Client Case Study

FROM CAPPED TO COURTED.

Dennis Garza hadn't run a job search since 2008. He rebranded himself as a premium product and turned a stalled career into a bidding war he could walk away from.

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The Challenge

Two years into a new ownership situation, Dennis hit a ceiling as Director of Sales and Marketing and hadn't personally run a job search since 2008.

The Shift

He stopped waiting to be tapped on the shoulder and rebranded himself as a premium product, marketing directly to the C-suite instead of applying through conventional channels.

The Outcome

Four competing offers turned down, five more in the works, several of them roles companies created and titled specifically to bring him on board.

Olivia Gamber

A Note From The Founder

Olivia Gamber, CEO

When I first met Dennis, he was already winning. He had quadrupled a division, changed industries once before, and built a reputation as the kind of leader people wanted on their team. But he was capped. New ownership had come in at his company, and the ceiling he felt wasn't imagined. He'd given it two years, hoping the landscape would shift. It didn't.

What struck me about Dennis wasn't the resume. It was that he hadn't personally sourced a job since 2008. He'd always been tapped on the shoulder, pulled up rather than pushed to go find the next thing himself. That meant walking into today's market without a current playbook, in his words, not knowing what he didn't know.

The work with Dennis was never about teaching him how to work hard. It was about redirecting an enormous amount of conviction and energy toward a different kind of search, one where he stopped presenting himself as a candidate and started presenting himself as a premium product worth building a role around.

THE CEILING

Olivia Gamber

You created a bidding war rate in the worst job market. What, obviously I know you use the career evolved method, but tell me, what was your secret sauce?

Dennis

So I absolutely knew it was time for a big change, right? I did nothing but win in my previous career, even did industry changes... I then more or less had a ceiling and I felt like I was being held back. So when I made the decision that it was time to take that next step, hit the next level, start a new chapter, it wasn't a matter of if, it was just a matter of when for me, it is that conviction piece.

And the reason why I came to you live and the coaches over at [Career Evolved] is because it'd been such a long time since I've actually had to go out on my own in a job market. Usually I was able to get tapped on the shoulder... I didn't know what I didn't know.

Olivia Gamber

Well, that's fantastic. I, thinking through just your journey, and you think about this market and you came in and it was overwhelming. And so a part of you could have just stayed where you were and settled because you had a job, but you chose to enter this market. So you were legitimately a beast to make that decision. Why didn't you just stay where you were? What got you to enter the arena?

Dennis

I guess I had already chosen to stay, maybe two years before my ultimate departure from my previous company, where I was a director of sales and marketing. I chose to stay, stick it out and see what the landscape would look like for me and the company... and realized like, man, this is not the right direction for multiple different reasons. So there's just nowhere and no reason for me to stay. So that's where I entered back into the show market.

THE REBRAND

Olivia Gamber

For you, you took ownership through this process and did outreach to CEOs and you built a pipeline and you treated it like a business. That's not how most executives think about their careers. What is your mindset when it comes to your career and how to manage that?

Dennis

I will say I haven't sourced a job conventionally since like 2008 and that's still the case. I'm not a conventional person. So conventionality has never worked for me. And so I had to treat things different, including my job search. So going through the CE process, doing all the work, my validation statement, being able to package that briefly to the C-suite as you'd be able to show what kind of value I bring to the table and then move on to position that value piece.

Olivia Gamber

I think it's just really a lot of people are struggling to evolve with the market, and it's just at the bottom line is like, if you are like, if you want a normal job, then go find a

Dennis

job the normal way. If you want an extraordinary job, then do extraordinary things where it's not just a job, but you create this career for yourself. And in some of those offers that I've received, these are people making up roles and titles to bring me on to their team. And we're going to customize a position like that's extraordinary.

“If you want an extraordinary job, then do extraordinary things where it's not just a job, but you create this career for yourself.”

THE BIDDING WAR

Olivia Gamber

And you're really good at positioning and all the value... And I think your direct and authentic style created a magnetism around you where everyone, there was a bidding war at the time for you, right?

Dennis

Oh, no. Yeah. I turned on several offers. I have four with five in the works. They were all more than the one that I actually accepted because I believed in the culture and the team and the impact that I was going to have here. So it was me taking a back seat and investing in my future career, then jumping into these other levels, which I absolutely could have taken, but would not have been as rewarding or fulfilling or would have caused me to have to relocate.

Fast forward six, like not even six months down the road. Now we're revisiting some of those conversations. So I feel like the decision I made allowed me to potentially have my cake and eat it too.

“I turned on several offers. I have four with five in the works. They were all more than the one that I actually accepted because I believed in the culture and the team and the impact that I was going to have here.”

Olivia Gamber

And you were having a ton of, when you were in the game, you were having a ton of calls.

Dennis

Ton of calls. A hundred percent. Yeah. Candidly, not as many as I should have as prescribed by the program. I'll shame on me. But interestingly enough, I found people who knew my capabilities and were all too happy to put me in contact with other folks too. So they were working part-time too, to continue promoting for me as well.

Ready to Stop Applying?

Dennis stopped waiting to be tapped on the shoulder and built a search that ended in a bidding war. If you're capped where you are, book a diagnostic and find out what your own premium repositioning looks like.

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Read the full transcript

Olivia: where all these people want you? You created a bidding war rate in the worst job market. What, obviously I know you use the career evolved method, but tell me like, what was your secret sauce?

Dennis: I then more or less had a ceiling and I felt like I was, you know, I was being held back.

Dennis: because it'd been such a long time since I've actually had to like go out on my own in a job market. Usually I'm able to get, I was able to get, you know, tapped on the shoulder. Hey, let's, you know, come up to the next level with us that I didn't know what I didn't know.

Olivia: were legitimately a beast, right? To, to make that decision. Why didn't you just stay where you were? What got you to enter the arena?

Dennis: I guess, I mean, I had already chosen to stay, right? Maybe two years before my ultimate departure from my previous company, where I was a director of sales and marketing.

[Question shown on screen]: What got you to enter the arena?

Dennis: and realized like, man, this is not the right direction for multiple different reasons. And so that's where I decided I gave it the college try. I stuck it out, right. Um, persistent and then realized like, okay, there's just nowhere, nowhere and no reason for me to stay. So that's where I entered back into the show market.

Dennis: so I just needed to go through the rebranding, if you will, to brand myself as a premium product and then start advertising and marketing myself as such to connect with the players that can make those,

Olivia: what is your mindset when it comes to your career and how to manage that?

Dennis: And in some of those offers that I've received, these are people making up roles and titles to bring me on to their team. And we're going to, you know, customize a position like

Olivia: where everyone, there was a bidding war at the time for you, right?

Dennis: I turned on, I turned on several offers. I have four with five in the works. They were all more than the one that I actually accepted because I believed in the culture and the team and the impact that I was going to have here.

Dennis: Fast forward six, like not even six months down the road. Now we're revisiting some of those conversations. So I feel like, you know, the decision I made allowed me to potentially have my cake and eat it too.

Dennis: know, my validation statement, being able to package that briefly, um, to the C-suite as you'd be able to show what kind of value I bring to the table and then, you know, move on to, to, to position that value piece. Right.

Dennis: So it was me kind of taking a back seat and investing in my future career, then jumping into these other levels, which I absolutely could have taken, but would not have been as rewarding or fulfilling or would have caused me to have to relocate. I mean,

Olivia: And you were having a ton of, I mean, when you were in the game, you were having a ton of calls.

Dennis: I found people who knew my capabilities and were all too happy to put me in contact with other folks too. So they were working part-time too, to continue promoting for me as well.

Dennis: it wasn't a matter of if, it was just a matter of when for me, it is that conviction piece, right? And I was fully committed to doing what I needed to do to make it happen. And the

Dennis: I will say, um, I, I haven't, I haven't sourced a job conventionally since like 2008 and that's still the case. Uh, I'm not a conventional person. So conventionality has never worked for me.