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BY Joel Junker

January 2021 Career Conference Results

Our first Career Conference of 2021 is now in the books!  This was our 5th virtual Conference and we’ve certainly gotten the hang of hosting virtual events. One day, we’ll look forward to when we can resume our Career Conferences in-person.   Congratulations to all of the January Career Conference candidates  who were the embodiment of great preparation and positive attitude = success!

So what were the statistics?

We had 46 candidates, 28 distinct companies, 43 different hiring groups as multiple companies had multiple divisions attend.  The candidates conducted over 510 interviews with an average of 11.1 interviews per candidate!  This is up from all of the 2020 Conferences with an average of 10.0 interviews last year, including the January Career Conference (which was not impacted by the pandemic).  The pursuit rate for this conference was nearly 69%.  “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, for this Conference, the candidates converted 7.63 of those 11.1 interviews into a successful interview.

Interestingly enough, I had to go all the way back to a 2013 Career Conference to find a pursuit rate that was higher.  The historical average for the past two years has been ~63%.

So, we are off to a great start in helping our candidates with their career transition from successful military leader to successful business leader.

At Cameron-Brooks, we define the “transition” as “where a successful military officer (with a track record of success in the military/high performer with high potential) becomes a successful business leader (track record of success in business/high performer and high potential).  The duration for this type of transition lasts 3 to 4 years. During this time, the JMO transitions from being a proven military leader with business leadership potential to a proven business leader with continued potential who happens to be a former military officer. And, as a result, the JMO is now in line with the company’s succession planning process.

So, this is just the beginning of the journey for our January Career Conference candidates, but we’re off to a great start.

Additionally, my colleague, Pete Van Epps, is conducting a January post-Career Conference webcast on February 18th. Several of the January Conference candidates will be on to share their experience, recommendations, and answer your questions.  You can register for the webcast here.

Rob Davis