Are you looking for a secure future, long-term growth, with a fast-growing company located in Palm Beach County, Florida?  The successful candidate will perform high level, fast-paced, detail-focused executive, and personal assistant functions for the Director of a prestigious, local educational institution.  Assist the Director in the administration, management, and coordination of the daily operations of the company, managing all aspects of the Director’s personal residence, coordinating activities of administrative office staff, and providing executive, and personal administrative support to the Director.  Successful applicants need a Bachelor’s degree in a business and education related discipline with 5 to 10 years experience in a similar position at time of hire. Successful experience serving and working with affluent, high-end clients desired.  Superior communication skills, excellent time management, and a self-starter are required. Must demonstrate proficiency in word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, knowledge of QuickBooks, and CRM software. Email your resume to wjr@theexecutivesuite.com.

Growing high end Architectural design/build firm seeks lead estimator with excellent verbal and written communication skills. Four-year degree in construction management or civil engineering preferred with 10+ years of experience. Duties will require leading the bid process and taking a project though the initial bid phase to bid submittal including communicating with subcontractors, reading, analyzing, interpreting, and generally understanding contracts, plans, specifications, construction cost data, and other contract documentation to identify and quantify scope, risk, and opportunities. Must be capable of performing work breakdown structures and utilizing company database to identify project trades, vendors and subcontractors. Must demonstrate proficiency in M/S word processing, spreadsheet, and database applications. Must have experience in multi million dollar single family homes and want to live on Cape Cod MA. Email your resume to aadams@theexecutivesuite.com.

Opportunity in high end construction sales. Need a new member for our team to provide advice, design, and solutions to homeowners on kitchen and bath and other interior projects. Professionalism and enthusiasm will distinguish you from our competitors. Couple your sales talents, remodeling knowledge, and flair for design with our solid business processes and training. Must be willing to network and bring in business to gorgeous showroom and convert theses prospects to closed projects. Work with quality lines and expert craftsmanship. Your ability to provide design expertise while ensuring the process is enjoyable for the homeowner will grow your base of satisfied clients and referrals. If you enjoy building relationships with homeowners and being involved in high end projects, we encourage you to apply. Email your MS word resume to aadams@theexecutivesuite.com.

Needed for growing design/ build architectural firm on Cape Cod MA. Must have experience in multi million dollar single family homes. You will provide management oversight for all phases of the construction project, including coordinating workers, material, and equipment, ensuring that specifications are being followed, and work is proceeding on schedule and within budget.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Develops a cost-effective plan and schedule for completion of project following a logical pattern for utilization of resources.
• Selects and coordinates work of subcontractors working on various phases of the project.
• Oversees performance of all trade contractors and reviews architectural and engineering drawings to make sure that all specifications and regulations are being followed.
• Is responsible for proper administration of construction contracts and for obtaining all necessary permits and licenses.
• Supervises assistant managers, reviews their reports, checks on any reported difficulties, and corrects any safety violations or other reported deficiencies.
• Tracks and controls construction schedule and associated costs to achieve completion of project within time and monies allocated.
• Reports to owners and architects about progress and any necessary modifications of plans that seem indicated.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Graduate of a four-year degree program in construction management or construction science,10 years or more of experience assisting or supervising construction projects of increasing complexity, Ability to work under pressure and coordinate numerous activities and groups of people who need to cooperate to achieve maximum efficiency.

Email your resume to aadams@theexecutivesuite.com

Wouldn’t you agree that successful businesses grow, are financially strong, and have integrated sales, marketing and operations? Wouldn’t you also agree that when these are combined with superior leadership, teams, and employees that develop and implement good planning, that businesses will be top performers?

Why then, do so many businesses fail to be more successful?

During this challenging economic recovery period, what opportunities for improvement might they be missing? As business owners lead their company through this economic recovery period, which of these factors are most important? You might be surprised how many of my executive coaching and business consulting clients had not thought about the importance of these business functions to their business health and success.

Actually, all these factors are important, and, if integrated properly, help drive your business success. Over the next several articles I will look at several of the ways that you can “take the temperature” of your business by visiting the health office and performing a “health check”.

Let’s get oriented. The accompanying chart illustrates a diagnostic scan of one of my business clients. I will reference the chart in each article to illustrate how, with all systems healthy, a business will be able to achieve its success.

First, let’s examine the business owner and management team’s personal perspective. I explained to my client and his senior management team that we would look at the number of hours each of them works, whether or not they maintain and use a goal and task setting process, whether they plan and execute their plan daily, and develop, maintain, and achieve their personal goals. The each asked me why this was important. I asked them who was leading the company, driving the mission, vision and business purpose. They nodded, at first in nervous agreement, but as we discussed it further, they became clear for this need. Their scores – we use a 1 to 5 scale, 1 is not so good, and 5 is excellent; my client and his senior managers scored themselves a 3.2 in this category, a 64% rating.

As with each of my clients I worked through the development of an action plan with the senior management team to address how they might bring each of these assessed areas up to a level 4, or 80%. As their executive coach and business advisor it was especially heartening to see each member of the “team” work together to come to agreement on each of the action steps needed. And, with my prodding and encouragement, they set time frames and specific, measurable objectives for each.

In our next article we will discuss planning, leadership, and team utilization. Oh, by the way, if at any time you feel a little queasy, the Doctor will make house calls.

Do you have a solid background in Retail Management with strong merchandising, data gathering via POS, excellent customer service?   Are you a team builder and a problem solver?  If so, we have a really neat seasonal part time situation that needs your expertise! 

Must have strong computer and POS experience (no exceptions!) , be mature and outgoing, with strong verbal communication skills.  

Send your qualifications in MSWord format, to aadams@theexecutivesuite.com and tell us why you are interested.

Well, that is a fact.  And did you know that based on US Department of Labor Statistics, 153,804,000 people were in the labor force in February 2009, nearly 1,301,000 more than were in the labor force in February 2008.  Yet, there are 4,445,000 fewer people employed since February 2008.  Last year at this time the employment rate was 94.8%.  16 countries in the European Union report a January 2009 employment rate of 91.8% and for 27 EU countries the January 2009 employment rate was 92.4%.

Why twist the emphasis on these statistics?  Well, quite frankly, I am getting tired of all the negative economic news.  As an executive coach, business consultant, and business advisor I really yearn for more positive news.  As a matter of fact, so does my financial advisor.

These employed people need those unemployed people to start working again.  Perhaps the greatest opportunity in a generation is available for unemployed persons to look at the abilities they have to create a new business.  How can this happen?

Let’s face it.  There is a ton of talent available to develop new business.  Who does not know a personal story about a member of their family, a close friend, a co-worker?  How can we harness the capabilities of all this talent?

How about a career entrepreneur center? I was discussing this opportunity with my associate, Elizabeth Harris Moritz.  After some great discussion we decided our two companies, The Executive Suite. and Rutherford Advisors, Inc. will develop a division – Careers by Your Design which will work with unemployed professionals who want start a new business.

We know from experience that it takes expertise to run a business. Our program will match qualified unemployed professionals through career assessments, will help them develop their business plan, help them to access commercial funding for their new venture, find a roof to put on their business incubator, and provide executive coaching to help get them off the ground.  We will be looking for professionals with expertise in the major functional areas of a business.  We will introduce and suggest match ups to those professionals best able to start up the new business.

We will be developing career workshops in the next two months to address these opportunities and changes.  We expect that with our assistance and that of others that the realignment occurring in the economy can benefit those who want to leverage the changes that are occurring with daily frequency.

Traditional reporting will look at industries in demand, in decline, or dead-on-arrival.  I hope during this new period of realignment economists will suspend judgment to determine how much “value” we will be able to place on a new, knowledge-based business model.  There is an opportunity for a paradigm shift in business, if only we can nurture it along to ensure its success.  If Google did it, why can’t we?

If you know of someone who wants to make sure that the cup is more than one-half full, please have them contact me for a discussion on this exciting new opportunity.  If you have some comments on how to make this concept work better – please let me know.  Thanks.

We are looking for a degreed accountant with 4-7 years of experience in general accounting duties in a wholesale environment working with a small accounting staff.  Must be a team player who communicates well.

The ideal candidate will be highly analytical with good attention to detail and a willingness to learn.  Must be conversant with payroll software, have exposure to retirement and insurance issues, and be able to think outside the box relative to best way practices in the accounting environment.

Please send a personal letter outlining your career goals, your salary requirements, and attach your complete work history in MSWord.  Forward all to wjr@theexecutivesuite.com. All inquiries will be held in strict confidence.

Do you have experience with Quickbooks, Great Plains, Peachtree and other accounting software?  We are seeking temporary bookkeepers for client assignments.  Excellent experience 5+ years.  You will be expected to pass a standard bookkeeping test to determine the depth of your knowledge.  Send your inquiry in the form of an e-mail to aadams@theexecutivesuite.com along with your resume as an MSWord attachment.  Include a cover letter that describes your interest in a temporary assignment.

Recently I wrote about several strategies that business owners could use to participate in an economic recovery. I have found in my executive coaching practice that my clients benefit greatly from the use of a visioning strategy. Business owners can use this strategy to increase growth and profitability, and to improve the attitude and outlook of those whom they service.

When I work with my business consulting and executive coaching clients I find owners have either lost sight of their business vision or have not established one (or at least one that they could actually visualize). One client had a vision that attempted to define growth through a variety of challenged-based perspectives. When we looked at it, we asked a series of questions, and, after asking them, found we did not have good answers.

Some of the questions included the following:

1. What are you seeking to achieve, a sales goal?
2. What are you going to sell to achieve that sales goal?
3. What is the time frame in which your vision will be operating?
4. What market are we going to operate in?
5. Who is the target market we are seeking to influence?
6. What resources will you need in place – human and financial to achieve it?
7. Is there an opportunity for you to develop a new product or service?
8. Is there a need or an opportunity to modify your target market?
9. When was the last time you looked at your exit strategy?
10. How can you set that longer term vision for growth now?

As their business advisor and executive coach I encouraged the senior managers to look beyond the current economic concerns. If anything, they now understood that they held the recovery of their business in their own hands, and they worried less. They began to have more confidence in themselves, and, by extension, their employees, and the success of their business. So they started to go back and address each question more objectively with success in mind.

What did they do? By addressing the first five criteria, they set a 3 to 5 year sales goal providing specific products and services in a national market to double-income families residing in metropolitan areas. With some additional executive coaching and facilitation, they next determined the specific resources needed, identified new products and services that they could offer their customers, and identified that their target market should be more discreetly identified based on product purchasing data.

We are now working on a longer term vision that incorporates the owner’s exit strategy. So I have a question for you – When was the last time you looked at your 3 to 5 year game plan? It can help you in the economic recovery!