Ask Jason Molesworth what his job qualifications are, and he can do one of two things: He can tell you about his positions, among others, as the COO of the Miami-based hedge fund Simplified Asset Management and a global vice president for
JP Morgan Chase - or he can pull out his binder.
Molesworth's binder could dwarf a doctoral thesis. Hundreds of pages long, and inches thick, it includes detailed examples of his work. This resume on steroids exists because even with his extraordinary experiences and skill set, Molesworth has been faced with a very familiar issue of struggling to find a job.
"I had such a challenge explaining how my experience related to their company," he says, "I thought that if I made something tangible they could relate to, if they could see it on paper, they could connect with it."
When the topic of conversation is the economy, there's nothing we love to talk about more than jobs. From politicians to policy wonks to the guy behind you in line at the coffee shop, the J-word is a hot topic. The archetype for this discussion is the displaced autoworker who needs retraining to build alternative energy technology for the latest promising start-up.
But what about that autoworker's boss? Is anyone bending over backward to help displaced executives find their way in the new economy? Though we're not typically wired to feel sympathy for the most highly trained, successful end of the workforce, challenges that are unique to the corporate world make the job search for executive-level workers especially tough to do without assistance.
"These are people who have amazing experiences, amazing skills and they're very bright," says Director, Talent Enhancement for
Ann Arbor SPARK, Britany Affolter-Caine. "They're people who we want to retain in the region. You can never have too many executives in the start-up community."
It's rare to find a "CEO Wanted" ad in the Sunday classifieds, an therein lies one of the first challenges for an executive looking for work - finding the job openings in the first place.
"I posted resumes on
Monster, and other online services, and not a single interview came from it, in five months," says Molesworth. "Even going through recruiters - nothing."
That's where an organization like Ann Arbor SPARK comes in. The economic development non-profit works directly with local talent and employers to help the right people know about the right opportunities. Through their Weekly Talent Search Newsletter, Jobs Portal and Talent Enhancement Blog, SPARK works to make the odds of matching talent to available positions much greater than postings on sites like Monster.com. It also doesn't hurt that the actual humans in charge of SPARK publications are the only degree of separation between the employers and the executive job seekers.
"Employers have told us our job portal is unique," says Donna Doleman, vice president for marketing, communications and talent for Ann Arbor SPARK. "They know when they come to our portal they're going to get a certain level of talent."
"I would say nine times out of ten the best candidates the companies get are through referrals and networking," says Affofter-Caine.
After holding executive level positions in New York and Florida, Molesworth not only agrees, but feels the networking method is especially prominent in Michigan.
"In Michigan, and in Ann Arbor particularly, there is a deeply embedded concept that you get jobs by who you know," he says. "It really should be about finding the person who could make your company more competitive."
To combat that issue SPARK takes hands-on approach to amplify the networking efforts of high-level job candidates in the Ann Arbor area.
"I don't want to leave people with the perception that you get a job based on who you know," says Affolter-Caine. "It's not simply who you know, it's who you get to know."
Facilitating that transaction is part of SPARK's services.
"I make introductions and then they meet," Affolter-Caine says. "It's not a job interview, it's coffee. These are highly experience, specialized people. Employers need to know where that right fit is going to be."
A particularly Ann Arbor-centric challenge Molesworth encountered during his six months of job seeking appeared after those introductions were made. Because the local economy is so heavily dominated by the university, healthcare, and the auto industry, his financial background made him a bit of an outsider - even with positions for which he had more qualifications than candidates from one of the familiar, local industries.
"The healthcare industry in Southeast Michigan is aware of the problems that took place in the auto industry, so they are hiring a lot of former professionals from that sector," says Molesworth. "Here's the missed opportunity: the connection between auto and healthcare isn't great. With auto you have super mature production line…a very fixed process. In healthcare you have lots of different reasons people come in the door."
For someone like Molesworth who ran process improvement programs for
American Express call centers, the connection is much greater. And yet his experience is that the healthcare sector is still more interested in the auto professionals.
Changing sectors is, in fact, tough for executives for an array of reasons. The
Michigan Economic Development Corporation is working to ease that transition with their
Michigan Shifting Gears program.
"We knew that the need for executive talent was for smaller and second stage companies," says Amy Cell or the MEDC. "A lot of people were transitioning from large companies. The smaller companies were saying, 'Don't give me someone from an automotive company. They can't handle ambiguity; they can't do anything from scratch.'"
The goal of Shifting Gears is project for experience executives to quickly gain the skill set they would need to successfully lead those growing companies. Though the MEDC operates the program for participants statewide, its roots are local. Before becoming Governor, Rick Snyder suggested such a program for Ann Arbor SPARK. The three-month program includes assessment, training and an internship program that places the former executives with start-ups in need of skilled leadership. At least one program participant was successful enough in the 80-hour intern experience that the company was able to grow enough to eventually hire him as the permanent CEO.
Though many start-ups can't afford to hire their interning CEO, the Shifting Gears' track record is stellar nonetheless. After three months, 35 percent of program graduates have new positions. After nine, that figure jumps to 80 percent.
Economic issues or not, one thing Michigan is not short on is pride. While shopping local and investing local are all the rage, Molesworth found the tendency of employers to want to hire local to present another challenge for highly qualified job seekers. The practice, he says, could prove as damaging to the local economy as it was for his own job search.
"It's healthier for the whole ecosystem," he says. "Focus on attracting the highest level of talent increases the overall competitiveness of the state, and in the long term, creates more jobs."
Another part of Michigan culture is, and always has been, pride in the working class. While there doesn't seem to be any reason to temper that, Ann Arbor has the ability to lead the way in extending our pride to include our executive-level business talent - both homegrown, as well as those we might attract from outside of the state - who can help us innovate our economy to the next level.
Natalie Burg is a freelance writer, the news editor for Capital Gains, and a regular contributor to Metromode and Concentrate.
All photos by Doug CoombePhotos:
Jason Molesworth in downtown Dexter
Jason Molesworth at Joe and Rosie's in Dexter
(L to R) Donna Doleman and Britany Affolter-Caine of Ann Arbor SPARK at Michigan Stadium
Britany Affolter-Caine
Donna Doleman
(L to R) Donna Doleman and Britany Affolter-Caine of Ann Arbor SPARK at Michigan Stadium
Jason Molesworth in downtown Dexter
Jason Molesworth at Joe and Rosie's in Dexter