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Cameron-Brooks April 2009 Career Conference

As we head back from Charlotte, NC to the Cameron-Brooks office in Texas, Roger Cameron and I are excited about sharing the results of the Cameron-Brooks April 2009 Career Conference with you. We had 47 Cameron-Brooks candidates attend the conference accompanied by 22 support team members to assist them in making the military to business transition. The status of the economy caused the number of interviews per candidate to be about 20% lower than the end of last year. In addition, companies were screening more tightly to ensure finding the right fit for their critical positions. By Tuesday night at the Conference, all of the Cameron-Brooks candidates had multiple companies with further interest in them. It is important that you recognize the hard work and effort it took for the April candidates to achieve those results. Fewer interviews and a high interviewing bar put increased importance on every opportunity.

Online Information from Cameron-Brooks: As you can see with this posting, we are working with the team to continue to improve our ability to communicate with you. Our blog (this site – http://cameronbrooks.wordpress.com), our networking site (Facebook – http://tinyurl.com/dfqoq4), and a number of other enhancements to our Development and Preparation Program© that are launching this year are key steps in increasing your access to information. As you have learned in the military, effective execution of a critical mission requires communication. Whether in combat, training, or other operational exercises, you’ve seen how receiving and conveying the right information at the right time can be a make or break factor. Bring this lesson with you into your career. We’d like to give you two examples of how communication contributed to the success we had at the April Conference.

Our Commitment to Bringing in Great Companies: At the beginning of 2009, our team recognized that economic conditions meant we would be facing headwinds as we worked to bring in career opportunities. As part of our commitment to serve our candidates, we will always work to power through those headwinds using every asset we have. We believe a partnership requires commitment to success from both sides, so we reached out to thousands of Cameron-Brooks alumni on an unprecedented scale. Understanding that many of them are facing their own business challenges, we asked them to remember the importance of your careers and your leadership and to do what they could to help. The response has been truly incredible. Within hours, we heard back from hundreds offering support and telling us of current and projected leadership opportunities in their companies. Over the last several months, the response has continued. Many of the openings at the April Conference were brought to us by our alumni, and half of the recruiters conducting interviews in April had gone through one of our Conferences as they moved into business leadership. Building strong relationships is a “sharpening the saw” effort that can frequently take a back seat to more pressing immediate needs. We’ve had 40 years of experience building an unparalleled network of alumni who are a major asset to you when you make the transition to business.

The Importance of Being a Great Communicator: As with every career search in which we are involved, our main focus is helping you find the one great opportunity in which you will choose to continue your career. There is no question the current, more challenging market makes Cameron-Brooks’ communication with you critical to helping you find your “one”. Our April candidates saw the benefits of our long-term relationship with them in how well the opportunities they interviewed for at Conference were matched to their abilities and interests. The candidates who impressed companies most were those who were able to communicate their ability to hit the ground running in a new position as well as promote long-term success. The officers who had taken the time to get “intel” on corporate America were able to develop the best strategies and tactics for the Conference. As with any critical “operation”, achieving their “mission” hinged on employing effective and efficient communication. It is tough to fully describe your career in 45 minutes, but it can be done. Candidates who had worked on their communication skills through Toastmasters, the Cameron-Brooks Prep Center (call your Recruiting Team Leader for the link), or had applied lessons from books like How to Win Friends and Influence People (Carnegie) to improve their ability to communicate at work, saw a direct correlation to their success at the Conference.

Our Commitment to Serve – Being a key partner in the careers of over 500 transitioning officers currently in our program, we are challenging ourselves to strengthen our relationship with you. Communication plays a significant role in building a partnership that enables you to transition successfully. As the most experienced recruiting firm in the JMO to Corporate America transition business, Cameron-Brooks has always been about quality and service. From the beginning, we have served our clients by helping them find the highest quality ex-military young leaders. For JMOs looking for a development career, we will continue to serve them by providing a quality preparation program and a commitment to bringing them the best opportunities in corporate America. For you, this means helping you find the “one” – the opportunity that will allow you to transition into business leadership with the excitement and energy that has made you a great military officer.

Scott LePage, Roger Cameron and the Cameron-Brooks Team