard to get promoted into and that they are rising into higher and higher levels of leadership positions. I want to share several of the titles and companies for you to see for yourself.

Senior Vice President/City President
Regions Bank

Director, Global Product Line Management
Corning Cable Systems

Vice President and General Manager
WhiteWave Foods

Human Resources Director
Corning Display Technologies

Senior Vice President, Sales
St Jude Medical

Division Manager
Schneider National Carriers

Associate Vice President, Strategic Accounts
Johnson & Johnson

Plant Manager
Cardinal Glass Industries

Customer Supply Chain Group Manager
Unilever

Director, Strategic Program Management
Procter & Gamble

And many, many more!

Sure, some companies do not call the positions “Developmental” like we do, but I would ask the Cameron-Brooks Alumni if they feel like they have future opportunities for promotion. Based on the response I received back, I would say the resounding answer is, “Yes!”

Joel Junker

Misperceptions of Cameron-Brooks Opportunities

The Cameron-Brooks team and the June 2012 Career Conference JMO candidates will arrive in Austin, TX this Friday to kick off our third Conference of the year.  As we make final preparations for the Career Conference, I wanted to share some thoughts heading into it.

My colleague, Joel Junker, recently spoke to a candidate who received a call from another recruiting firm telling the candidate that Cameron-Brooks “recycles” companies.  I also recently spoke to a candidate who had received a call from another recruiting firm stating that we don’t represent any engineering project management opportunities.  I wanted to take this opportunity to clarify a couple of these misperceptions.

With regards to “recycling” companies, what the other firm told the candidate is that we have the same companies coming back to our Career Conference time and again.  I will be the first to tell you that is absolutely correct, and I’m not exactly sure why that is a bad thing.  To me, that illustrates the fact that not only do our client companies believe in our process and program, it also means that our candidates have been very successful at those companies.  Our three original client companies, Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and ExxonMobil (formerly Mobil), still recruit from us today and two of the three are attending this June Conference.   We have had alumni retire from these companies.

Now, just because we have a lot of returning companies does not mean we do not have new companies attending the Career Conferences as well.  In fact, in 2011 and thus far in 2012, almost 20% of our companies at each Career Conference have been new additions.  This stems from the fact that as we have placed candidates with companies over the past 45 years, those candidates have been promoted and some have moved on to other companies and they have championed the idea of JMOs in their organizations and have brought those companies to Cameron-Brooks.  We are consistently seeing new companies because our alumni network is quite vast.  We represent a wide array of companies to include FORTUNE 500 companies to smaller, rapidly growing companies to privately held, etc.  We recognize that our candidates have different interests and our companies reflect that diversity.

Regarding the second misperception, we absolutely represent engineering positions in a wide variety of industries and companies, as well as opportunities in manufacturing, operations, consulting, brand management/marketing, professional sales, finance, logistics, etc.  For this June Career Conference, I wanted to break down some of the different career fields in terms of sample companies and positions for which they are recruiting:

For Engineering:  Companies include ExxonMobil, 3M, Koch Industries, L-3 Communications, etc.  Some of the engineering positions include Oil & Gas Project Manager, Biopharmaceutical Engineering Team Leader, Medical Device Product Design Engineer, Oil & Gas Process Designer, High Technology Facilities Manager, Industrial Reliability Engineer, Quality Engineer, Manufacturing Engineer, New Product Introduction Engineer, etc.

For Manufacturing/Operations/General Management:  Companies include Boston Scientific, Oldcastle, Wal-Mart, Cintas, etc.  Some of the team leadership positions include Medical Device Manufacturing Manager, Service Manager, Manufacturing Cell Manager, Assistant General Manager, Distribution Operations Leader, Regional Manager, etc.

For Business Analysis & Consulting (Finance, Logistics, Spply Chain Management, Consulting):  Companies include Ernst & Young, Noble Energy, Cameron Valves, Eaton Corporation, FedEx, etc.  Some of the positions at this conference include:  Project Manager, Senior Consultant, Supply Chain Analyst, Quality Manager, Six Sigma Black Belt, Business Development Project Manager, Global Logistics Manager, etc.

For Professional Sales:  Companies include Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, etc.  Some of the positions at this Conference include Field Clinical Representative, Medical Device Headquarters Sales Representative, Sales Development Program, Associate Clinical Sales Manager, Zone Sales Leader Designate, etc.

Continue to follow the blog. Next week, I will write a post on the results from the June 2012 Career Conference.

Rob Davis