Case Study - Darrin M.

Darrin M is a highly trained finance professional with a specialty in Treasury bonds and notes. Darrin was working for a well-known financial services organization company in the Philadelphia area. The company merged with a larger organization and brought in a new team to Darrin’s division. The merger did not go smoothly and there were many internal conflicts with the new leadership. Darrin began to feel like his time and days were numbered. He needed to move on.

Darrin contacted me and requested help on getting back in the job market and launching a strategic career search. He engaged me as his coach to aid in job preparation and to add in anything that might give him a competitive edge in the marketplace. He and I met in person (pre-pandemic) and reviewed his documents and files. Darrin had great credentials and really looked “good on paper”.  We did tweaks to his resume, but where he really needed help was in the interview process.

Darrin was experienced and well versed in financial languages and protocols. However, he lacked fundamental qualities in his interview delivery. He did not need to update anything and since he was staying in the same industry, he did not need to do any major research. Darrin lacked personality and enthusiasm in interviews. This is the area we decided to concentrate on.

We practiced interviewing live and on tape, and I offered feedback and suggestions on his style. I used a list of questions specifically focused on the finance industry and we spent a good deal of time on behavioral questions. Although Darrin had done the work that was described in many of the job descriptions, he was not good at articulating that experience. I suggested to become a bit more animated and to use his hands to make a point. I also told him about body language and giving a more engaging presence to interviewers. After these sessions with review and practice, he began to feel more comfortable talking about his background, training and experience.

Darrin made significant progress over the time we spent together and utilized the personal techniques we practiced in our sessions.  He began interviewing and getting offers for several positions during our sessions. The techniques I used were valuable in that he was able to see the benefit in telling stories and using examples in his answers to behavioral questions.

I used a technique involving role-playing and mock interviews that we filmed. We reviewed the films and noted thing that needed to change. Once he became comfortable and familiar with himself, he did extremely well. Darrin now has been happily employed at this current company for the last 3 years and has been offered promotions.