重寫履歷，ＣＥＯ求職再上路

2009年，一如80年前的大蕭條時期，全球處于低氣壓。下至基層工人，上至高層干部，都要直面一波又一波的“裁員”風暴。相比起普羅大眾，曾經仕途坦蕩的高層可能更難以接受身上烙上“我被淘汰了”這個印記?！爸匦律下?，找尋新方向”這個信念給予了每個身處低谷的人莫大的鼓勵，也成為了一幫身處逆境的CEO們不變的信仰。

——Mac

Greg Sam， 50， has always been a rising corporate star. In his most recent job， as a vice president for 1)Millipore， a company that services the pharmaceutical and biotech industries， Mr. Sam built a quality-oversight program 2)from scratch into a staff of 350 working worldwide.

For this， he earned a mid-six-figure income and traveled the globe， making two dozen business trips a year. At Millipore’s 50th anniversary celebration in Puerto Rico， Mr. Sam delivered the keynote speech in Spanish. In France， he sometimes conducted business in French.

In fact， Mr. Sam was so good at what he did， he was fired.

“He came in， built us a global quality assurance program， but now that it’s in place， we don’t need a person of his skills and 3)caliber to continue running it，” said Dr. Martin D. Madaus， the president of Millipore， who fired Mr. Sam during a round of 200 layoffs in last December.

As Dr. Madaus explained when he visited Mr. Sam’s office to deliver the bad news， it was nothing personal. But because Mr. Sam was so highly valued until he was fired， Millipore added about $40，000 to his4)severance package for job placement services.

“The higher up you are，” said Dr. Madaus， whose company employs 6，000， “the longer it takes to find a new job.”

For three months， instead of going to work， Mr. Sam has come to a top-of-the-line job-search firm， New Directions headquartered in Boston. As its 5)literature says， New Directions specializes in helping unemployed “C.E.O.’s，6)C.O.O.’s， 7)C.F.O.’s， 8)C.I.O.’s” find their way back up the corporate ladder.

Situated in the heart of Boston with beautiful views; 9)staffed by friendly professionals with advanced degrees; stocked with plenty of fresh-brewed coffee and free lunches， New Directions feels like an exclusive corporate retreat—except that the participants have lost their corporations.

Like Mr. Sam， most of the 85 current clients are 10)baby boomers who have enjoyed an uninterrupted string of successes but now， in very bad times， are struggling to back into the market.

Mark Gorham， a Harvard Business School 11)grad and a former 12)Hewlett-Packard vice president， has been unemployed for six months. At first， he said: “I sat around thinking someone will realize how great I am and call me 13)out of the blue. Next， I figured， I’ll throw out my great résumé to search firms and someone will come knocking.” Now he’s learning networking from Jeffrey Redmond， his personal job coach.

Mr. Redmond， a partner who has been at New Directions since its founding 23 years ago， said， “At 53， Mark has to learn to tell his story and， like a marching band， 14)toot his own horn.”

Mr. Gorham is looking for a job using his management skills in the renewable-energy field.

“We try to work on it a little every day，” Mr. Redmond said. “Three contacts today， three tomorrow. At the end of month we have 60 people thinking about this guy who can bring all this knowledge to a growing industry.”

Mr. Gorham dreaded his first networking call in January. For weeks， he and Mr. Redmond rehearsed.

“Like a lot of senior executives， Mark was used to going on and on，” Mr. Redmond said. “He used to give speeches to thousands of people.” But now they practiced answering questions in 45 seconds.

“Jeff told me I could just talk 40 percent of the time，” Mr. Gorham said.

Mr. Redmond had him write a one-page script.

“We rehearsed to get it shorter，” Mr. Redmond said.

“Before calling，” Mr. Gorham said， “I must have rehearsed five more times at my office at home.”

The first call was to a colleague he hadn’t spoken with in eight years.

“I knew he’d be nice，” Mr. Gorham said. “We weren’t supposed to pick the toughest one for our first call. Part of the dread was saying I didn’t have a job. I’ve never not had one. But I realized I wasn’t calling to say， ‘Hey can you hire me.’ I basically was letting him know what’s going on and getting his advice on my plan.”

Mr. Redmond said in its 23 years， New Directions has served 2，400 executives and， typically， they find new positions in seven to nine months， although in a recession that could be a year.

If it is a year， Mr. Sam said his severance will cover him， but after that he would have to dip into savings.

“My frame of mind is realistic， a bit anxious，” he said. “Last night I sat with my wife and we looked at our finances. My philosophy is， be aware of it， manage it， but don’t get obsessed by it—that’s not doing myself or family any good.”

On a recent Tuesday， Mr. Sam sat in on a seminar. Many of the men attending were dressed as they had for work， in jackets and ties. Though sitting in a room full of such bright， 15)urbane unemployed people could be worrisome， Mr. Sam found it calming.

He spent six hours at New Directions that day. He had his weekly meeting with his job coach， who gave him tips on cutting his résumé from five pages to three. He met with the New Directions research director， Claire Burday for advice and spoke with the staff psychologist， Dr. William Winn， who’d given him 16)a battery of tests， and for several hours interviewed him to make sure he was suited for the jobs he’s seeking.

Dr. Winn concluded that it wouldn’t be wise for Mr. Sam to take a position that would focus solely on what’s wrong with a company. Mr. Sam is a builder who needs to be involved in fixing what’s wrong， Dr. Winn noted.

Indeed， asked what he missed about his old job， Mr. Sam said， “There was still plenty of opportunity to improve the company.” And he is ready for a new direction.

格雷格·山姆，今年50歲，多年來，他一直都是企業界里穩步高升的驕子。他最近的一份工作是在密理博公司擔任副總裁一職。密理博公司為醫療藥業與生物工程業界提供服務。山姆先生從零開始，建立了一個擁有350名員工，服務范圍覆蓋全球的質量監督體系。

憑著出色的業績，他賺取約五十萬的年薪，經常全球各地跑，一年要出差二十四次。在波多黎各舉行的密理博公司成立50周年的慶?；顒又?，山姆先生用西班牙語發表重要講話。而有時候在法國，他會用法語處理業務。

事實是，正是因為表現得太出色，山姆先生被炒。

在去年12月公司裁員200人的時候，密理博公司的總裁馬丁·D·馬多斯博士辭退了山姆先生。他說:“他當初來我們公司創建了一個全球質量安全系統。而現在這套系統運作已上軌道，我們并不需要一個能力才干如此突出的人來繼續管理這個系統?！?/p>

正如當時馬多斯博士到山姆先生的辦公室親自向他宣布這個壞消息時說的那樣，此舉并非針對山姆先生個人。不過因為在此之前山姆先生十分德高望重，所以密理博公司在給他的資遣費中額外加了約四萬美元，以便他重新找到工作?！?br>