Ten years ago, I was often tasked with search assignments that required identifying a “rainmaker.”  A practice may have been thriving, struggling, or just starting up, but the need for investment was always crystal clear:  Someone had to be there to “own” the sales funnel.

Interestingly, I seldom hear this term any longer.  “Rainmaker” seems to have exited the consulting lexicon.  In fact, it makes me bristle to just hear it, let alone use it.

If you aren’t in the agriculture business or involved in ancient Indian rituals, a “rainmaker” is defined as an executive who is very successful at bringing business to his or her firm. Doors open for individuals like this.  They have established and cherished relationships with the client base, and are respected figures within the business communities they serve.

Relationships always matter, but was a rainmaker cultivating them or capitalizing on them?  Were  these capable folks truly making rain or catching it skillfully?  In a world where the demand for their services far outstripped the available supply, part of the challenge was picking the right battles — i.e. knowing where to be and when.   Just the image of rain says it all:  It happens quickly, sometimes torrentially, and then it makes things grow.  If you’re efficient and resourceful, you want to make sure you’re directly underneath the storm.

Lately, the landscape has not been abundantly lush.  Your firm may be having success, but you certainly aren’t hubristic about it.  The term “rainmaker”  implies a brash confidence.  If you were a “rainmaker” ten years ago, you operate very differently today.

As firms begin to recover from the drought of the last few years, I see new, strategic hiring in key roles with business development responsibilities.  However, never is the term “rainmaker” invoked.  Firms are no longer looking at the work being let around them and thinking “we need to hire someone to bring some of that our way” because the market is not in that stage of abundance.  Instead, someone’s business development acumen is measured by his or her ability to plan, position and nurture while ensuring that everyone in the organization gets involved with the action.  If executed successfully, there will be a harvest and food on the table.

We are now all farmers.

At the time, I remember thinking that constantly looking for your next gig sounded like an exhausting way to make a living.  What about benefits?  Career Development?  Was this really a good thing?

What happened?  Well, in A/E, the closest we’ve come to the scenario above is outsourcing, and that happens pretty rarely in our market space.  I’d say that other industries are better suited to utilizing outsourcing for their benefit.

This doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been a change in the A/E consultant’s employment paradigm; The change has certainly occurred.   But unlike the scenario painted above, this change has been employee-driven.

Our industry generally hires talent for specific types of projects, with the inherent promise that we have a machine in place to continue to “feed” the employees as key projects pass.  While an individual performs a functional (technical) role, they are simultaneously gleaning skills in maneuvering the team, office, organization and market as a whole.   Functional skills and organizational skills represent two different axes on the career development chart.

As organizations have become flatter, and “corporate ladders” have shed rungs, employees have adapted the way that we perceive our careers.  Employment tenures are shorter, as in the contract-for-hire scenario, but professionals’ demand for diversified experiences is what is driving it.  We now look at each axis to find potential growth opportunity.

For example, Mike can bring his function skills – Highway-centric NEPA Planning — to a new employer where he will apply his expertise to passenger rail corridors.  The resulting experience serves to grow Mike’s functional domain.  Karen can move on to hold the same function in another organization – that of Manager of Traffic Engineering – yet fulfill an additional organization role of business development lead, an organizational role which was very competently covered within her last employer’s operation by someone else.

Career paths are now plotted in this fashion:  Employees set long term goals and look for a mix of experiences which add to the figurative toolbox necessary to achieve the goal(s).  Often, this means making the choice to change employers at each juncture, rather than wait out the inertia of a functioning organization which has no need to shake things up.

The fact is, companies don’t have the infrastructure they used to…the ladder is often very short (and broad), and you can’t ascend it in a direct fashion.  So, professionals have adapted.  No longer is your career defined by a ladder of increasing responsibility as you “climb” the corporate hierarchy, with an ever increasing technical or organizational domain in your purview.

Your value today, and your ability to contribute to any organization, is better defined by the parts in your greater body of work.   If we’ve ever spoken, you know I call this your professional toolbox, and in it you hold skills developed while fulfilling a number of different — often lateral — roles that are technical, organizational, and sales related.   Your objective in this modern-day game of life is to collect the right tools to provide you the foundation to reach your professional goal.

Often, the acquisition of these tools will require you to change companies and jobs.   From my view, this is the extent of “contract work” in the A/E consulting marketplace…where YOU, the employee, is in the driver seat.

First, I am proud of you.  Life is very busy.  Taking the time to get involved is a big step; After all, it’s not easy to stay focused on external commitments when you have more work than you have hours to execute it. Then add the demands of your personal life, and well, there isn’t much room left.  This makes it all the more important to choose wisely.

When counseling others on how to position their careers toward their long term goals, I break these types of groups into two flavors:  Professional Associations, and Industry Associations.

Professional Associations are excellent resources for YOU, the professional, to hone your skills and knowledge within your specialization, including continuing education, and keeping abreast of new technologies which may affect you and your clients.

Industry Associations, where clients, peers, competitors, and vendors gather are useful for other reasons.  They are focused on your Client’s business, and allow you an opportunity to learn more about your customer.  Meetings can be an outstanding source of early intelligence regarding future bid opportunities, as well as where potential teaming partners are sized up.

I think participation in both is important in planning your career, with an emphasis in the latter for those who wish to distinguish themselves in business development.  If your objective is technical luminary status, perhaps your emphasis should be on the former.  Regardless, they’re all worthy outlets for your time, and participation will set you apart from the rest.

“Job Seeker” is a difficult role to play involuntarily, but it is a job, and it needs to be treated like one.  My advice to all job seekers, regardless of industry, is the same:  Get out from behind the computer.

There was a time when looking for a job online was the “new wave” of the job search.   That was in the mid-90s for those who missed it.  I know, because I was a greenback, un-networked, recruiter at the time and I used online resources to help me identify candidates I had no other way of sourcing.   In the infancy of the Internet, places like CareerMosaic and Monster.com were cutting-edge, early adopter territory which allowed companies and search consultants like me to reach way beyond the limits of the traditional tools of the time.   Likewise, it was the savvy job seeker who hit these portals and found themselves plucked like cherries into rewarding career baskets.  Quality was high, volume was (relatively) low.

As the ‘Net has matured, job boards have proliferated.  There are TENS of THOUSANDS of them.   This level of maturity in the market makes it hard for companies to decide where to spend their dollars and even harder for prospective employees to determine where they can best be “found.”

But, I am not here to bash job boards, because they should play an important role in every firm’s recruiting efforts.  It’s in this particular market, in today’s context, where I must tell candidates to avoid job-board dependency.

I know it feels good at the end of the day to say you have “sent out ten resumes and cover letters.”   Only the magic of the Internet can allow you that level of productivity.  However, despite auto-responders and other types of electronic communication that some companies try to put in place acknowledging an applicant’s efforts (most don’t even bother), the anonymity of the internet is killing your morale in so many other ways.

As a Job Seeker, you have zero control after you hit “Submit” … You don’t know the timeline, you don’t know much about the job and you don’t know if anyone has even looked at your inquiry.  Of ten resumes – was even ONE seen by a decision making body?  The chances are slim.

So here are three things you should do to exercise real control in your job search:

1. Get Involved: If you haven’t yet, start your commitment to your profession by signing up to participate in your industry associations.  Don’t just go to meetings, join committees, and volunteer your (currently ample) time.  Be active and involved in your profession even when you’re not drawing a paycheck.
2. Professional Development: Sign up for as much professional development as you can possibly afford.  Since you’re not “learning from experience” during this period, learn from a teacher.  Demonstrate that you’re taking responsibility for your own professional advancement.
3. Become Active in Your Larger Community, in business and at home: Take an active role in issues which speak to your passions, whether they are focused at a community or regional level.

This is not rocket science; you know this is what you should be doing.  However, it’s not WHAT you do; it’s HOW you do it.

Here’s the real key: Don’t make the mistake of getting out from behind the computer and doing the same things you do when you’re sitting in that chair….searching for jobs.  If you attend all of these events and pass out resumes and introduce yourself as Jerry or Jane Job Seeker, the conversation will automatically focus on what you don’t bring to the table:  a paying job, or status as a collaborator.

Instead, get involved with the whole purpose of giving what you have to offer to others.  Make Social Deposits, Not Withdrawals. Find out with every contact, what someone else is trying to achieve, and how you can help them in their pursuits.  Some examples somewhat specific to my industries….

• Perhaps you know someone at the agency who can help get that permit out of review purgatory?
• Perhaps you know of a DBE/WBE which might make an excellent teaming partner in pursuit of a competitive bid?
• Perhaps you, during your networking at other events/meetings, will meet someone who is a perfect fit for a job which you yourself may not be qualified?
• Perhaps you have the time to research the answer to that question your busy contact is contemplating.

Your mantra should be to keep your eyes and mind open and be **ridiculously** generous with your time and connections.

This may not land you an immediate job; you can still go home and hit the job boards.  However, circulating in the flesh and blood with a genuine mission to create value (as opposed to simply serving your own needs) is an activity which will emblazon you upon the minds of people who will be anxious to return the favor one day.

What you will gain from following a plan based on these principles is a solid network of relationships…and you’ll all have each others’ backs for years to come.   Hitting the “Enter” key twenty-two times a day will never come close.