As I hope all of you know, I have a consulting practice called The Financial Executives Consulting Group, LLC. (As time permits, please visit our website: www.TheFECG.com to see what we do.) Bruce Lynn is my business partner. We both also devote significant amounts of time on a volunteer basis to run The FENG.

Many of our assignments come from employed members of The FENG who, unlike much of the rest of the world, are more open to hiring individuals who are well experienced. (As you know, the rest of the world calls these same folks “over qualified.”)

Our assignments always have a two day deadline. One of our members wrote in once suggesting that this sounded a little harsh. What if you are on vacation, sick, out of town on business or observing a religious holiday, he wondered? Well, I’m afraid, if you snooze, you lose.

Even when our clients are alumni members of The FENG, the strategy we use in The FECG is to get active members of The FENG to the head of the line by beating our competition. Our competition is the Internet itself. Short timelines are required. Even on assignments from members, the clock is ticking. (Please know that ONLY members of The FENG are considered for our assignments.)

In most situations the jobs we are managing have already been out in the marketplace for a few weeks. They have been posted on public boards and probably on LinkedIn and have also been subjected to a little networking by our client. Everyone would like to “get it for free.” Why wouldn’t they? We are only rarely if ever competing with another search firm.

No matter what deadline we set, there are always those members who wait to submit their credentials. I think it is that whole accountant deadline mentality thing.

What is not obvious to job applicants is that time IS of the essence. While we may wait, other sources of job leads don't. We do review slightly late applications. Although the deadline is there, we usually bend the rules to ensure every possible member who is a reasonable fit is included. Other firms stop opening resumes once they have a sufficient number.

If you want to use job postings as part of your job search strategy, you need to give the newsletter and the messages I send on assignments we are handling a daily review. Trust me, even with current low unemployment, no one is lacking for candidates.

Think of our short deadlines, the rules we lay out for naming your files, and what to include in your email cover note as training for how the world really works.

Personally, I am not a big fan of job leads. Yes, I know we publish a lot of them and we do make every effort to get them out to you no later than 24 hours after we receive them, but please know the real ticket is networking, networking and more networking.

Job leads, even the real and current ones that appear in our newsletter are in reality no more than a means of perfecting your resume and writing skills for the real deal of networking.

Job leads are a passive way of conducting your search. Networking is a contact sport. More painful in some ways, but always more effective.

The value to you of our handling assignments for our alumni members is that we get a realistic view of how all of you are performing in your job search. We see what your resumes look like. We see the kinds of mistakes you make in your email cover notes. And as a result, I never lack for fodder to write about in my evening editorial.

Our goal is one thing and one thing only. To help you get the job of your dreams, which with any luck will put you in a position to engage other members on a project or permanent basis. Just one more way we take in each other’s laundry and everybody wins.

Regards, Matt