June 7, 2005

What a surreal morning. I finally returned a call from a former sales person, Amanda, who was also let go from my previous employer a year early than me. During our time together, Amanda was one of my favorite sales people. We had a great work relationship. I always tried to ensure she had all the product marketing and sales tools that she needed to do her job. Little did I know that Amanda was calling to pitch me a Director of Marketing position.

Same Target Market, Key Marketing Position

As Amanda starts talking to me, she tells me that she’s heard I’m taking time off, but wanted to know if I’ll be looking for a job soon. I told her about my startup with my partner, that I have specific work to complete, before I could consider job prospects. Amanda goes into her sales mode, telling me about her company,  and letting me know they have a marketing position opening. She used to work for this company, before our mutual previous employer. Currently, the prospective employer only has 15 employees. Two years ago, they were one of the region’s fastest growing companies. Just recently they’ve added a new product that fully integrates with its target market’s information systems.

“We have the same sales cycle, target market, target audience, etc. that you’re used to…you could do this job in your sleep. You and I would have to share one employee, and the title would be Director of Marketing.”

Good Time to get In: Stock Options, It’s a Potential Acquisition Target

Amanda wants me to contact her in two weeks (my estimate) when I’m ready to pursue the opportunity. She’ll schedule a meeting with the Founder and CEO of the company. Apparently, it’s the right time to get in, since a major player in the market is looking at this company as a channel and possibly acquisition target. Therefore, stock options and bonuses would be part of the compensation package and potentially lucrative. The job prospect is appealing, especially due to its size and the organizational life cycle it’s in. It was nice of Amanda to tell me that I must talk to her “before accepting the salary offer.” Weird call.  Amanda is now a Director of Sales, who appears to be in a very good position for me to network my way into the company. I don’t want to be too optimistic, but it certainly helps having an insider pitching me.

Director of Marketing Position?

It was wonderful talking with Amanda again. I’ll seriously consider the opportunity, since it’s an industry I know and one that I went to graduate school for. While I’ve been a department head before, this potential job builds and expands on that experience. I should be a well-rounded candidate with product marketing, product management, and with some Marcom experience. I do well in small, entrepreneurial environments, where you have to do everything. However, I won’t pursue this position until my new Web site project is under development for our LLC.

The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company.

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