Our Blog

BY Joel Junker

August 2021 Career Conference Results

The August Career Conference is now in the books and as I write this blog post just one day removed from the Conference, we already have candidates with follow-up interviews scheduled!!  The Conference was again conducted in the virtual format (our 8th virtual conference since April 2020) but we are hopeful to once again return to in-person Conferences and are actively working with our venues/hotels to determine when we can make that happen!  All of us at Cameron-Brooks want to thank the officers who attended for putting their faith and hard work into the Cameron-Brooks process and all of our client companies for reaching out to us to find top JMO leadership talent for their organizations.

So what were the statistics?

We had 35 candidates, 34 distinct companies, over 45 different hiring groups as multiple companies had multiple divisions attend.  Additionally, 25 Cameron-Brooks alumni returned to recruit and hire for their companies.

There were over 450 interviews conducted with an average of 13.1 interviews per officer!   The pursuit rate for the August 2021 Career Conference was 72.6%, the highest I have personally seen in my nearly eleven years with Cameron-Brooks and our third Conference in a row with the pursuit rate around 70%!!

“Pursuit rate” is defined as the number of interviews in which the candidates achieved success divided by the total number of their interviews. “Achieving success” in an interview at the Career Conference simply means the companies expressed interest in moving forward with the candidate.  So what is driving the high number of interviews and pursuit rate?  I believe there are 3 main drivers for this:

• • Our officers are well prepared and have a very good understanding of what it takes to successfully transition instead of just focusing on getting a job.   They have approached their preparation with a great degree of diligence and understand it’s about getting their foot in the door with the right company to establish their careers.
  • Second, I believe the officers were well matched for the right opportunities.  For this group of officers, we spent an average of 10+ months with them getting to build a relationship and know them beyond their profile, evaluations, etc. By doing so, we are able to match them with a high degree of precision for opportunities they are well qualified for and interested in.
  • Third, as the economy has improved, companies are accelerating their recruiting for top leadership talent to help solve their most critical problems and grow their business.  However, they remain very diligent about how they are spending their money in recruiting, because they want to ensure a good return on their investment.

If you’d like to learn more about what is happening in the current economy, I encourage you to listen to our 130th podcast where our CEO Chuck Alvarez discusses the current state of the economy relative to our client companies.  You can listen to that podcast here.

If you are interested in exploring your options with Cameron-Brooks and curious about how to make a successful transition, I encourage you to also check out our website, YouTube Channel , follow us on LinkedIn  and can listen to our podcast here.

On September 9th, I will conduct an August post-Career Conference webcast that will include several of the August Conference candidates. Our alumni will share their experiences, recommendations, and answer your questions.  You can register for the webcast here.

Rob Davis