The Perfect Fit

I'm Thankful and Grateful for Thankful 2020! (Hard to Imagine!)

While 2020 has delivered unexpected and incredibly challenging issues, it has also shown that we’re stronger and more resilient that we might have imagined. Thanksgiving is the time to take time and reflect on all that we have to be Thankful for. I’ve renewed my thanks that I’m living the life that I’m living, challenges notwithstanding.

• I’m thankful for Barbara, the love of my life and constant companion (especially during quarantine). It helped reinforce our love for each other.
• I’m thankful for my family and friends who have stayed healthy and such an incredibly important part of my life.
• I’m thankful that I’m healthy. Devastating death and a virus make me realize how uncertain life really is and  what I have to be thankful for . . .
• I’m thankful for loyal Clients who have supported me, encouraged me and hired me through 2020!
• I’m  thankful for my trusted reputation, encouraging candidates at every level of marketing and digital media to contact me for future opportunities.
• I’m thankful that I can support and advise those who need help with presenting themselves in the best light or with advice on career next steps.
• I’m thankful that Covid has opened my eyes and helped me be innovative in the way my recruiting services are delivered and paid for. Clients appreciate that innovation.

Thankfully, I could go on . . . But I’ll spare you . . . thankfully!

I hope your day is filled with love, laughter, and gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving!

Now Interviewing for Sr. B2B Marketing Manager for our St. Louis Client

We're excited to be starting a new search with a new Client.  We're also excited about the fact that the job market is getting more active.  I'm expecting the activity to continue picking up so that in January of 2021, companies are going to start hiring again!  I know that would be a welcome change of events for lots of you who've been affected by Covid!

Senior Strategic B2B Marketing Manager #20102

Location: Clayton, Missouri

General Description:

This Strategic Marketing Manager in Clayton, MO will be responsible for developing growth oriented, marketing strategy and communications plans across three companies, in North America and Europe. A communication, design and tech enthusiast who displays the kind of organized, multi-tasking leadership skills required to research current markets and competition, while juggling multiple projects simultaneously?  You’ll report to the CEO, while collaborating with the Presidents of three other companies to develop and execute compelling B2B sales and marketing strategies.  You’ll have the opportunity to make an immediate impact, while building the foundation for future initiatives that support our Client’s ongoing global growth.  You will earn a seat on the Executive Leadership Team . . . Interested?

Principal Responsibilities:

• While reporting directly to the CEO, you’ll collaborate with three other companies, creating marketing strategies and techniques to tell their stories internally and externally.

• Finalize the worldwide re-organization and re-branding initiative initiated in 2020, including logo identity system and related documents, the update/re-design sales collateral, websites, social media and all internal and external communications
• Develop and execute engaging multi-channel marketing campaigns to generate awareness and drive demand; achieve measurable goals for key initiatives and engagement.
• Create and execute strategies for industry and customer trade shows, while collaborating with sales on smaller, regional events.
• Design and manage market research projects supporting brand positioning, product development, customer segmentation and the industry’s future.
• Plan and execute all web, SEO/SEM, CRM marketing, email, social media, PR and display advertising campaigns.  Produce and direct videos as necessary.
• Be accountable for the marketing budget, while managing third party vendors as necessary.
• There will initially be some International travel, to research the company’s cultures.

No Time (or Staff) to Identify & Interview Job Applicants?

Are you posting jobs and being overwhelmed with applicants? No staff or time to properly identify and screen the best applicants? You’re not alone . . . We can help!

I know from recent conversations that many employers are not “waiting patiently” for Covid to become more “under control”. They are realizing that  the past four months have forever changed the way business will be conducted. Employment for the future has radically changed, almost overnight! Highly specialized digital marketing “specialists” remain elusive, yet in constant in demand. They’re difficult to identify, recruit and hire, even if you’re willing to let them work remotely.

Maybe you’re receiving “unsolicited” resumes. Do they just get “filed” or added to a database somewhere? Does anyone in HR have the time or expertise to screen them and determine if there might be an exceptionally talented or skilled pro who wants to work for your company? What if it’s a skill you really need . . . but you don't respond?

Client demand has helped us re-imagine new ways to support Employers’ Talent Acquisition and hiring needs. We’ve rolled out different ways for Clients to deal with the cost of recruiting search, by spreading payments over months or quarters. There are alternative options for payment, like Paypal, Zelle or Venmo. We’re open to finding even more new and creative billing/payment solutions. It’s a new world!

We’re also “Unbundling” the recruiting and talent acquisition workflow. We understand that your staff has been cut back. If you post a job and receive even 20+ resumes/day, assessing and responding is daunting. If your team doesn’t have time or expertise, we’ll help. Here’s a document that outlines the range of support we provide, if you identify the candidates (Unbundled Recruiting). We of course, would be happy to help identify and recruit your candidates from the beginning, if necessary. Let us know how we can best help you.

Meanwhile, take good care and stay safe!

Bishop Partners Celebrates 19 Years of Recruiting and Executive Placement! Thank You!

July 1 was the 19th Anniversary of Bishop Partners and my becoming an Executive Recruiter! This past year was both the best and the worst in some ways. It was the best professionally and personally, but Covid-19 has obviously had unbelievable impact on all of our lives and jobs.

Fortunately, this past year has been professionally excellent. I was worried that people (Clients especially) would think that my move to Florida, meant that I was retiring. Not even close! Fortunately, Barbara’s and my move for personal reasons has had little impact on my business. I’ve survived past recessions, terror attacks and social unrest. My experience and national reputation continues to be a strong foundation for Bishop Partners’ ongoing success. I’m thankful!

I want to thank all of you who have contributed to our success over these past 19 years. I wouldn’t still be here without your support, your positive feedback and your referrals . . . to both colleagues (Candidates) and Employers (Clients). Thank you!

Even though I had two searches cancelled at the offer stage in early April, I’ve been pretty busy. I have new Clients in St. Louis, Austin, Ft. Lauderdale and Las Vegas. That reputation (and maybe my blog?) has been responsible for conversations in the past six weeks about the strategic hiring of a company’s missing talent.

I’ve had conversations with Clients about a Digital Strategy Director, several about New Biz Developers, top grading for a VP level Media Strategist, a Director of Marketing and a Director of Sales and Marketing. A Former Client contacted me and asked me to start thinking about candidates who could be President of a new agency she’s launching. Someone will call and say, I’m interested in the best talent you know of in a particular specialty or vertical . . . recruiters with a specialty know who the most valuable candidates are (and the candidates know who the best recruiters are!). It’s rewarding to be a trusted resource!

I’m proud of how I’ve been able to help candidates with their resumes and a strategy for unexpectedly having to find a new job. It’s very satisfying to help someone take the next step in their career path. We all

Now Hiring: Ecommerce Key National Account Manager in St. Louis or Las Vegas

General Description:

Our Client is looking for a smart and ambitious eCommerce Marketplace Manager to join their team. As their eCommerce Manager, you will be responsible for taking care of day to day operations for select online marketplaces/sales channels, while delivering strong digital marketing strategies, execution, and improving sales.  Our Client is still growing, so you’ll receive personalized hands-on training and development from the Founder & CEO, who’s also the Sales & Marketing Manager. We’re looking for smarts, ambition, attention to detail, dedication, hard work and an entrepreneurial and fun-loving spirit.
The opportunity is to help continue to grow our Clients Brands and organization, while earning increasing responsibility and financial reward, for the long term.

Principal Responsibilities:

Reporting directly to the CEO, Director of Sales & Marketing, this position will be responsible for leading the product catalog on account sites, developing strategies to drive growth, while seeking new accounts to onboard. The opportunity is working in a fast paced, high energy environment working directly with the CEO. Self-direction and making your own decisions will be encouraged.
• Serve as a primary ecommerce account lead and contact, managing the day-to-day relationship with external selling partners to optimize sales and profit performance – site visits, conversion and AOV.
• Evaluate, prioritize, strategize, develop, implement and manage initiatives.
• Monitor and manage online product assortment and content with goal of maximizing online presence and driving sales.
• Create online listing content for new products using templates and copy for new product listings with keywords and SEO (Copywriting).

• Provide analytic reports of online business including ROI on marketing spend and channel analysis, etc., setting and measuring against clear financial performance goals.
• Microsoft Excel fluency (VLook-Up function, Pivot Tables, sorting and filtering data) is a must

Enhance Your Talent Pipeline - Now!

This is the perfect time to enhance your talent pipeline!  The situation caused by Covid-19, is unlike any other economic slowdown in history. It’s not driven by economics, but by biology. Just like SARS, or MERS or H1N1, this pandemic will end. We’re seeing encouraging signs of employment and the stock market rebounding. Even NYC has taken the first steps of “opening up”. There’s a cautious optimism about our economy.

Executive leadership teams are having strategic conversations about what to do as their business picks back up. Every furloughed worker will not be brought back. This is an opportunity to re-position, refine and “topgrade” those critical roles that will help bring your brand or company back and lead it into the future. ‘Bringing back’ is just the start. Creating meaningful strategy and innovations based on what will be a new reality, is essential for brand survival and growth. This is the time to scrutinize, refine and enhance your team for maximum efficiency and productivity.

Candidates have never been more accessible. They thought their employers had a very positive feeling about them. Many believed themselves to be ‘indispensable’. Many were absolutely stunned and angry, after having been furloughed or laid off. Now, they’re home, they’re answering their phones and have the time and willingness to re-consider their career futures. I know that many previously happy and engaged executive and employees are not so happy or engaged right now.

Before Covid, candidates couldn’t be reached, they were too busy or they were travelling to events or in meetings. It was difficult to have a conversation during work, if there didn’t happen to be a conference room or some other place to accept a recruiter’s call. Now is the best time (maybe ever) to contact top candidates. There’s time to find “the best of the best”. I’ve never had such a high percentage of candidates answer my calls and be willing to listen to and consider new opportunities.  The "Covid Side Effect"

Between telephone and Zoom interviews, we’re able to get a really clear picture of a person’s skills, experience and personality. The hiring process can often take 30 or more days . . . It makes sense to start, continue or re-charge the interview process, right now. Candidates want to hear about opportunities! They return calls promptly.

While I understand that this might not the time to bring someone on board, it is the perfect time to start to identify the pool of candidates (or create a pipeline) for other searches. There’s opportunity for more “first interviews” by video and phone.

There’s never been such a confluence of time, opportunity and availability, to get phone conversations started. Now is the best time we’ve seen in years, to build your candidate pipelines! Bishop Partners is trusted, experienced and ready and willing to help. Give us a call!

To Our Clients and Our Candidates, "We're Here to Help"!

I wanted to send a note of support and optimism, as business has stopped, literally overnight . . . we’re here to help you.  I agree with those marketing prognosticators and many of our Clients, who suggest that once this virus is under control and we approach ‘normalcy’, business and demand for marketing will explode with the pent-up demand that will have been simmering for months.  

Jobs will return to support that demand.  Whether laid-off or furloughed employees wait for their former employer to hire them back is an open question.  There will be new, better opportunities.   There are CEOs and Managing Partners all over, who are wondering “What will we do to staff properly for the future”. The most experienced executives are creating contingency plans, in case “their” employees have found a better opportunity.  The most sought after, data driven skillsets have changed and will be in high demand.  Opportunities will abound!  Brands will be hiring!  

I want you to know that I’m not just here for you when times are great!  We’re not going anywhere.  I continue to value our relationship.  I’ve got your back.  If there’s anything we can to do help, now or as business picks up, please let me know.  I don’t want to sound “mercenary”, because that’s not my intent.  I genuinely want to provide help and support in whatever ways I can.  

I’ve been in the recruiting and consulting business for a long time.  We’ve been through the dot com bubble burst, terrorist attacks and “The Great Recession”.  We've learned valuable lessons.

Austin, Texas Client Now Hiring: Digital Media Analyst - Optimization & Innovation

General Overview:
The Digital Media Analyst will execute online marketing campaign strategy and work with a team of digital marketing experts to create strategies. They are results and data oriented and can track and communicate key performance indicators and success metrics to their teams. They will regularly implement opportunities for optimization, including but not limited to advertising creative and landing page optimization, bid management, and budget allocation. They will learn the ways of direct response digital media from experts, so that they too can become an expert over time.

Please note that, at this time and for this position, we cannot accommodate current or future sponsorship needs for US work authorization. Working remotely is not an option for this role. Our Client is providing relocation expense assistance.

Principal Responsibilities
• Successfully manage campaigns on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Facebook, and other ad platforms
• Turn client strategies into outcomes through strong follow through and impeccable communication skills
• Work with teams to improve KPIs through data insights and reporting that needs to be presented for internal and external stakeholders
• Refine the reporting process for client campaigns including managing the universal data pull, creating report templates and partnering with the media team on data insights 
• Track ROI & profitability of marketing campaigns using performance metrics and make strategic decisions as needed
• Leverage statistical & predictive analysis and let data guide campaign decisions
• Ability and desire to tell stories and influence strategy through numbers and research

Let’s Cultivate a Positive "COVID Side Effect"!

American’s (and the World) are discovering we’re all much more vulnerable to the unforeseen, in ways we couldn’t have imagined even one month ago. Our lives have all been flipped, literally overnight. We don’t have control of what’s going to happen, no matter how much we try. At this point in time, we’re all vulnerable, we’re worried and in need of support. Your personal assessments of it all, will determine to what degree you're worried.

I think COVID-19 will be defeated and result in disruptive, but positive innovation and change, in all sorts of areas. Already, the most obvious example is working from home. Too many employers have ignored what could be a part of the solution to their staffing issues and resisted allowing working from home. Necessity is now delivering new ideas of how to interact online and not only with work. Many of these strategies are going to live on and evolve into ubiquitous tools for the future.

Right now, online interaction is actually supporting our being closer to each other. While there’s personal “social distancing”, there’s more positive, personal interaction online. There’s also a trend of more empathy and support and less social discord, like bullying. We’re seeing daily examples of people reaching out to support friends, family and even strangers. I’m a believer in giving back and doing what I can to help my colleagues and fellow professionals. I know others agree and they will find ways to help others also.

To that end, I’ve decided that I have valuable experience and skills that can help professionals on a broader scale than I’ve ever attempted. I have always had a resume, portfolio and career counseling service as part of my Recruiting and Consulting practice. Now, I’m offering it to anyone, everyone (in marketing, advertising or digital media) who might need help or some new ideas.

This “Time of Corona” Demands Empathy, Communication and Respect

This is a time of banding together, understanding others’ circumstances and treating everyone with respect. Looking for a job and applying for a job are anxiety provoking issues . . . especially if someone finds themselves in the position of currently being without work and any source of income. There’s no more insecure feeling . . .

Imagine how that anxiety is being compounded every hour of every day right now, as we hear more and more uncertainty about COVID-19. Social media is amplifying this pandemic and making wildly irresponsible predictions and projections about what could happen. Broadcast news is more measured, but endless . . . More anxiety provoking . . . Job seekers are understandably freaking out!

I currently have candidates in front of several Clients for new career opportunities. All of the candidates have received positive feedback on their initial conversations with those Clients. Now, after two weeks, we’re still waiting to hear what might be next.

I understand that nobody really knows what’s next or how to plan for that uncertainty. Nonetheless, I’d like employers to step up and do a much better job of communicating with their pending candidates. Yes, their candidates, they’re not someone else’s!

In most cases those candidates have spent multiple hours preparing for that initial interview, research everything they could find, on what they hope will be their new Employer. Employers have a nasty track record of communicating with job seekers. In some (most) cases, there’s (still) zero Employer response. With today’s technology, there’s just no excuse for no response!