It’s Recruiting Season Again

Traditional Patterns

Whether you’re an employer seeking to add to staff or a candidate seeking that next role, it’s primetime.

Most energy companies other than consulting companies hire on a calendar year basis.  They build a people budget in October, post jobs in December and recruit in earnest from January through June.

Consulting companies recruit on a June to June timeline.

Smaller renewable developers recruit right after a fund raise.

Senior roles, such as CEO, COO,  are filled throughout the year.  There’s not as much seasonality involved.  It’s more about corporate strategy.

Bonus Season Affects Everyone

Most companies pay annual bonuses.

Trading companies and banks pay bonuses at the end of the calendar year or in January.

Non-financial energy companies pay annual bonuses in March and April.

Active candidates find jobs in January and February and submit their resignations as soon as the bonus money is in their bank account.

Employers worried about the possible departure of valuable employees should have a strategy for replacement if those employees resign in March/April.

What All Candidates Should Do

Think seriously about his/her career.  If things are going swimmingly, then keep an eye on the job market, accept calls from recruiters about that special job, and sit tight.

If there’s any question about your career potential at your present employer or your segment of the energy business is in peril, get ready for job hunting:

• Create a straightforward, chronological resume with no objective.

• Think about next steps in your career as to title and responsibilities,

• Do a job types search on the internet (see the free Job Seeker’s Guide to Identifying and Pursuing Renewable Energy Jobs on our website bookstore..  Use this a guide even if you’re seeking a role in a different energy industry segment.  See what appeals to you and fits your background.

Note—don’t look for firms just in your geo area.  Look for TYPES of jobs that fit.

• Talk to mentors and confidants about their suggestions.

• If you have a relationship with an industry-specific recruiter, talk to that person about trends, compensation, etc.

Also, take a look at other titles on our website bookstore.  There are free eBooks from us and suggestions for other books that relate to jobs.

For example, there’s a good primer on creating a resume: A Job Seeker's Guide to Resumes, LinkedIn Profiles, & Executive Letters

If You’re an Employer

Evaluate Your Team

Take a look at everyone, using more junior managers to help.

See who’s critical to success and/or hard-to-replace.

Have a career discussion with everyone, especially key players.

Review compensation and make changes before year end.

Create short job descriptions for any new hire positions.

Talk To Peers at Other Companies in your part of the industry about hard-to-find skills.  

Don’t discuss compensation, except in general terms. There may be legal issues. 

Use a compensation consultant if you’re a larger firm that needs to address a larger organization comp patterns.

Talk to industry-specific recruiters about select skill sets and compensation requirements.

Getting A Managerial Job

Getting that first managerial job is a big leap; getting to the next level in the management ranks can also be difficult depending on the company you work in.

This is about that first job in management, with at least one direct report from a role with no real management/staff supervision duties.

So how do you go about doing this?

1. Being in a high growth business is a good start. “A rising tide lifts all boats” is an apt phrase for many segments of the renewables business.
2. Working in a segment of the business that's key to your company's success is also helpful. If your job is vital to the company's profitability that's really wonderful.
3. Working in a smaller company can be helpful if it's in a growth industry. Smaller firms tend to give ambitious/productive staff member different types of jobs - including leadership roles.

It’s not about:

• Your present title
• Your educational background, although some MBA's help
• Working in a function of a firm that is not seen to be important - e.g. being a sales person in an engineering-dominated firm.

It is about building your manager credentials:

• Do you have a record of leading teams, even small ones?
• Have you helped train new staff members?
• Is it clear that your work impacts profitability positively? e.g. are you a developer whose projects have been successful financially?

Basic questions:

Is your company growing fast enough to warrant the addition of new managers? If not, is your industry growing quickly enough to generate managerial roles. You need to be where the action is.

Are you on good terms with the people who would decide to move you to the next level? You don’t need to suck up to everybody but you do need to be at least on decent terms. You want to be considered for being added to “the club.” Having a mentor who’s already a member of senior management is a plus.

Do you have any ideas about programs or projects that would improve the company’s performance? Have you presented them to anybody in authority?

Do you clearly understand the goals of senior management of your present company? That can be surprising sometimes. It’s not always about maximum profit. It might be that senior management wants to keep below the radar of the board members or people above them in general.

Sometimes it’s about their trying to sell the company and get their management financial payout (by squeezing the maximum profitability from the company.)

Other comments:

It’s better to move to a supervisory level in your present employer than it is to seek a managerial job in another company. To try that without some prior supervisory experience and a real management title is wishful thinking.

You’re looking for a supervisory role with at least one or two direct reports regardless of the title. Working in a matrix organization with those kinds of vague responsibilities is not a solution. Leading a small project team

(that is successful) is.

You want to be involved in having interviewed and helped hire new staff. That’s a point to brag about.

Finding valuable candidates from the outside for key positions in your present employer is important. 

If you have questions or suggestions about what we can write about, write resumes@rockwoodenergysearch.com and put CAREER INSIGHTS in the subject field.

"Here we go again" – the renewables business is going through the same phases as the power business during the period 1990-2005.

Then, power producers, who were operating individual plants began to trade power, market their output, enter into agreements with others to jointly develop generation facilities, etc.

In a fact, developers became independent power producers (IPP's) who kept the generation facilities they built, and then sold the output of those facilities on a short or long-term basis.

The good news is that these companies are more stable than individual developers. The not so good news is that these budding IPP's have to add additional skills to their company to manage all this.

Groups like marketing, risk management and trading have to be created and managed. This takes a great deal of effort to do and it takes time. It is also expensive, so financial management of these additional overhead items is key.

We're probably 1/3 of the way into this new trend. Some companies will do it well, others will not.

So jobseekers need to understand how this can affect the company and its staffing plans.

One happy outcome of this trend is that individuals with prior experience in the energy business are use again and can add great value to the companies they join.