Nitin Gupta, an executive search expert at Spencer Stuart in India, had some good advice for financial professionals who may have 20 or more years of work experience but have either hit a plateau or found themselves out of a job.
“What looks like a career setback can be an opportunity to leap into a new phase of life altogether,” he says, in a recent article for the Wall Street Journal India.
The first step is to come to terms with the situation and start planning your next steps. Perhaps the first question you need to ask is, do you want to revive your corporate finance or private equity career? If so, Gupta suggests you focus on a few key questions such as:
– What are your core competencies and strengths?
– What really excites you: growth companies, turnarounds, start-ups?
– Could your expertise be useful to smaller companies which do not normally have access to your kind of talent?
– What assets and equity (financial and human) have you built up throughout your career that you can leverage now?
Of course, you may also decide that this is a turning point in your life, and a good time to go in another direction entirely, rather than back to the world of finance. In which case, is this setback really the answer to a subconscious dream you’ve had for years? Do you have the assets and the passion to start your own business, or start consulting, mentoring or nurturing young entrepreneurs? Perhaps teaching, coaching or writing is in your future.
Gupta’s bottom line: what looks like a career setback can in fact be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the course of your career. And only by answering the big questions and clarifying your next direction, can you begin to build the positive outlook you’ll need to move forward.
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