Twenty-two years old and a year away from a college degree, he dropped out to join a brand-new, venture-funded dot-com as VP of engineering. Besides a big salary, he enjoyed in-office massages, a workout room, gourmet coffee, and all the other perks that dot-commers were given during the brief but invigorating duration of the Internet bubble.
But now the bubble has burst, his dot-com has tanked, and he needs a job. Since he's been an executive before, he's applying for similarly titled positions at traditional brick-and-mortar companies.
It's not going to happen.
As more dot-coms hit the skids and laid-off employees hit the classifieds, the darlings of technology are starting to realize that the days of stock options, rapid growth, and naming your own salary are long gone. What's a 22-year-old VP with a BMW payment and nouveau-riche lifestyle to do? Will those dot-com skills translate to the non-dot-com world?
"It's not an easy yes or no," said Paul Villella, president and CEO of HireStrategy, a Washington, D.C.-based executive recruiting firm. "It depends on what the person did, and what they did prior to moving into the dot-com organization." Many upstart dot-coms are run by young people with relatively little experience in senior-level positions. You may have started as a vice president, but you won't necessarily be one in the brick-and-mortar world. "A lot of twentysomething and even thirtysomething executives from smaller dot-coms took roles well above where they should have been, but are assimilating more rapidly than thought into other organizations," observed Villella. "I think they're willing to say, 'I was out of alignment,' so to speak, I was put into a position that was above where I should have been."
Villella said former dot-commers need to match their skills to what's currently in demand, as opposed to what was in demand just a short time ago. But can a former dot-com VP get a VP job at a mainstream company? Six months as a dot-com exec may get you 20 grand a year more in a high-level job at another dot-com, but that doesn't play in Peoria. What you did before you joined the dot-com may matter more. "There are some people that either didn't go to college or quit school early and went right into dot-coms," said Villella. "That's a little tougher mountain to climb."
Three tips for execs transitioning out of the dot-com job market:
- Make a graceful exit. When you leave a solid job at an old-line company to take a job at a startup, leave gracefully. You may want to get that job back if the dot-com goes under.
- Lower your expectations. If you were a VP of marketing at a startup, that doesn't mean you're going to get a job as VP of marketing at General Motors. "Perks are out, money is in," said Villella.
- Play down your résumé. Since you've already realized that the best place for you may be in a first-line management position at a larger company, write your résumé to suit that type of position. "Résumés can be very intimidating," said Villella. They say 'Senior Vice President of the World,' and you were managing three people. Résumés need to be more realistic." Focus on the skills, not the title.
This isn't to say that the whole tech market is gone, and you have to put on your overalls and work at the steel mill. There are still plenty of tech companies, and venture capitalists are still providing them with money. Also, plenty of old-line industrial companies are beginning to embrace technology in their business processes -- and they need people to enable and maintain that technology. The mad rush is over in terms of sheer volume and uncontrolled growth, but there are still plenty of high-tech jobs.
"New companies that are emerging aren't necessarily dot-coms, but they are technology firms in emerging growth. They're much more careful about whom they hire, and much more careful about the rate that they hire as well as the skill sets," said Villella.
