In today's tight job market, it's difficult to get ahead by moving to another company.

A number of firms, both large and small, have reduced the size of their work force. Others have imposed hiring freezes. When companies do have openings to fill, they frequently consider internal candidates first because they 1) know the culture 2) can hit the ground running and 3) don't require a search fee.

How can you capitalize on internal career opportunities with your employer?

To start, ask yourself, “Is there anyone at your current organization -- someone you might like to work for -- who could benefit from your background and experience?”

Notice how the question is worded. It is not, "Is there someone who could help you?" Help is generally considered hard to come by. Most people want to know what you can do for them.

Strategize, be positive, and think in terms of what you can offer that will contribute to the value of the organization. This is an important distinction because when you're looking for a job with your current company, you'll stand the best chance of finding a receptive listener if you look at it from the perspective of what you can do for someone else.

To paraphrase President John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your company can do for you. Ask what you can do for your company.”

Researching Possibilities

Here are two questions that might help point you in the right direction:

• Can you package your skills so the potential new boss will see how they could fit his or her needs?
• Can you find out about any new projects the new division, department or subsidiary is planning that would require someone with your background?

Don't know the answers? Then do some research. Call your contacts, spies and friends to find out what's on the agenda. These people will become your guides in positioning you for the opportunity.

Remember, too, to look on the Internet. It's amazing how much information you can unearth with a few keystrokes and mouse clicks.

And don't be shy. All too often we don't explore the opportunities in front of us. We think there is a great "fitness guru" inside the company who is looking after us and will make us aware of any new opportunities. That just isn't the way it is in the real world. Most companies do a lousy job of succession planning or even human resource strategy planning.

I can't tell you how many times people have said to me, "I wonder why I wasn't considered for the position so-and-so got." They often wonder, "How come I wasn't even asked if I wanted the job?" You have to be aggressive, assertive, and eager for opportunities, because it is you who makes them happen -- not someone who's looking out for you.

Seeing How Prepared You Are

Don't fall into the trap of worrying that you'll be perceived as a retread simply because you've been with the company for a while. You are not a retread. What is far more probable is that you'll be seen as a person who requires the least effort on your employer's part as long as you qualify for the position. It will cost your employer less to move you up from the inside than to recruit someone from the outside. It's also good for corporate morale to promote from within. All of this is good for you -- provided you're aggressive enough.

Consider what you have going for you:

• You're motivated and available.
• You know the corporate culture.
• The company knows you.
• You're demonstrating your loyalty to the company by virtue of the fact that you want to stay (that's something no outsider can say).

These are your strongest selling points for the job. Don't hesitate to use them.

Tom was becoming frustrated.

Recruited to head up a new initiative for a major industrial products manufacturer, he didn't understand why his colleagues seemed to be ignoring his comments in meetings with their boss.

“I just don't get it,” he said one day to Allen, the retired senior executive his company had hired to help Tom make a smooth transition into his new job. “One of the reasons I was brought on board was to share the experience I had gained with my previous employer. But no one seems to listen to me when I try to tell them how we did things there.”

“Is that how you say it?” asked Allen. As soon as he heard Allen's question, Tom realized why his peers appeared to be giving him the cold shoulder.

“I never thought of it that way,” he said. “They must think I'm the world's biggest braggart by telling them how we did it at my old place.”

Recognizing how you come across to your colleagues – as well as subordinates and superiors – is just one tangible benefit of executive coaching.

In this example, drawn from our portfolio of work with Fortune 500 clients, no one at Tom's company would have told him how insensitive he sounded when he tried to tell them about his experiences in his former job. Lack of feedback is a sad fact for many executives in higher management. But the independent observations of an executive coach - frequently, a former senior manager who experienced his or her share of corporate battles - can provide a mirror of truth and candor.

We can successfully report that the ice between Tom and his colleagues quickly thawed once he started to offer his recommendations in a manner that his peers found less threatening. No more comparisons with Tom's old firm, no more cold shoulder. And the newly hired executive was off and running with his new responsibilities.

How many times have you seen this happen?  An organization recruits a top-notch candidate for an important position.  He or she arrives to many fanfares, makes an initial positive impression, … and leaves within a year.

What went wrong?  In many cases, the reasons for executive failure can be traced back to fatal flaws in the corporate hiring process. 

The first 18 months are a critical time for newly appointed executives.  In many cases, organizations get off on the wrong foot by making poor hiring decisions:

• They are not clear about the competencies they need for success.
  
• They don't involve enough people in the corporate hiring process.
• Line managers don't ask the behavioral questions to determine if candidates are a good fit for their organization.
• Often managers spend too much time selling candidates on the benefits of the position when they should be asking more probing questions.

Companies compound their mistakes by failing to provide clear intention for their chosen candidates to succeed.  They have no formal process in place to integrate executive candidates into the organization.  This fuels uncertainty, and even confusion, about management's expectations.  Some organizations also fail to provide executives the timely, honest and lucid feedback about their performance.  The result?  Executives who leave within their first year or two on the job.

What can firms do to change this outcome?  For starters, they can prepare the new leader's team for his or her arrival and appoint specific individuals within the organization to support the new hire.  Management can also provide valuable, candid feedback and create a personal development plan with appropriate intervals for formal and informal performance appraisal.  In addition, the organization can help the new leader clarify roles and expectations within the management team.  One effective way to accomplish this is to schedule “assimilation meetings” to manage expectations and progress.

In all the coaching we do with executive women, one of the most common questions we are asked to address is, how can women best adapt to a new role in upper management? How can they “fit in”?

The underlying issue is simple: You have to fit in, be accepted, and follow the lead of others before you can make changes. Men in the corporate world have been adapting to the environment for generations, but women are still relative newcomers to the middle and upper reaches of corporate America. How do they make the transition?

In their book, What Every Successful Woman Knows, Janice Reals Ellig and Bill Morin identify six steps that executive women can take to smooth their acceptance into upper management:

1. Classify the organization. What type is it? Is it analytical or driven? Traditional or innovative? Some set of common attributes gives this organization its particular character. Go beneath the surface to type your own organization.

2. Read the leadership style. What are the practices of the organization's leaders? Are they autocratic or more consensus-oriented? What behaviors do they value and reward in people?

3. Read the operating style. How do people interact – and how do things get done? Is the management style open or do people work in silos? How political is the organization?

4. Read the personality. What are the unwritten rules and group dynamics that give the organization its specific temperament and tendencies? Corporate personalities can range from shoot-from-the-hip “gunslingers” to more conservative, methodical types.

5. Assess your fit with the corporate culture. Is it a fit? Do you match well with the organization's type, leadership style, operating style, and personality? Are you right for this organization? Can you adapt?

6. Develop and execute a plan. Commit to make yourself a part of this organization's machinery, an individual valued by the leadership, someone who interacts successfully to get things done in the organization, someone whose personality is in tune with the organization's personality.

Fitting in is as much an art as a skill. You'll need a bit of both to succeed in becoming part of the organization. Once you do, you can create an audience; then, when you have the organization's full attention, you can change the rules.

Montana Leadership Institute, a management-training organization founded by WJM Associates, Inc., will be offering four major learning experiences aimed at specific corporate and personal challenges during calendar year 2003. The objective of these sessions is to motivate and revitalize leaders and, by extension, their entire organizations.

• The first program, entitled "Exceeding Expectations: Your Leader's and Your Own," is designed to bring the supervisor, the work team and the individual participant closer to having a common understanding about how and where the individual should be concentrating his or her efforts. This is an ideal course to pair with an "ongoing" coaching program. “Exceeding Expectations” will be offered June 1-7, 2003.
• The second offering, entitled "Upward Mobility Strategies for High-Potential Women," is based on the book What Every Successful Woman Knows, written by Morin and Janice Reals Ellig. This program offers an exploration of practical strategies for identifying and attaining professional and personal goals, designed specifically for women executives. This course will be offered Sept. 14-20, 2003.
• The third session, entitled "Leadership in Today's Changing Environment," is designed to empower executives to lead through presence and awareness, rather than power and control. This course will address issues of management style, communication, strategies, image and sensitivity. It will be offered Oct. 5-11, 2003.
• The fourth program, just recently added to the curriculum, is entitled "Redefining Net Worth: The Real Bottom Line". During this session, former Harvard Business School psychiatrist and faculty member Dr. Barrie Greiff leads a journey of self-discovery, focused on juggling self, family and work life. It will be offered Oct. 19-25, 2003.

An integral part of each of these programs is a daily out-of-classroom experience set against the inspiring backdrop of Montana's Big Sky Country. Each MLI participant is given individualized, professional instruction in his or her chosen activity - everything from fly-fishing to gourmet cooking, yoga to skiing - the list is broad and diverse. These activities are designed to assist the executives in dealing more effectively with their "whole" lives, both in and out of the office suite.

"The goal of Montana Leadership Institute is to not only enhance managerial skills, but also assist executives in either defining or reconnecting to what is most important in their lives," says Morin. "For far too long, most training organizations have concentrated on building skills and have ignored other developmental needs of an executive's life. Our mission is to educate, support and motivate the whole person in order to foster a continuous learning attitude that benefits both the individual participant and, of course, the organization in which he or she works."

Montana Leadership Institute will conduct all four programs at the Big EZ Conference Center in Bozeman, Montana, in conjunction with The College of Business at Montana State University. Faculty for the Montana Leadership Institute will be drawn from both corporate and academic communities.

For more information about MLI, please contact Bill Morin at 212-972-7400 or Betsy Swartz, Director, toll free at 866-586-9226. Please also see MLI's Web site at http://www.montanaleadership.com.