Experienced Job Hunters, Don’t lead with your passion, instead figure out what key problem you can solve!
This Business Insider article was very interesting and super relevant to a very large segment of my network that I work with every day.
Executive career coach Loren Greiff works exclusively with executives over 40, and her observation is blunt: the biggest threat to older job seekers isn’t rejection. It’s silence.
“Smart, credentialed leaders get stuck because they’re running on an outdated operating system.”
And that outdated OS? Leading with passion. Seems somewhat counterintuitive, right?
I’ve watched this play out firsthand in the Dynamics 365 and NetSuite talent market. Veteran professionals with impressive track records, multi-million dollar implementations, full lifecycle experience, deep functional expertise, get stuck in the search because their focus is around what they want, not what the business urgently needs.
Greiff’s fix is simple. Before you update your resume refresh your LinkedIn, or rehearse your pitch — rank your 3 C’s: Culture, Compensation, and Challenge.
Not what looks good on paper. What actually matters to you at this stage of your career.
Be specific. “I want a challenge” is noise. “I want to lead the ERP consolidation for a PE-backed roll-up of five portfolio companies” is a target.
That clarity matters more for senior candidates than anyone else. Younger professionals can afford a wrong move as they have runway to recover. At the executive level, a misaligned role doesn’t just cost time. It can quietly define how the market perceives you for years.
Once you’ve done that self-work, Greiff makes a harder ask. Now stop thinking about yourself entirely.
What urgent, expensive problem do you have the unfair edge to solve?
That’s the question she coaches every client over 40 to answer and then to lead with everywhere. In networking conversations. In interviews. In their content and thought leadership.
Because hiring managers — especially in organizations moving fast on a Dynamics 365 or NetSuite deployment, aren’t shopping for passion. They’re limiting risk. They want to know who walks in on day one and eliminates the problem that’s been bleeding time and money.
As Greiff puts it: when you can articulate that, compensation stops looking like a cost and starts looking like ROI.
This is precisely the lens we apply at DynamicsFocus when representing senior ERP talent. We don’t just surface credentials. We help our clients, and our hiring partners, cut through the noise and get to the real question which is does this person solve the problem you can’t afford to let go any longer?
That’s how “too experienced” becomes “exactly the edge we need.”
If you’re a seasoned Dynamics 365 or NetSuite professional navigating your next move quietly, or a hiring leader trying to de-risk a critical senior placement, let’s talk.
📖 Credit: Loren Greiff, as featured in Business Insider (article link in comments)
Executive career coach Loren Greiff works exclusively with executives over 40, and her observation is blunt: the biggest threat to older job seekers isn’t rejection. It’s silence.
“Smart, credentialed leaders get stuck because they’re running on an outdated operating system.”
And that outdated OS? Leading with passion. Seems somewhat counterintuitive, right?
I’ve watched this play out firsthand in the Dynamics 365 and NetSuite talent market. Veteran professionals with impressive track records, multi-million dollar implementations, full lifecycle experience, deep functional expertise, get stuck in the search because their focus is around what they want, not what the business urgently needs.
Greiff’s fix is simple. Before you update your resume refresh your LinkedIn, or rehearse your pitch — rank your 3 C’s: Culture, Compensation, and Challenge.
Not what looks good on paper. What actually matters to you at this stage of your career.
Be specific. “I want a challenge” is noise. “I want to lead the ERP consolidation for a PE-backed roll-up of five portfolio companies” is a target.
That clarity matters more for senior candidates than anyone else. Younger professionals can afford a wrong move as they have runway to recover. At the executive level, a misaligned role doesn’t just cost time. It can quietly define how the market perceives you for years.
Once you’ve done that self-work, Greiff makes a harder ask. Now stop thinking about yourself entirely.
What urgent, expensive problem do you have the unfair edge to solve?
That’s the question she coaches every client over 40 to answer and then to lead with everywhere. In networking conversations. In interviews. In their content and thought leadership.
Because hiring managers — especially in organizations moving fast on a Dynamics 365 or NetSuite deployment, aren’t shopping for passion. They’re limiting risk. They want to know who walks in on day one and eliminates the problem that’s been bleeding time and money.
As Greiff puts it: when you can articulate that, compensation stops looking like a cost and starts looking like ROI.
This is precisely the lens we apply at DynamicsFocus when representing senior ERP talent. We don’t just surface credentials. We help our clients, and our hiring partners, cut through the noise and get to the real question which is does this person solve the problem you can’t afford to let go any longer?
That’s how “too experienced” becomes “exactly the edge we need.”
If you’re a seasoned Dynamics 365 or NetSuite professional navigating your next move quietly, or a hiring leader trying to de-risk a critical senior placement, let’s talk.
📖 Credit: Loren Greiff, as featured in Business Insider (article link in comments)