Top Exec Blog (Web Log)

From time to time, people ask me for career advice, or job-hunting tips, or related experiences. This is one example, and I hope it helps in case you're riding on the Career Path Expressway™.

The question posed was, "What are the critical factors to overcoming an 8 year absence from an industry (IT Services) and trying to break back into a senior sales or sales leadership role?"

My answer was, Keep it simple, keep it honest and use your best anecdotal and "narration skills" to explain the absence.

In my case, a few years back, I was recruited away from software and high-tech sales into the financial industry. The role offered broad responsibility in marketing, business development and web strategy initiatives, so that was all positive. Likewise, the experience and pay were positives. However, when the industry started to go south, it was time to re-position myself and return to the software industry. Whether this journey ends in software, high-tech or a "blended" opportunity is what makes the career hunt exciting (and challenging).

Nontheless, if you craft (beforehand) a very solid and compelling explanation as to why you changed course then, and why you're returning to your roots now, you'll likely be able to persuade others as to what you learned, how you will apply that now, and why you're the best candidate for this opportunity. The truth is always the best medicine for any part of your past, even as you use it to pave the way to a future career choice.

For more commentary from this blogger on specifics relating to Latin America, try reading a new blog, called LatinKnowHow. Please share it with others, and feel free to comment here, on TopExecBlog, or on the new one. Thanks for reading.

© Daniel A. Cabrera, TopExec.org, All rights reserved, 2008.